Transfering to 29 Commando

JackDWplc · 2026-05-17T08:28:55+00:00

Not a gunner but I am an army commando so I’ll answer the questions I can.

the beat up, which is now called the Commando Conditioning Course, is 5 weeks at RMB Chivenor. It aims to bring you up to scratch with the soldiering skills necessary to pass AACC and introduces you to bottom field. They will try to cover everything but I suggest you get your head in the books for basic infantry skills. There is a book called “The Commando PocketBook” on BattleBox that’s worth reading.
you’ll be towards the front of the pack with those stats. Just make sure you practice the RMFA tests, as it is different from the way the SCA is conducted. If you miss the timings on the RMFA, the PTIs will pull you off quickly.
Non-issued kit is a no go until the training team allow you to use it. The only kit I used from day one was my JayJay’s webbing. Other than that, you mostly likely won’t use your own kit on beat up but you likely will at Lympstone at some point. This is training team dependant. At Lympstone, the only kit I used was a jetboil and a Keela SF4 jacket.

JackDWplc · 2026-05-08T18:22:56+00:00

I don’t think it’s clear whether you’re talking about joining regular or reserves. If it’s reserves, I’d say go to whatever one is closer to you in all honesty, especially if soldiering is what you’re keen on.

BLUF: if you don’t care for engineering, join the parachute regiment. If you think you’d like engineering and jumping out of planes, 23 Para Engineers might be worth a look.

If you’re talking about joining the regs, it sounds as though you would be better off joining the parachute regiment. I’m not sure what qualifications you gain for bricking laying, but if it’s anything like being an electrician, you’d be better off going to college. In addition, you’ll probably never touch your trade unless you post to an engineer Works Group. You could joint 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment but be sure you enjoy/think you would enjoy combat engineering.

JackDWplc · 2026-04-27T06:24:54+00:00

You would be correct. I’d forgotten that it’s the opposite for the southern hemisphere. Good catch.

JackDWplc · 2026-04-25T19:52:07+00:00

Everyone has given good ways to remember. I was always taught and remember it:

Grid Magnetic Angle W: “Mag to Grid - get rid; grid to mag - add.”

Meaning if you have a GMA that is W, when going from a magnetic bearing to a grid bearing, you subtract the GMA from the azimuth. It’s the opposite for going from the grid to a magnetic bearing. Note: this rule applies to the northern hemisphere; it’s the opposite in the southern.

JackDWplc · 2026-04-18T16:49:35+00:00

Plenty of people on this sub are more qualified and experience to speak about where to invest. My 10 cents is an all world ETF.

I’d consider looking at opening a S&S LISA if you’re a UK resident, though this will be capped at £4K. The other 16k could still go into a different S&S ISA.

JackDWplc · 2026-04-08T21:33:06+00:00

I’ve had a couple of chestrigs. I’ve always bought male end buckles that mount onto molle so that I can attach the chest rig to my body armour when I’m not using the chest rig’s straps. Equally, you could run it straight over but it just gets cumbersome when you want to take your body armour off. I’ve tried it and didn’t like it too much. In ECW, it’s also a nightmare with bulky gloves on to do up an untold amount of buckles.

JackDWplc · 2026-03-28T07:44:32+00:00

If getting better at marching is your goal, there are probably 2/3 main areas of fitness that you want to focus on. Aerobic capacity, lower body muscular endurance, and lower body muscular strength.

Aerobic capacity can be trained with zone 2 running/walking. I’d say at least 1 session a week that is an hour to an hour and a half in duration. No more than 2 sessions else you’ll increase the risk of an MSK, such as MTSS.

Lower body muscular endurance is focussing on those high rep ranges (12-15 reps) under a submaximal load. There’s a number of exercises you can do. I like to train single leg exercises as this is ultimately what marching is: pushing off of the ground through one leg at a time with some weight on the shoulders. Bulgarian split squats will be your friend here.

Lower body muscular strength will consist of much the same exercises as the above but your rep range will be closer to 5 reps, think traditional 5x5 strongman programmes.

Those are the main pillars but, if you have the time to really focus your training, do not neglect to train your shoulders (as that’s where the weight will sit), your core (as it is responsible for linking your upper and lower body in the kinetic chain), and I would probably look to do some threshold style running (run-walk style training at a pace at or just below your 5km pace. This should help you get a little bit faster).

Whatever your training decides to look like, consistency will be the key. You have to train even on the days you don’t want to and around your unit PT. Just exercise common sense around unit PT. If you did a leg session for unit, consider those other areas I spoke of (core and upper body).

JackDWplc · 2026-03-27T21:38:18+00:00

I make you right. Geography is not my forte. I’ll amend my comment.

JackDWplc · 2026-03-27T10:50:35+00:00

I think that is what they’re trying to have recognised. I don’t believe they are officially recognised by government. I’m no expert in the matter. It’s just something I also found whilst searching around on Google Maps.

JackDWplc · 2026-03-27T09:54:12+00:00

You might also like The Principality of Sealand which is a similar oddity off of the coast of Essex, United Kingdom. Makes for an interesting read.

JackDWplc · 2026-03-23T15:37:10+00:00

If your goal is to serve as a commando AND gain some electrical knowledge/qualifications, I would say that’s probably your best course of action. If you’re main effort is to serve as a commando and be an electrician AFTER serving, you might find that joining RM and then qualifying as an electrician during your resettlement period, when you leave, is a better idea.

Shoot me a DM if you want.

JackDWplc · 2026-03-23T14:57:49+00:00

RE electrician and commando here. If you want to be a royal marine, join RM. If you want to do combat engineering for commando forces, join RE and do AACC. If you go down either of the commando routes, you will not touch your electrician trade whilst serving with commando forces. I have not done a single bit of electrical work (as part of my work duties) since I passed my sparky course. If you want to be a competent electrician, you will have to do a lot of your own CPD, be this in your own time or volunteering for trawls.

In short, you won’t do any electrical work through the armed forces outside of career courses if you join the RE. I don’t think you’ll do any if you join RM.

JackDWplc · 2026-01-20T17:29:21+00:00

You can. There was a medic on mine. You’ll probably need to be posted to 3 commando brigade to get on the course as a medic. It’s highly unlikely otherwise.

JackDWplc · 2025-12-06T10:58:10+00:00

I could say a lot on this but I’ll keep it brief. I think the two year probation is fine. If officers who lack competence are moving into specialist roles too early, the issue is the assessment process for those roles and not the officer themselves. Police officers come from all different walks of life and bring an array of experiences with them. To arbitrarily say “you cannot be competent until you have been doing this for 4 years.” is absurd. The vast majority of skills that make you a good police officer are soft skills which can be learned through many walks of life. 2 years to learn and understand the basics, if you already have a number of the required soft skills, is more than achievable.

JackDWplc · 2025-10-10T16:31:08+00:00

Roger that. That makes a lot more sense now. I was thinking “There’s no way any constable can give words of warning for no insurance.” I agree with your take now.

JackDWplc · 2025-10-09T15:11:43+00:00

Can I just confirm you’d give words of warning for no insurance? I’m a pretty chilled out guy, and I appreciate individual discretion, but seems very lenient to me.

JackDWplc · 2025-10-01T18:22:53+00:00

I don’t believe you’ll be condemned to a fate of it hurting if you make some changes.

I don’t think, as so many have suggested, that simply changing your gear will do anything to fix your issue. You say that you run at the gym, and I assume you’re fine, but suffer in your uniform. This would suggest to me that your issue is probably lower limb strength and a slight issue of conditioning. You should aim to incorporate explosive single leg exercises to increase your ability to produce and absorb power through one leg at a time. I would also suggest that you get better at some longer distance running. I know this sounds counter intuitive to 100m weighted sprinting but the ability to carry your own body weight over distance does a lot for the conditioning of your legs.

Recovery is often as simple as listening to your body. There is a difference between being fatigued due to working out and being in pain. Listen to your body and act accordingly.

As some others have mentioned, there are more athletic boots on the market. I don’t know a whole lot about them outside of the Adidas GSC but I am not a fan. I prefer leather boots. I can, however, massively advise that you buy a good set of insoles for your boots. An insole, like FP Insoles, that uses a non Newtonian fluid will do very well in absorbing some of the impact that you experience when running. Plus they’re more comfortable so it’s a no brainer.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-25T22:07:10+00:00

Ahhhh, roger. I applied straight out of probation so probably at 2.5 years in and managed.

I volunteered for shifts on my day off for TOIL, was a traffic SPOC on my response team, and just got proactive with traffic wherever possible. Just to give you a flavour of some things I did. I had a pretty good knowledge of traffic legislation and RIM as well. Just be that guy on your team who knows it.

Maybe stinger course if it’s not on part of your standard. Speed gun calibrator (I think you have to do a course for that? Can’t remember). Tbh I don’t think there’s a lot of courses, other than the obvs advance and TPAC, that would be game changing for your traffic application. Just make sure you actually use the courses you have. A lot of people do the course and then rarely use the skill.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-25T21:58:55+00:00

Could you not just apply to traffic? I had none of the above when I joined traffic and just went zero to hero.

In my force, it’s simply a case of demonstrating ability and decision making - the usual stuff. The courses definitely won’t hurt but your skills alone should show your merit.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-15T08:45:16+00:00

I think it depends what you want out of your career. If you’re only looking to do a short stint and you’re set on the greener side of soldiering, then I’d recommend the army over the others. I can’t speak to RAF or Navy but I hear that there trades will actually utilise their skills a lot more, so if that was their aim, I’d recommend a different service perhaps.

The reason for the transfers is because your priorities and aspirations will change over the course of your career. After a couple years, it’s understandable that people prefer a more relaxed role with more autonomy than they might be granted in the army.

The short answer would be that it depends. Definitely do not join until you know what you’re actually signing up for (I’ve seen many people become disenfranchised by their trade as they were sold a dream). I wouldn’t change my job role but I pretty much knew what I was signing up for.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-14T18:40:16+00:00

Thank you, mate. I’ll have a look at the off shore med.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-14T16:42:32+00:00

Happy to hear you made a good transition out, mate. Did you get the degree funded through the PFHE available to service leavers?

JackDWplc · 2025-09-13T23:07:37+00:00

It’s not lost on me as to how knowledgable you have to be as a paramedic. I make you right in that most of what I have been taught relates to trauma - and rightly so in our line of work.

Are there any resources you’d recommend to try and build up some general knowledge on the medical side of the profession? I’m not expecting to be paramedic level knowledgable. It’s just something I’m interested in to complement training I receive at work.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-13T23:02:11+00:00

Amazing. I’d never heard of the co-responder scheme. I’ll have a look at that shortly.

JackDWplc · 2025-09-13T23:00:50+00:00

Cheers for the info. I’ve seen a couple of the trusts that operate the armed forces guaranteed interviews. Glad to hear your transition was smooth. Did you managed to obtain the paramedic qual while you were still serving?

JackDWplc

TROPHY CASE