Hi Blake,

Thanks for your question. You can certainly join at 16 but there's no guarantee that you'd be able to comission at 18. If you join as a soldier you will need to be recommended for commissioning by your chain of command. This wouldn't normally happen until you are out of training and into your unit. For example: I have a couple of soldiers who joined at 16 and are only just getting their recommendations now at ages 20 and 21.

In terms of joining as a pilot. You can join as an officer pilot, do Sandhurst and then go straight into flying. Or you can join as a soldier and then elect to try for the pilots' course. The soldier route takes a bit longer as you need to be a LCpl before you can be recommended. This is normally 3/4 years after joining your unit - so if you joined at 16, the earliest you could get recommended would be roughly age 21/22.

I hope that makes sense. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Have a nice weekend,
Maddie

12 June, 2021 08:35