There is a list of activities that are usually synonymous with a university student’s summer. They often include drinking with old friends from school, watching TV in PJs, or maybe travel to a foreign place. For some university students however, such as Ben Tong who studies Geography at the University of Manchester and Mahmoud El-Gindy who studies Contemporary Military and International History at the University of Salford, this list could be extended to include parachuting over Germany, running through the woods with a rifle on a military exercise, going on courses that can enhance your CV plus a whole host of other activities – all while getting paid! Ben and Mahmoud are both Officer Cadets with Manchester and Salford Universities Officer Training Corps (MSUOTC), part of the North West Officers’ Training Regiment (NWOTR), an organisation with around 300 students from across Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster as members.
This summer, both Ben and Mahmoud travelled to Sennelager, a British Army base in Germany, to throw themselves out of a plane for the hell of it (admittedly with a parachute attached!). This week long expedition, along with 23 other Officer Cadets, was nicknamed ‘Exercise LION LEAP’ (the lion being the symbol of MSUOTC) and is just one of many Adventurous Training (AT) activities that the UOTC organises for its Officer Cadets.
On this year’s Annual Camp, Officer Cadets went hill walking, rock climbing, squireling (similar to caving), kayaking and mountain biking. Other Officer Cadets sailed around Greenland and Iceland for three weeks this summer.
If there’s something you want to do it is almost guaranteed that the staff at MSUOTC will be on hand to help get funding and organise all the things you’ll need, from transport to accommodation. The UOTC also helps those who wish to take part in more conventional sports, and the unit competes in the annual Queens Cup competition at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, with teams participating in football, rugby, hockey and netball. All this is balanced with university studies.
For all Officer Cadets, a form of military training (while maintaining a sense of fun and perspective) at weekends throughout the term is required. However, the UOTC can’t send Ben and Mahmoud (or any of our other Officer Cadets) on military service as they are classed as ‘Group B’ Staff, which is undeployable – but still paid, and military service after time with the UOTC is not mandatory. However, while their housemates and uni friends are sitting around the house watching Game of Thrones, Officer Cadets are going on camp and training both in barracks and in the field. They learn how to use maps properly, how to care for and use radios and weapons and how to lead a Platoon through an attack.
One of our Officer Cadets, Jason Wild, who studies Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Manchester, said: ‘One of the best things about the UOTC is having the opportunity to develop a cohort of good friends from a plethora of backgrounds with different experiences but who all have that same drive and ambition to succeed. The UOTC is the ideal place to harness that ambition by placing its members in a multitude of highly demanding, stressful situations whereby to overcome these adversities, effective teamwork and leadership are needed. The UOTC allows people to realise their potential and take their developed skills back out onto Civvy Street.’
Many Officer Cadets are able to gain civilian qualifications. Ben has gone through and completed a course to become a Physical Training Instructor, which has equivalent personal training qualifications in the civilian world, and all Officer Cadets are eligible to receive a management qualification endorsed by the Chartered Management Institute after their second year at the UOTC.
So, as you can see, while Officer Cadets may look like average students (and for most of their lives they are), their summer can be very different to other peoples’ – and anybody can enjoy the opportunities that the UOTC can offer, as we accept recruits in September every year.
For more information visit http://www.army.mod.uk/UOTC/28464.aspx
