"Brit Guard Regiment recruitment?" Topic

How does an enlisted man end up in a guard regiment? Hand selected? Luck of the draw? The thought just popped into my head, so i thought I would ask those in the know. Thanks.

They recruit like any other regiment.

Shortly after the war my dad wanted to join the army so he went along to the local recruitment offcie intending to join an armourd unit. However the Sgt there noticed that dad was tall so suggested he join his regiment – 2/Coldstreams.

RMD--Since I am not from England, your post really doesn't have any meaning for me.

yoakley--So you don't join the army and get assigned to a unit, you join a regiment, is that correct?

yoakley--So you don't join the army and get assigned to a unit, you join a regiment, is that correct?

Yes. Except for some specialist units such as the Paras and the SAS. They only recruit from other units.

the Paras and the SAS. They only recruit from other units.

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People can join the Paras straight from civvy street.

Thanks GNREP8, wasn't 100% sure, but I stand corrected.

Okay. Thanks.

Thanks guys. I know from historical writtings that was the way long ago. Facinating that it still is the way. In the USA you join in, go through boot camp and may have a shot of going where you want but you still go where Uncle Sam wants you to go.

Sorry 79th. I meant that they recruit directly from the civilian population – they don't/didn't select the best from other units, like Napoleon's Old Guard.

The only units that select from the 'best of the rest' are SAS and one or two other 'sneaky' units, but even so, the recruits to those units have to volunteers and get through a very tough selection process – there's no hand-picking as such.

In the UK you go to the recruiter and join the regiment of your choice. In certain areas they will recruit for certain local infantry, cavalry and guards regiments and they will 'encourage' you to go where they need you. Around here in South Wales, most entrants end up in the Welsh Guards, Royal Welsh (infantry) or Queen's Dragoon Guards (armoured recce). However, the canny reruit can essentially join the regiment/corps/service of their choice if they can withstand the persuasions of the recruiter, though to join other 'local' regiments they usually have to join up in a different part of the country. You can join the 'nationwide' regiments/corps such as the Paras, RMs, RA, RE, REME, R Sigs, RLC, etc, etc, from anywhere.

Of course, the more fashionable/elite regiments/trades/branches have far greater competition and tougher selection, so the Paras, Guards, RMs, etc can generally be very choosy about who they let in. I've known many a lad who has joined the Paras or Marines but fail selection/basic training and end up in a line infantry regiment.

Officer entry into the Army is FAR more complicated and is beyond my ken as an ex-RAF officer. Some of them get sponsored by a regiment from the outset, so know exactly where they're headed before they go to Sandhurst. Most seem to go to Sandhurst and then see which regiment will have them based on their performance at Sandhurst… It beats me…

Yes potential officers get 'sponsored' by up to three Regiments or Corps, to include at least 1 Infantry Regiment, even if they have a degree in Electronic Engineering and would only consider joining the REME or Royal Signals… But thats just for form, and to remind people who the Queen of the Battlefield is….Hey ho! Least thats what the cadets at RMAS were telling us when we turned up from BRNC for our termly drubbing at sports..

Like me then, I expect your recollections are filtered by alcohol…

Heh, whenever I went there it was Cranwell who dished out the drubbing…

When I joined you were shown a video/videos depending on how one's entry test went, or was it how well one's tatoos were spelt?!!!

Tally Ho!

In the USA you join in, go through boot camp and may have a shot of going where you want but you still go where Uncle Sam wants you to go.

The key difference of course is that the USA has an army, instead of a loose confederation of bickering clans – or maybe that's just a dark blue perspective.

Heh, whenever I went there it was Cranwell who dished out the drubbing…

Doubtless. I fear the Royal Navy and the British Army still cling to the delusion that Officer training should consist of more than simply mixing cocktails, knowing how to discern the best 5 star hotel in any given location, and playing tennis…

But do the Guards have 'local' areas too? I joined my local regiment (Gordon Highlanders) but often wondered how one ended up in the Scots Guards, as – as far as I could understand it – Scotland was carved up into recruiting areas for the 'normal' regiments, and the Scots Guards (at the time, they had two battalions) didn't have an area that was 'theirs'.
Or could I have asked to join the Scots Guards instead?

(Before anyone points this out: I know the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards, Irish Guards have obvious connections with those parts of the UK – what I mean is that I am unaware of a part of Scotland, eg, where recruits will join the Guards rather than a 'normal' regiment).

Sparker, you say that like it's a bad thing! :o)

Bulldog, the Scots Guards were traditionally Lowland Scots, so perhaps that's why they don't actively recuit in the Higlands?

I believe the Coldstreamers recruit from the counties that they marched through once .. So I assumed that the Grenadiers recruited from the other counties.

Yes. I walked into a recruiting office once. In Birmingham. I fully intended to enquire about joining the Royal Artillery. I was waylayed by a Royal Green Jacket though who seemed adamant I'd regret joining anything but his regiment. The Navy recruiter was likewise pretty keen to change my mind. They both agreed anything would be better than the RAF.

Nothing came of it in the end. But it struck me how fierce the competition for recruits was. I saw the green jacket working on two other lads while I was filing out a form … Listing my medical history and drawing my tatoos on a human figure… Again, quite clear he wasn't recruiting for the army as such but for the green jackets.

Yup, that's the experience of my cadets who go to join the Army. Luckily they usually go very well-briefed and consequently stick to their guns and go with their preferred choice, rather than where the recruiter wants them to go.

R Mark Davies

At the time, the Lowland Regiments were the KOSBs and the Royal Scots – so I'm guessing that the Scots Guards sort of share their recruiting areas? I know a few Glaswegians who joined the Guards – though I think their local regiments would be the RHF / Cameronians.

Coldstreams were from Northumberland, I thought?
I was invited to Shrewsbury to visit the Light Infantry when I was considering Sandhurst, as I'm from County Durham. The Mess made me very welcome, and I was sorely tempted, especially as I was formally told that I would be welcome to join, once I'd forgotten the marching I'd learn at Sandhurst. The sea beckoned, however, and the image of me standing on a bridge wing in the sun in a white uniform won in the end. Unfortunately, the reality of standing on a bridge wing in the sun in a white uniform wasn't quite as interesting as I'd thought it would be.

Chouan

I've often wondered about that – Coldstream itself (billed as the birthplace of the Regiment) is just over the border, in Scotland.

I suppose that Northumberland was the first English county entered by Charles II with his guards, and, again I suppose, he gathered recruits from that county as he marched south. Northumberland had, in any case, been a Royalist county.

Just regarding the Coldstreamers, they started off as Parliamentarian foot. Cromwell allowed Monck to take 5 companies each from Fenwick's and Hesilrigge's English regiments of foot to form his new regiment in 1650.

Monck (originally from Devon) was Cromwell's General in Scotland and in 1659-1660 decided to march South to support the restoration of Charles II. On his march he paused a while at Coldstream, likely gauging support, then entered England at Coldstream and marched on London, effectively bringing about the restoration. Somehow they picked up the nickname of the Coldstreamers at this time. Charles II himself was still overseas and was invited back to Britain by Monck.

So the Coldstreamers are a more ancient regiment than the Grenadier Guards (raised 1657 from exiles in Flanders) but lost seniority due to being on the wrong side! Thus their motto Nulli Secundis 'Second to None'.

The Guards were originally the King/Queens own personal troops so as such would be recruited from anywhere--they were originally 1st Reg FootGuards 2nd Regiment(Coldstream) Footguards and 3rd Regiment FootGuards..After they defeated the French Grenadiers at Waterloo (middle Guard ) they got called the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards have always been called that and the 3rd Reg were named Scots Guards later… The Irish Guards were created after the 2nd Boer War for the services rendered by Irish soldiers and the Welsh were created during WW1.

Pull up a sand bag……When I first walked into the recruiting office in '83 in East London aged 15 I didn't really have a clue, despite my Dad just finishing 30 years with the RAMC (medics) and two brothers, one in the Engineers and the other a gunner.
They said 'get a trade' but I only had a vague idea that I'd like to fix guns. I'm 6ft 2 so the first recruiting sergeant, a Guardsman, said 'Guards is what you want'. Luckily the other sgt made sure I did the apptitude test, scored top, and I became a helicopter engineer.
A few years later, whilst serving in NI, the guards sgt recognised me, and hadn't forgotten that I did become a wooden top! He still bought me a pint.

One of the first things the MO said to me the day I joined was that I was "half inch too short for the Household Cavalry" – not that I wanted to be in the Tins anyway. BTW You don't have to be a highlander (or even Scottish) to serve in a highland regiment. I met a fair few Korean War vets who were all from Northampton!

In my day, you had to list three preferences at the recruiting office; a few days later you were sent to a depot (Sutton Coldfield IIRC) for two days of aptitude tests, then assigned to corps or branch. I remember the top scorers went to REME while the lowest scores went to the Royal Fusiliers and the 'not very bright but can lift heavy things' went to the Pioneer Corps…..:)

Unfortunately, the reality of standing on a bridge wing in the sun in a white uniform wasn't quite as interesting as I'd thought it would be.

It had to be more fun than endless nights shivering in a muddy OP in a part of the Emerald Isle charmingly known as the Murder Triangle…..