Serve To Lead - ARRSEpedia The British Military Open Encyclopedia - ARRSE-Pedia. Back to British Army Rumour Service Home Serve To Lead Jump to: navigation , search ‘Sound leadership - like true love, to which I suspect it is closely related - is all powerful. It can overcome the seemingly impossible and its effect on both leader and led is profound and lasting’. Sydney Jary MC (18 Platoon) 4th Battalion The Somerset Light Infantry. "Serve To Lead" is both the motto of the Royal Military Academy , Sandhurst , and the title of a primer for baby officers on the noble art of leadership. Thanks to 'pvtePile', who is posting / has posted the contents onto ARRSE, this is now preserved in posterity for the delictation of all ARRSEers. Serve to Lead regularly receives the blessings of the chain of command - none of whom actually put any of its teachings into use. Contents Foreword Cap badge of RMA Sandhurst Serve To Lead. Those three words that appear on your cap-badge are the motto of Sandhurst. They tell you a lot about where you are, and about what it means to be an officer.

If this short book helps you to understand that, then it will have achieved its purpose. This is the new revised edition of the anthology of sayings and writings from people who have understood that very well indeed, including some of the most distinguished officers that the British Army has produced, and compiled by the staff of the Department of War Studies here at Sandhurst. You will find in it some passages that are thousands of years old, extolling the eternal truths of soldiering, and some from people that you will meet and talk with, possibly while you are still here. We give a copy to each of our new officer cadets, for you to dip into and read, and to take away with you when you leave to start your own career as an officer. By the time that you have left Sandhurst you will have read this book through probably several times. You will find much in it that is helpful and inspiring, and probably some things with which you will disagree as well. Make a point of re-reading it just before your passing out parade, and see if you still agree with yourself when you first arrived.

Passages and phrases that you have read in it will echo in your mind almost every day in your career as an officer, however long and distinguished that might be, and they will usually come to you when you need them most. Serve To Lead. Serve To Lead - Introduction to the 2nd Edition Shortly after the amalgamation of the Royal Military College Sandhurst and the Royal Military Academy Woolwich in 1947, the new academic staff compiled an anthology designed to introduce cadets to the complexities of military leadership. They chose as the title the motto of the new Academy, “Serve To Lead”. This was a paradox, but one which was immediately understood by a generation which had grown up in the First World War, had suffered economic privation in the Depression, had fought in the Second World War, and had then voted en masse in 1945 for Atlee’s Labour Party. By the end of the twentieth century, upwards of 50,000 British officers had received copies. To many it became a treasured possession, an old friend to whom one could turn in times of need. Indeed, more than one very senior officer referred to it as ‘the Bible’.

But like the Bible, by the beginning of the third millennium Serve to Lead was beginning to show its age. It contained extracts from histories popular in the 1940s, but subsequently shown to be factually flawed, written by men like Sir John Fortescue and Sir Arthur Bryant. Also included were extracts from radio broadcasts made by generals like Slim, Montgomery and Harding to help Britain through post war austerity. In language redolent of the time before the First World War, they exhorted the youth of the nation to ‘play up, play up and play the game’. Slim, for one, had made these broadcasts out of a sense of duty, but was a little embarrassed by the result. He confided to a friend that it was ‘all jolly hockey-sticks’ and ‘carry on St Hildas’; it is difficult to believe that men with Montgomery’s and Harding’s acerbic wit did not feel the same. Perhaps most importantly, Serve to Lead failed to address an extensive critique of military leadership which had begun in the middle of the nineteenth century, and had been reinforced by disasters of the Boer War, the First World War and the early years of the Second World War.

Clearly the editors of the anthology hoped that if they did not afford the critics space, they would be ignored. The core of Serve to Lead, the distilled experience of some of the best soldiers Britain has ever produced, is pure gold and has been kept intact. Men like Slim, Montgomery, Harding and Hackett fought in actions of an intensity and commanded formations of a size which it is improbable (though not impossible) that any British commander will see again. Much of Fortescue, Bryant and some others has been discarded. Their place has been taken by the best of recent scholarship, for example, the letters of Ivor Maxse, the most brilliant trainer of men Britain produced during the First World War, the diary of Alan Brooke, the CIGS for much of the Second World War and the primary architect of victory, and, at the other end of the military hierarchy the recollections of Lieutenant Sydney Jary, MC, the only platoon commander in British 2nd Army to survive from Normandy to the German surrender in command of the same platoon.

The new edition has also included the thoughts of officers who fought in the campaigns, both conventional and unconventional, of the second half of the twentieth century, men like Julian Thompson, John Kiszely, Hew Pike and Rupert Smith. It has also extended the range of the extracts. The editors of the original edition failed to include a single instance of women exercising leadership, even though there were many examples to hand, SOE operatives like Odette Churchill and Nancy Wake. It seems equally perverse that an anthology on British military leadership should not include the thoughts of Oliver Cromwell, George Anson, Sir John Moore, Ernest Shackleton and several others of like stature, all of whom have many interesting things to say on the subject.. So, too, does Xenophon, whose experiences recounted in his Anabasis, written at the beginning of the 4th Century BC, leap across the centuries. Many of the problems faced by Xenophon in the mountains of Anatolia are exactly the same as those faced by young officers in the mountains of Afghanistan at the dawn of the third millennium AD.

Having just emerged from an era of total war, and expecting the outbreak of the Third World War at any moment, the editors of the original anthology selected extracts which dealt almost exclusively with behaviour on the battlefield, or directly related to sustaining forces on the battlefield. The material chosen for the new anthology reflects the much more complex world of the 21st Century. Like their predecessors the officers of today require physical courage, but just as important, and much more difficult, is moral courage. The anthology includes examples of individuals who placed their careers on the line in defence of a greater principle, but there are just as many examples of individuals who failed the test. The reader will quickly discover that a major difference between the enthologies is that the new edition balances the positive with the negative. Indeed, examples of what not to do are sometimes the more important. During the past fifty years the motto Serve to Lead, and all it stands for, has been an object of ridicule for some sociologists, psychologists, and social historians. For example, the author of the Peter Principle, the Canadian psychologist Professor Lawrence Peter, once queried “serve to lead” with the question “Why should the ability to lead depend on the ability to follow?

You might as well speak of the ability to swim depending on the ability to sink”. “Serve to lead” is, of course, a paradox, but it is a paradox which should be understood by every officer cadet after each has completed the first command task on Barossa. If cadets have not understood the meaning of the paradox, they have no business aspiring to be officers in the British Army. Leadership ‘Leadership is a process by which a single aim and unified action are imparted to the herd. Not surprisingly, it is most in evidence in times or circumstances of danger or challenge. Leadership is not imposed like authority. It is actually welcomed and wanted by the led’. Correlli Barnett Address to the Army Staff College 1977. A Simple Truth? Discussion of leadership is so often overloaded with vague but emotive ideas that one is hard put to it to nail the concept down.

To cut through the panoply of such quasi-moral and unexceptionable associations as “patriotism”, “play up and play the game”, the ever-asking-your-men-do-something-you-wouldn’t-do-yourself” formula, “not giving in (or up)”, the “square-jaw-frank-eyes-steadfast-gaze” formula, and the “if... you’ll be a man” recipe, one comes to the simple truth that leadership is no more than exercising such an influence upon others that they tend to act in concert towards achieving a goal which they might not have achieved so readily had they been left to their own devices”. Norman Dixon, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence (1975). Clearly Expressed ‘Leadership is the phenomenon that occurs when the influence of A (the leader) causes B (the group) to perform C (goal-directed behaviour) when B would not have performed C had it not been for the influence of A’. WH Henderson Cohesion: The Human Element in Combat (1985). Or Not So Simple? And Not So Clear? Unlike characters in novels and films, most men react nervously to real battle conditions.

Discipline and regimental pride are supports but, in decisive moments of great danger, the grip of the leader on the led is paramount. Infantry section and platoon commanders must possess the minds and hearts of their soldiers. Strength of character is not enough. Successful leadership in battle, although complex and intangible, always seemed to me to depend on two factors. Firstly, soldiers must have confidence in their leaders’ professional ability and, secondly, they must trust them as men. It helps, too, if a leader has the reputation of being lucky. Sydney Jary MC 18 Platoon (1987). Leadership and Management We do not in the Army talk of “management”, but of “leadership”. This is significant. There is a difference between leadership and management. The leader and the men who follow him represent one of the oldest, most natural and most effective of all human relationships. The manager and those he manages are a later product, with neither so romantic nor so inspiring a history. Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision: its practice is an art.

Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its practice is a science. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential. Address to the Australian Institute of Management 4 April 1957 by Field Marshal Sir William Slim Governor General of Australia. In A Nutshell Fixed (things) = management Variables (people) = leadership Major General Julian Thompson, Commanding 3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands Conflict 1982. Being a Leader - The Desiderata 401BC When on active service the commander must prove himself conspicuously careful in the matter of forage, quarters, water-supply, outposts, and all other requisites; forecasting the future and keeping ever a wakeful eye in the interest of those under him; and in case of any advantage won, the truest gain which the head of affairs can reap is to share with his men the profits of success. Indeed, to put the matter in a nutshell, there is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform.

If, further, the men shall see in their commander, one who, with the knowledge how to act, has force of will and cunning to make them get the better of the enemy; and, if, further, they have the notion well into their heads that this same leader may be trusted not to lead them recklessly against the foe, without the help of Heaven, or despite the auspices - I say, you have a list of virtues which make those under his command the more obedient to their ruler. Xenophon, Kyrou Anabasis (400 BC). Being A Leader - The Desiderata - In All Times Perfect your military knowledge, study the use of weapons, their tactical handling, the enemy’s character and methods, and the way to make use of ground. Study the men under your command. Know them well and be known to them. Gain their confidence by your knowledge, energy and skill, and by your interest in their welfare. Always be cheerful with them, however you may feel. Teach yourself to think out reasoned appreciations leading to clever but uncomplicated plans quickly but unhurriedly. Study methods of deception and make full use of them. Always aim at misleading the enemy. Always seek surprise.

Keep your object clearly before you. Concentrate your efforts and resources at the decisive point. Always think well ahead. Work out the best methods of control in different tactical situations. Practise them constantly. Study the situation carefully. Don’t waste any time. Make up your mind and stick to it. Get out your orders quickly. Make certain that everyone clearly knows what you intend to be done. Maintain the initiative. Make opportunities and seize them at once. Don’t wait for them to come. Be prepared to take risks, but don’t be foolhardy. Know your commander’s intention and act in accordance with it. Don’t wait for orders. Inaction is always wrong. Never take counsel of your fears. Think of the enemy’s difficulties and how you can take advantage of them. Remember that it is willpower that wins. Never relax your efforts until victory is won. Attend to the comfort of the troops before you think of your own. Be loyal to your superiors and to your subordinates. Express your views clearly and frankly, but when a decision has been reached support it fully, and stop all criticism. Never take shelter behind others when things for which you are responsible have gone wrong. Refrain from jealousy, resentment and self-seeking.

Be tactful. Never make friction. Be thoughtful and considerate, but maintain firm discipline. Never order troops to do what you are not prepared to do yourself. Never give an unnecessary order. Never overlook failure to carry one out. Keep fit yourself and make certain that your men do, too. Keep your own nerves under control and study your men’s. Last of all remember that success in war depends more than anything else on the will to win. Brigadier Maunsell, an extract from The RMA Sandhurst Study Morale, Leadership, Discipline (1947). Three Types of Leader Institutional leaders who maintain their position by virtue of the established social prestige attached to their office. Dominant leaders who maintain their position by virtue of their personal capacity to impress and dominate their followers. Persuasive leaders who maintain their position by virtue of the personal capacity to express and persuade their followers. FC Bartlett, Psychology and the Soldier (1927). A Leader - not a Paragon I said that leadership was concerned with getting people to do things. What I meant was getting them “To do things willingly”. What then must there be to a leader if he is to secure this willing acceptance of what he wants?

He must be able to offer to those under him what they need. First of all they need direction in the execution of a common enterprise. But they have other needs and these of course will vary. It may be courage when they are afraid. It may be perception when they are muddled and confused. He must give them this. But above all, he must be able to take upon himself some part of their trouble and so help to secure their release from a burden which can be intolerable. He must be the possessor of qualities which are relevant to the task with which his men are concerned, skills and qualities which they respect. Even at the lowest level of military leadership the leader may not have all the relevant skills. It does not matter: what the group wants is a leader not a paragon. He must have understanding. It is worth remembering that military practice is group practice. Many of the military forms which look so unnecessary or even absurd, the worship of regimental totems, the eccentricities of dress and custom, the cultivation of a separate identity for the group - these have been developed and are still dedicated precisely to the creation and maintenance of that coherence on which the effective performance of a group under pressure depends. The leader must realise this.

He must be able to manage fear, first in himself for if he cannot then his leadership must begin to fail: but in others also for otherwise they may collapse. He must also be able to manage failure as well as success, for failure is seldom final and the man helped on from one failure may well fail no more. The personal qualities required are not found everywhere. A few people are born with them but too few, for the Army as for any other enterprise where leadership is wanted. Men who might be leaders have therefore to be sought out, and then trained and helped to form the habit of acting as the leader should. I would add only this. A man really only gets a full response from the men he leads by something approaching a complete fusion of his own identify with the whole that he and they together form. This demands a great deal of the leader. General Sir John Hackett C-in-C British Army of the Rhine February 1968. (Transcript of BBC broadcast Looking for Leadership, February 1968).

The Many Forms of Leadership Field Marshal The Lord Harding of Petherton, addressing the Senior Division when C.I.G.S., July 1953 said: There are some people who believe that leadership is something which is inborn, or which you acquire automatically at a public school; but neither of those things is true. There are certain fundamental qualities which affect leadership and which depend to a very large extent on upbringing and the moral and spiritual values which you learn in your family and in your environment as a young man; but there is no special way, nor is there any special cast or class, which has the prerogative of leadership. There are many forms of leadership. Political parties have their leaders; every big organisation in industry or commerce, all have their leaders; and, at the other end of the scale, so do dance bands, and so do gangs of thieves and smugglers. There are many qualities that apply equally to every type of leader, but you and I are concerned with one particular type of leadership - to my mind the highest type of all - and that is leadership on the battlefield; and I believe it to be of the highest type because it has to be exercised under conditions of great difficulty and considerable danger.

I would like you to be quite clear about the conditions under which you will have to exercise leadership. You will frequently be tired. You may also be cold and wet, and hungry, and thirsty. You may be dripping with sweat, or you may be freezing with cold. You won’t know precisely what is going on; you won’t know exactly where the enemy is; you certainly won’t know what he is going to do, or what is capabilities are of doing anything. You may not know where your own people are, or what they are going to do. To put it briefly, you have got to be able to exercise leadership in conditions of fatigue and fear, uncertainty and ignorance, and often in isolation. That is what makes it extremely difficult, and that is why leadership on the battlefield calls, in my view, for the very highest qualities. Now, you have got a good deal to help you.

You have got the comradeship of your men and, I hope their confidence; you have the traditions and the reputation of the Regiment or Corps to which you have the honour to belong; and, above all, you have the knowledge that what you have to do, however difficult and dangerous it may be, you are doing as your duty in the service of your Queen and your country, and even above that you have the knowledge of your duty to God. So that you have many beliefs and factors to help you in this particularly difficult job, and it is always as well to remember that when you talk about the difficulties. Many qualities are required in a leader. Different people have different views about which are the more important. In my opinion there are five outstanding - mental and physical, moral and spiritual - qualities without which you cannot hope to be successful and a good leader on the battlefield. The first of those qualities is a mental and physical one, and that is fitness - absolute fitness of mind and body. If your brain is not clear, you cannot control it and make it think logically and quickly and come to sound conclusions: then you cannot make the plans or the decisions that are required of a leader of men in battle.

If your body is not absolutely fit so that you can force out of it that last ounce of effort that is needed to carry through your job, or to achieve success - well, you won’t succeed. So absolute fitness of mind and body is essential. Then I would say that you have got to have complete integrity. You have got to be honest, not only with yourself but with the men you lead and the people with whom you work; and honesty and integrity are things that you cannot compromise with - you cannot alter; if you do, you will lose confidence and you will not be able to lead. You must have complete integrity. Next after that - not in any order of priority, but this is how I have put them down to keep them in my own mind - there is an enduring courage. Pretty well everyone can be brave for a few minutes.

Most of us can, if we steel ourselves to it, take one plunge, or make one decision, or incur one risk But the sort of courage you must have to lead on the battlefield is an enduring courage, and one that will go on when other people falter; one that will enable you to do what you know to be right, irrespective of the danger or the difficulty, often contrary to the advice of well-meaning friends. Then you must have daring initiative. Initiative means doing right away what you might, if you had time, think of doing a few minutes later. If you wait for things to happen to you, they will happen all right - and here I am quoting the words of my predecessor, also spoken here: they will happen to you, but they won’t be what you like, and they certainly won’t bring you success. Initiative means seeing at once - and very quickly - what needs to be done making up your mind to do it, and then seeing it through right to the bitter end. Then you must have undaunted will-power.

The will-power is the motive power; it is what enables you to make yourself fit in mind and body; to produce in you - in your heart - the courage, the enduring courage that I spoke of; to give you the courage to do your duty and to make the sacrifice that may be called from you. It is the will-power that forces you to take the initiative, to make the plan, to do what is required, and to see it through: and that willpower must be “undaunted”, it must never allow itself to be overcome or subdued. It is the will-power that is superior, that can wrest victory in the teeth of odds - that is the type of will-power that has got to be developed in a leader on the battlefield. Now I would like you to notice not only the qualities that I have mentioned, but the adjectives I have applied to them, because in those adjectives are implied a great many of the other qualities.

I spoke of “absolute” fitness, of “complete” integrity, of “enduring” courage, of “bold, daring initiative”, and of “undaunted” will-power; and there is a great deal of meaning in the adjectives as well as in the nouns which I would like you to remember. There are other requirements that are needed as well. There are many of them, but there are three that I would like to mention to you here this afternoon. The first is knowledge. If you are to have the courage to take the initiative, to produce the will-power that is needed, you must have knowledge. You must know more than those under your command - a good deal more. You must know the power and the capabilities of the weapons at your disposal. You must know how the other resources that you can rely on to help you can best be used. You must know how much you can ask of your men. You must know what the enemy’s capabilities are. You must know how best all arms can cooperate and combine to gain success on the battlefield. You must know how to use the ground and any other aids there may be. You must know what support you can count on from the air and other supporting weapons.

All that requires a great deal of study and thought, and practice and experience. The next quality that I wish to mention is judgement. You have got to have judgement. You have got to be able to assess values, and assess them quickly and under difficult circumstances, and that calls for judgement , and judgement is only learned by experience and practice. You will never learn to judge and to assess value if you are afraid of making mistakes - never. So don’t be afraid of making mistakes. You will find the principles of war are frequently in conflict in any particular problem which you may be faced, and you have to weigh up and decide which in the particular circumstances is the more important of the principles - which you can stick to, which you can discard - and that needs judgement. That judgement only comes from knowledge, practice and experience. The third thing I would like to mention this afternoon is the team spirit, because you cannot get success on the battlefield by yourself; you have got to work with other people. You have got, in the first place, to get the full confidence of the men under your command; you have got to train them to work as a team, and you have got to lead them as a team leader.

Then your team has to fit in with other teams, and so on all the way up, and throughout the whole business of life, and training, and war. The Army - throughout every part of it - has got to work as a number of teams, and these teams have got to work together to one common end, and so the team spirit becomes of supreme importance: and it is only as a member - as a leader - of a well-trained, confident, highly skilled team that you can exercise successful leadership on the battlefield. Success in battle really comes from a combination of the skill and daring of the leader and the skill and confidence of the led, and we, the British nation, have produced in the past many great and splendid leaders. The one that is outstanding in my mind as an example of what I have been trying to say to you this afternoon in regard to skill and daring and confidence is Nelson. You will wonder why I have quoted a sailor to an audience of soldiers, but it doesn’t matter what service he comes from - the three Services have got to work together.

If you study Nelson’s battles you will see that in every case he gained his victory by his skill, his knowledge, his boldness, and by the confidence that everyone who served under him had in his judgement and in his decisions: and that is the standard at which we have all got to aim to obtain victory in battle. There is one other thing that I would like to say to you. As British officers, you will never have all you want, all you need. You will be short of this, or that, or the other. Sometimes you will be short of men; at other times your equipment or weapons may not be as good as you think they ought to be, nor will you have as many as you would like. You may be short of ammunition. You may also be short of food and water, or other necessary things. When these circumstances arise - as they will do often throughout your service, both in peace and war - there is only one motto, and that is to make certain that you do the very best you can with what you have got. Don’t bellyache about what you have not got, but get on and make certain that you do your utmost with what you have got.

It is very important for British officers, in whatever arm or branch of the Service they may be, to make up their minds that that is what they will always do: and that is what I hope all of you here will always make your motto in the years to come. Now, to sum up what I have tried to say to you this afternoon, I would like to put it like this. First, keep fit - absolutely fit. Then, be honest - honest with yourselves and honest with all those with whom you work. Then, have courage - and make it an enduring courage. Next, be bold, be daring, and when there is a choice take the bold and daring course. Make the very most always of what you have got. And never, never, never give in. Leadership, Learning and Intellectual Development Theory Before Practice Officers are here reminded, that it is only by the theory and just reading that the first principles of all professional subjects are in general attained by the majority of mankind. The practical part may be afterwards successfully pursued.

Sir John Moore (1803) Great Military Genius ‘Intellectual power makes up a large part of what we term “great military genius”, and for this reason the officer who is training for high position in war should endeavour to develop his reasoning powers. But he must do this through constant critical examination of the past and present, rather than through metaphysical speculation... Generalmajor Hugo Baron von Freytag-Loringhoven The Power of Personality in War (1911). A Little Learning ‘At a university a student only comes to post-graduate research after he has a general grounding in history as a schoolboy, and then, as an undergraduate, has developed this background by the study of the constitutional and economic aspects, and of special periods. Yet the military student, who comes late to his subject, when his mind is less supple than in adolescence, is expected to begin at a point corresponding with post-graduate research’. Basil Liddell Hart’s The Decisive Wars of History (1929). The Little Grain of Mustard Seed The officer must, of course, have the knowledge and qualities of a leader, which are defined in the text-books; these, I think, we all know well and recognise.

But he must also, as our Training and Manoeuvre Regulations wisely enjoin, have a broad outlook and wide general education; and this is where the average officer at present is apt to fail. The new system of education at the Royal Military College and at the Royal Military Academy will undoubtedly tend to eliminate this weakness, if the little grain of mustard seed implanted there is kept watered during early military life, and weeded later on. Colonel Archibald Wavell, Royal United Services Institute (15 Feb 1933). Too Clever By Half? But I slowly realised that I was going against the Army tide of the time, which emphasised older commanders and de-emphasised education and broadening experiences. It was a time of the “country-boy” and “jes’ plain soldierin’”. Lots of people with fancy masters degrees and PhDs kept it quiet if they could. It was the Vietnam backlash, though it took a long time to develop. I couldn’t help what I had already done or how I had worked my way up.

After the Rhodes scholarship and finishing at the top of the class in the Command and General Staff College, I had gotten an Army-wide reputation, and I was stuck with it, for better or worse. General Wesley K Clark Waging Modern War (2001). Training Trained in Peace to Use Their Wits Success in war cannot be expected unless all ranks have been trained in peace to use their wits. Generals and Commanding Officers are therefore not only to encourage their subordinates by affording them constant opportunities of acting on their own responsibilities, but they must also check all practices which interfere with the free exercise of their judgement, and will break down by every means in their power the paralysing bait of an unreasonable and mechanical adherence to the letter of orders and to routine. Lord Roberts (1902). A Wee Bit Puzzled In 1903 Major Ernest Swinton, a 35 year old engineer officer wrote the first instalment of The Defence of Duffer’s Drift for Blackwood’s magazine.

Based on his own experiences in the Boer War, Swinton condemned his anti-hero Lt ‘Backsight Forethought’ (BF - bloody fool in polite Edwardian parlance) to relive the same tactical disaster each day until he finally gets it right. In the following sequence Lt BF muses on the inadequacies of his military education as he prepares for his disastrous first action. Between you and me, I was really relieved to be able to put off my defensive measures till the morrow, because I was a wee bit puzzled as to what to do. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled I grew. The only “measures of defence” I could recall for the moment were, how to tie “a thumb or overhand knot”, and how long it takes to cut down an apple tree of six inches diameter. Unluckily neither of these useful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, if they had given me a job like fighting the battle of Waterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knew all about that, as I had crammed it up and been examined in it too.

I also knew how to take up a position for a division, or even an army corps, but the stupid little subaltern’s game of the defence of a drift with a small detachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing. I had never really considered such a thing. However, in the light of my habitual dealings with army corps, it would, no doubt, be child’s-play after a little thought. ‘Backsight Forethought’ (Lt Col Ernest Swinton) The Defence of Duffer’s Drift (1903). The Worst Instructed Youths Their methods, whereby the majority of the candidates for the Army, as is clearly proved by the last Qualifying Report, are the worst instructed youths of their rank and means in any civilized community, have recently been criticized with amazement and shame by the Public Press. In regard to the Promotion Courses in Military History, the fantastic fashion in which they trifle with a subject of the first importance to officers, is an insult to the intelligence of our race.

They enact that a fragment of a campaign, at most five weeks out of four years in America, and less than five weeks out of six months in France, shall serve for two examination papers, a “general” and a “special” for lieutenants and captains of our army. I need scarcely say that such a course for any one examination would be laughed at by a West Point cadet, or by a German one-year volunteer. It is simply preposterous. The Courses are altered every year in a whimsical fashion, with utter indifference to the interests of military literature, and with ruinous results to the enterprise of publishers. Thomas Miller Maguire The Franco-German War (1909). Dysfunctional Training In the inter war period of the last century training at Britain’s premier military institutions fell behind the demands of modern war. The Royal Military College at Sandhurst and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich produced young officers who were physically fit, who could perform polished drill, and who felt themselves to be members of an elite. ‘Life at Sandhurst’, according to a cadet who graduated in 1929, ‘was tough but it was exhilarating and the cadets were a dedicated corps d’elite’.

The constant hustling to which the cadets were subjected ensured that they could work satisfactorily under pressure. What the colleges did very imperfectly was to encourage cadets to use their initiative and think for themselves, or to train them in leadership skills as tacticians. It was only when they arrived at their regiment that young officers began to learn how to lead men, usually under the benign tutelage of their platoon or troop sergeant. The purely educational content of the syllabus was increased in the 1920s at the expense of military training but, even so, a cadet who passed through Sandhurst in 1935 recorded that ‘Independent thinking is frowned on as heresy - no divergence from official view allowed. The initiative and intellectual curiosity that was supposed to be imparted by the educational syllabus was largely nullified by too much time spent on the parade ground. A Staff Sergeant curtly informed a cadet who tried to express an opinion that ‘You are not allowed to think, Sir!’. Out of a total of 1,350 training hours, no less than 515 hours were spent ‘producing the private soldier cadet’. This was a dysfunctional approach to training.

It ill-fitted officers to deal with the unexpected calls which were going to be made on them on the battlefield. David French Raising Churchill’s Army: The British Army and the War Against Germany 1919-1945 (2000). The training received by British Officers left them at a distinct disadvantage when they engaged in combat with the Germans. When manoeuvre is required, so is speed and imagination and initiative. I never thought our system was perfect for breeding those qualities. Individuals possessed them - splendidly. But the system itself was differently designed. Peter Carrington Reflect on Things Past: The Memoirs of Lord Carrington (1989). British Muslim soldiers | Military Migrants British Muslim soldiers by vron The significance of Muslims serving in the UK military has been highlighted several times in the last few days, both times in relation to the killing of a soldier in Woolwich. The first was by Paul Goodman on the conservativehome website. In a longer piece on the implications of a terror attack committed by Islamists in the UK he said: Islam is compatible with democracy, Islamism is not – but politicians have neither the knowledge nor the mandate to help shape “a British Islam”.

Perhaps all they can do is run an effective security strategy, and make limited political progress. The latter would include recruiting more Muslims into the armed forces – there were about 600 in 2010: one of the biggest barriers to recruitment, according to Shiraz Maher’s Ties That Bind , is that young Muslims are unaware that the opportunity to join is there at all. (Maher’s pamphlet for Policy Exchange tells the story of how hundreds of thousands of Muslims fought for Britain in two world wars.) Here we note that offering young British Muslims the chance to join the armed forces would constitute ‘limited political progress’. The second piece approached the subject of Muslims in the armed forces head on, and from the perspective of an ex-army officer and member of the Armed Forces Muslim Association. Afzal Amin’s article , published in the Guardian comment is free section, was entitled: ‘Extremists will not divide our armed forces’. Amongst other things he wrote: As we witness this brutality in Woolwich, more than 600 Muslim personnel are deployed in Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere, contributing to our collective security.

This attack is not connected to them, nor the armed forces, who have helped so many Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan – two theatres in which the principal beneficiaries of military intervention have been Muslim civilians and their governments. So in addition to contributing to a functioning diverse and cohesive military, he claimed, Muslim soldiers can also perform useful security functions while they are at it – symbolically as well as practically in terms of culture and language. Amin’s pitch, overtly politicised by virtue of the fact that he is a Tory parliamentary candidate, was subsequently reiterated in an interview in the Independent . Under the headline: “Terror in Woolwich – a soldier’s tale: UK Muslims – your country needs you” he said: The Prophet Mohamed said: ‘Love for one’s nation is part of faith’; ‘Who serves a people is the best of them’, and that ‘the Muslim is the one from whose hands and tongue others are safe’. The motto of Sandhurst is ‘Serve to Lead’. These are all British values and Islamic values,” he says.

Having left the army in April he is now free to claim that in his last deployment in Afghanistan in 2012 he acted as “a strategist advising US generals on conflict termination strategy through civil society engagement and empowerment”. So how did that go? Clearly the mundane practice of “diversity” in this secretive and defensive institution entails something more than vague notions of inclusion and representativeness. While there are indeed important things to say about this, there are underlying questions about how and why the military has come to dominate national public life, and why military service now carries such weight as a profession unlike any other. This short piece below briefly outlines the significance of Muslims serving in the British military today. (However, it summarises a much longer discussion in the book which looks at racism inside the armed forces as well as the the concept of “militarised multiculture”.) Muslims and Military Service In 2006 Jabron Hashmi, 24, became the first British Muslim soldier to die in Afghanistan. His older brother, Zeeshan, who had also worked in the British Army, said at the time: ‘Jabron was a committed soldier and a committed Muslim.

He was fiercely proud of his Islamic background and he was equally proud of being British and was very proud to live in Britain.’ The death in service of this avowedly Muslim patriot was acknowledged as a significant event at the highest levels. The following year members of Hashmi’s family, who lived in Birmingham and were originally from Pakistan, were asked to lay the foundation stone for the new National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. However, although Jabron’s death was commemorated as a form of sacrifice for the nation, it was also perceived as an act of betrayal by many other Muslims. In a BBC report entitled ‘UK’s Muslim soldiers “fighting extremists not Muslims”’, Zeeshan Hashmi subsequently revealed that, following Jabron’s death, the family had received many letters from ‘well-wishers of all faith and backgrounds’, which had a great source of comfort. But they had also experienced hostility on the grounds that Jabron was considered a traitor. These divergent responses help to illustrate why the figure of the Muslim performing military service is so significant. At one extreme, as a British soldier, Jabron Hashmi was hailed as a hero who gave his life for his country.

For others, as a Muslim, he was accused of betraying his faith by fighting in a war that demonised Islam as the enemy of western civilisation. Yet it is not often that we hear about the experience of minorities, particularly those who are Muslims, who decide to work in the armed forces. The most recent statistics published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) indicate that there are 650 Muslims serving in the UK armed services. [ii] Of these, 550 are in the British Army, constituting 0.5% of the total. In common with other faith groups, Muslim servicemen and women maintain a network of mutual support known as the Armed Forces Muslim Association (AFMA). So what does this tell us about the conditions of diversity in the army? A modern multicultural military? Within the past decade the MoD has been able to claim that, in terms of numbers, the proportion of black and minority ethnic personnel in all three services has risen from just over one per cent to more than seven per cent. In the British Army, the figure currently hovers around ten per cent.

This rise can partly be explained by the fact that residency regulations for Commonwealth citizens were dropped in 1998, partly in response to a documented levels of racism and the virtual absence of diversity in the workforce. Today, two thirds of BME personnel are classified as ‘foreign and Commonwealth’, and this figure does not include Gurkhas who are recruited from Nepal. [iii] The employment of soldiers from outside the UK has had a significant impact on the institution’s progression towards becoming a multicultural (and multi-faith) employer. But this process of modernisation has also been mandated by law. In 2003 the religion and belief elements of the European Employment Framework Directive were incorporated into the UK Employment Equality Regulations. Two years later the appointment of Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu chaplains replaced a system whereby religious leaders were engaged simply as advisers. For Muslims, as for other faith groups, this reform meant the possibility of a support network for individuals scattered across the institution. Diversity as a martial asset When Imam Asim Hafiz took up the post of first Muslim chaplain in 2005, it was unclear how many Muslims were serving since comprehensive statistics were only collected from 2007.

By 2009, there were 500 Muslims in the regular armed forces. Over four hundred of these were in the army, and a significant proportion were citizens of countries such as The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Pakistan. It was at this point that AFMA was set up with the licence to explore the wider issue of Muslims serving in the military. In the first newsletter, Imam Hafiz explained how the group hoped to persuade civilians about the significance of their work: “Unfortunately there is a huge … ignorance in some parts of the Muslim community and I hope that AFMA will be able to bridge the gap between the Armed Forces and the Muslim community and be a reminder that HM Forces are as integral to British society as are other British institutions such as the Police Force, the fire service and the NHS that are here to serve this nation as whole including the Muslim community.” [iv] The Imam was supported by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in his expressed aims to educate the Muslim community about the opportunities provided by military service.

The MCB issued a report entitled Remembering the Brave: The Muslim Contribution to Britain’s Armed Forces in which they confront the issue, not just of ignorance about what it might mean to serve in the military, but also the depth of hostility towards the government’s foreign policy. The report asserts that ‘Loyalty does not mean the suspension of our critical faculties and failure to question our contested national engagements.’ [v] In an oblique reference to documented war crimes, such as the murder of civilian Baha Mousa in September 2003, committed by British soldiers in Iraq, the report ventures into more controversial territory: ‘We should ensure that the actions of a few does not diminish the overall expectations of our armed forces to abide by international laws of war and uphold fundamental human rights.’ While these arguments are addressed to UK citizens at home, the organization of Muslims inside the armed forces has been acknowledged by sections of the military leadership too. In 2009 the then Chief of the General Staff, General Sir David Richards, the first patron of the AFMA, commented publicly that Britain ‘had a commitment to … all those Muslims with whom we have a natural identity, given our own core values reflect very strongly to those of Muslim faith.

[vi] The raised profile of Muslim personnel – including the Imam – has also been utilised as a strategic asset in Afghanistan. This could be seen in news reports emphasising the participation of Muslims, whether joining forces with Afghan security personnel to celebrate Eid or acting as intermediaries with Afghan civilians. [vii] Seen in this light, the pragmatic tools of counter-insurgency warfare intersect with the symbolic aspects of soldiering on the domestic front. [i] Armed Forces Muslim Association see [ii] UK Defence Statistics, April 2012. Chapter 2. Personnel. Table 2.12 Strength of UK Regular Forces by Service and religion, at 1 April each year. Defence Analytical Services Agency. [iii] Ministry of Defence. Biannual Diversity Dashboard. 01 October 2012. Section 2 – Ethnic origin and nationality representation of UK Regular Forces by Service. [iv] Imam Asim Hafiz, ‘The love of your country is part of your faith’. AFMA Newsletter, July 2010, p. 7. [v] ‘The Armed Forces reflecting Modern Britain: the Muslim contribution today’ in Remembering the Brave: The Muslim Contribution to Britain’s Armed Forces.

A special report by the Muslim Council of Britain. (2009-2010 – Not dated), p. 9. [vi] In the same interview Richards also said, ‘It is very important for the Muslim community to be exposed to an alternative view as it is for the rest of the nation. The Taliban kill many more Muslims than we do.’ [vii] See, for example: On November 16 2010 the Muslim chaplain gave a sermon to a multi-national congregation in the festival of Eid ul Adha in conjunction with the Imam of the local 205 Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA). A lengthy report in the MoD’s Defence News site revealed that there were 600 Muslims present, including representatives from across ISAF military forces, defence contractors and civilian workers as well as ‘local Afghans’. The occasion was hailed as a reflection of ‘the united relationship’ between ISAF and the Afghan National Army (MoD, Defence News, 2012).

Sandhurst, where wonderful warriors are made - Telegraph Sandhurst, where wonderful warriors are made John Keegan typified the Sandhurst values of moral courage, loyalty and the idea of service The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where generations of officers have been educated Photo: Ian Jones By Michael Dewar Comments Yesterday, I returned to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, whose doors I first walked through as a young officer cadet on a January morning in 1960. I went back to pay tribute to my lifelong friend John Keegan. Not only was he the outstanding military historian of his generation – he was knighted for his services to the nation in the Millennium New Year’s Honours List – he was also sometime defence editor of this paper, and remembered fondly by Telegraph readers for his magazine column recording life in the village of Kilmington in the West Country. I had known John since my early Sandhurst days, when he taught me military history. I renewed that friendship a decade later, when I returned to the Academy as an instructor and we became close. Forty years later, we found ourselves living within a few miles of each other on the Somerset-Wiltshire borders, until his recent death.

During the memorial service, I reflected upon Sandhurst, its place in our national life, the extraordinary influence it has exerted across the world and the part played by John and others like him in educating generations of officers. The Academy’s motto is “Serve to Lead”, a paradox if ever there was one. But this seeming contradiction is precisely at the heart of what makes Sandhurst a very special place. It teaches, above all else, that an officer must lead by the force of his unselfish example; it explicitly emphasises the centrality of leadership rather than man-management. Field Marshall Bill Slim said, “Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its practice is a science. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential.” “Leadership,” Bill Slim went on to say, “is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision, its practice is an art.” Thus Sandhurst tries to develop rather than teach leadership. An officer cadet is assessed for his so-called “officer qualities”, which is code for leadership potential.

A young man or woman will either possess these qualities or they will not, which explains why only about 30 per cent of those who aspire to a commission in the British Army go on to wear those pips on their shoulders. Related Articles Philip Hammond is brought to book 28 Apr 2013 The staff at Sandhurst, of whom John was a leading exemplar, instil the crucial values of moral courage, high standards, a strong work ethic, loyalty both upwards and downwards and the idea of service – which is particularly of service to those whom these young men and women are so privileged to lead. Suddenly the paradox of “Serve to Lead” makes sense. Sandhurst is incredibly successful at creating leaders. This is for a number of reasons. Partly because it is the only academy in the world that entrusts, to such a large extent, the military education of its officers to senior non-commissioned officers and warrant officers. This is an inspired leap of faith: what better way of moulding a leader than putting him at the tender mercy of those whom he is destined to lead?

One is reminded of the oft-quoted sergeant major informing the hapless young officer cadet that, “I will call you sir and you will call me sir; the only difference, sir, is I don’t mean it.” These wonderful warriors I, for one, shall remember to my dying day. Sandhurst is also wise enough to include in the mix of its mostly military instructors men such as John Keegan. John was not a soldier – in his case childhood polio made a military career impossible – but he loved soldiers and soldiering. He and others, such as Professor Richard Holmes, added a magic ingredient to our education and an understanding of the traditions and achievements of the British Army through history. It helped us to be better leaders. Also key to its success is the fact that it is a truly international institution. It teaches its officers from an early age that there is a whole world out there where people might think rather differently. It teaches men and women to be tolerant, to be welcoming and to be helpful. Cadets from all walks of life, from all over the world, have started their military careers at Sandhurst, including future kings and prime ministers – most notably, of course, the King of Jordan and Sir Winston Churchill.

But then so did David Niven, Victor Silvester and James Blunt. The memorial chapel at Sandhurst was packed. Gen Sir Mike Jackson, in his address, described John as “indeed, one of the brotherhood; he was one of us”. It was a wonderful tribute to an exceptional man. But I am also grateful that it provided a reminder to me of what an extraordinary establishment the Royal Military Academy is – one of the foremost seats of military learning in the world. John Keegan taught at Sandhurst for 30 years. He loved the place. But above all, he loved and admired its alumni. Farewell, John, you will be hugely missed by the thousands of young officers you inspired over those three decades.

Col Michael Dewar was a soldier for 30 years and is a military historian Royal Military Academy Sandhurst | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Cap Badge of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Country 1802 (as Royal Military College) – Present Role Ten companies (subject to review) Part of Army Recruiting and Training Division Motto HM The Queen Major General Stuart Skeates CBE Insignia Royal Military Academy Sandhurst New Colours are presented to RMAS, June 2005. HRH Prince Harry of Wales (at attention, to left of horse) is on parade. New College buildings of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre located adjacent to the village of Sandhurst, Berkshire , about 55 kilometres (34 mi) southwest of London. The Academy's stated aim is to be "the national centre of excellence for leadership." All British Army officers, including late entry officers who were previously Warrant Officers , as well as many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at Sandhurst.

The Academy is the British Army equivalent of the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth , Royal Air Force College Cranwell and the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines . Contents Edit Sandhurst straddles the counties of Berkshire and Surrey; the county border marked by a small stream known as the Wish Stream, after which the Academy journal is named. Primarily, the Academy is situated in College Town, a suburb of Sandhurst, and partly in the outer region of Camberley town. The nearest railway station is Blackwater, Hampshire . History Royal Military College cricket grounds, Sandhurst, ca. 1895 Old College Royal Military Academy Sandhurst UK The roots of the present Royal Military Academy Sandhurst lie in two separate institutions. Firstly a Military Academy was established at Woolwich (a district now absorbed into south-east London) in 1720 to train cadets for commissions in the Royal Artillery , moving to a permanent location at Woolwich Common in 1806 and being granted Royal status in 1841, subsequently known as the "Shop". In 1806, the Royal Military Academy also took on the training of Royal Engineers officer cadets and, later, Royal Signals cadets.

Secondly, in 1799, a school for staff officers was established at High Wycombe and in 1801 it became the Senior Department of the Royal Military College (RMC). [1] The concept of the Royal Military College was the brainchild of John Le Marchant . [2] He opened the Junior Department of the College at West Street in Marlow [3] in 1802 [4] to train "Gentleman Cadets" for the infantry, cavalry and Indian Army . [1] (Coincidentally, this was the same year as both Saint-Cyr [5] and West Point were founded. [6] ) The Junior Department moved from Marlow in 1813, into the present buildings designed by James Wyatt at Sandhurst. [7] A few years later, the Junior Department was joined at Sandhurst from High Wycombe by the Senior Department, which in 1858 became a separate institution, the Staff College .

[1] On the outbreak of the Second World War, Sandhurst became the home of 161 Infantry Officer Cadet Training Unit (RMC), which moved to Mons Barracks, Aldershot in 1942; for the rest of the war Sandhurst was used as a Royal Armoured Corps Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU). [8] The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was formed in 1947 on the site of the former Royal Military College at Sandhurst from a merger between the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (which trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College (1802 to 1939). [9] Following the ending of National Service in the UK and the closing of the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot (which had trained Short Service Commissioned Officers) in 1972, the RMAS became the sole establishment for male initial officer training in the British Army.

[10] In 1984, the Women's Officer Training College Bagshot moved to Sandhurst and in 1992 a new Commissioning Course finally unified the training of male, female and foreign cadets. [1] The Wellington Room after Arthur Wellesley showing a depiction of Waterloo and his bust - RMAS Collection Marlborough Room showing tryptych on leather of the Battle of Blenheim by Horensburg RMAS Collection The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Collection shows the history of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, The Royal Military College and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The collection includes the Royal Military Academy's Gentlemen Cadet registers, historic archive, uniforms, paintings, photographs and other artefacts. [11] For the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the Academy hosted the running part of the modern pentathlon competition. [12] Training at Sandhurst was the subject of a three part television series, first broadcast by the BBC in October, 2011 (rebroadcast in April 2012). In February, 2013, Sandhurst accepted a donation of £3,000,000 from Bahrain.

In return, the Mons Hall, which had been named in honour of the heroes [13] who fell in the Battle of Mons , was renamed the King Hamad Hall, in honour of the King of Bahrain . [14] Selection Edit Potential officers are identified by the Army Officer Selection Board (formerly the Regular Commissions Board, or RCB) situated in Westbury in Wiltshire. [15] Nearly 10 percent of British cadets are female and nearly 10 percent of all cadets come from overseas. More than eighty percent of entrants are university graduates although it is not required. [16] Some officer cadets are serving soldiers. Technically, all cadets have the rank of private . Courses Edit Sandhurst develops leadership in cadets by expanding their character, intellect and professional competences to a level demanded of an Army Officer on first appointment through military training and education. [17] The course is accredited by various academic and professional institutions. [17] The Commissioning Course lasts 44 weeks and must be successfully completed by all British regular army officers (with some exceptions) before they receive their commission.

It is usually followed by further training courses specific to the Regiment or Corps in which the officer will serve. There are two shorter commissioning courses. One is for professionally qualified officers (e.g., doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, pharmacists , vets and chaplains ). [18] The second short course is Module 4 of the Territorial Army (TA) Commissioning Course (TACC), which lasts three weeks. The TACC consists of four training modules; the first three are conducted under the supervision of RMAS at TA Regional Training Centres , with Module 4 of the Officers' training and assessment being conducted at Sandhurst. This training typically takes 2 years to complete. Upon completion, Officer Cadets become Second Lieutenants in the TA or Officer Training Corps (OTC). [19] Each year, approximately 140 candidates undertake each of these two short courses. [1] Sandhurst also runs a variety of other courses for officers including the Late Entry Officer Course (LEOC). [20] RMAS has a renowned academic faculty staffed by civilian researchers with expertise in Communication and Applied Behavioural Science, Defence and International Affairs and War Studies.

[21] Unlike some other national military academies such as West Point in the United States , Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France and the Pakistan Military Academy in Pakistan Sandhurst is not a university. [22] Organization Edit In overall command of the RMAS is the Commandant of the Academy , usually an officer of Major General rank. The senior warrant officer, the Academy Sergeant Major (AcSM), is one of the most senior warrant officers in the British Army. The commissioning course is split up into three terms, each lasting fourteen weeks (referred to as the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Divisions, identified by differently coloured lanyards ). Basic army training is covered in the first five weeks which, by reputation, are the most gruelling (cadets' families are encouraged to support the cadets' morale by maintaining home contacts). The main RMAS Commissioning Courses start in January, May and September of each year. Each intake numbers approximately 200 cadets, each of whom is assigned to a platoon within one of two companies .

Platoons are commanded by captains , with a colour sergeant who takes the main burden of day-to-day training, especially during the first term (unlike West Point, RMAS entrusts the majority of officer training to Senior Non-Commissioned Officers ). There can be as many as ten companies within the RMAS at any one time, each commanded by a Major and named after a famous battle or campaign in which the British Army has fought. The company names change from year to year, and are drawn from the following: Inkerman Company Dettingen Company — the Short Courses mentioned above (for Territorial Army and Professionally Qualified Officers) are operated sequentially, and are each known as "Dettingen Company". Dettingen Company is divided along the same lines as the regular intakes, though smaller courses may consist of only two platoons. There is also a "rehabilitation" platoon — Lucknow Platoon. It looks after cadets who are injured during training, with a view to preparing them to re-enter the commissioning course or processing those who are medically discharged.

Cadets who fail to meet the required standard, or who have been injured, may be "back-termed", that is, "asked" to repeat the previous term and joining a later intake, or to repeat the whole course. Cadets nominate two regiments or corps that they seek to join, although in practice this may be influenced by their instructors, if particular strengths or weaknesses or aptitudes are seen to be important. In the middle term, interviews are held and final selections are made by the recruiting regiments and corps; there is competition for strong cadets by the units and, conversely, by cadets for prestigious or specialised units. Exceptionally, some cadets may have confirmed places in regiments before the formal selections or even before starting at Sandhurst. Regular Army Edit Open Day at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst A small number of regular army units are based at the RMAS to provide support for the colleges and their training: Gurkha Demonstration Company (Sittang): this is a company-sized unit drawn from all units of the Brigade of Gurkhas , to provide an opposing force in battle training for the cadets.

44 Support Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps : this is the RMAS's permanently based transport, logistic and signals support unit. Until 1984, the RMAS had its own band - The RMAS Band Corps, [23] the smallest corps in the British Army. Music is now provided by a variety of Corps of Army Music bands on rotation. Sovereign's Parade File:Oldcollegesandhurst2.jpg The first Sovereign's Parade was performed on 14 July 1948, in front of King George VI . Three Sovereign's Parades are held each year outside the Old College to mark the "passing-out" and the final parade at Sandhurst of the Senior Division. All cadets, except for those who have been back-termed through injury or other reasons, are inspected by the Sovereign (or her representative), participate in the Trooping the Colour and parade past the Sovereign (or her representative) and guests. Guests consist of invited dignitaries and friends and families of the graduating cadets. [1] During Trooping the Colour, the Colour is escorted by the Sovereign's Platoon, which has been selected on merit from the Senior Division.

The Sovereign's Platoon wears multi-coloured lanyards, using the colours of all three Divisions. At the end of the Parade, the Colours and the Senior Division leave the parade ground via the Grand Steps of the Old College building. They are followed by the College Adjutant, on horseback (the origins of this tradition are unclear). [1] Awards Edit Each Commissioning Course has awards granted to outstanding cadets. [24] The following awards are presented during the Sovereign's Parade. Others are merely listed in the Parade programme. A system of Cadet Government also recognises merit by the appointment of Senior Under Officers, Junior Under Officers, Cadet Sergeants and Cadet Corporals. [1] Sword of Honour Edit The Sword of Honour is awarded to the British Army Officer Cadet considered by the Commandant to be, overall, the best of the course. The swords were formerly made by Wilkinson Sword but after the closure of their sword making division they are now presented by Pooley Sword who also present swords for the Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. During WWII, when abbreviated courses were run to increase the supply of new officers, a Belt of Honour was awarded instead.

Queen's Medal The Queen's Medal is awarded to the British Army Officer Cadet who achieved the highest scores in military, practical and academic studies. Royal Memorial Chapel south aspect Royal Military Academy Sandhurst UK Overseas Sword Edit The Overseas Sword is awarded to one of the many cadets sent by foreign armies. The Overseas Sword goes to the Overseas Cadet considered by the Commandant to be the best of the course. It was previously known as the Overseas Cane. Duke of Westminster's Sword The Duke of Westminster's Sword is awarded to the officer cadet considered by the Commandant to be, overall, the best of the TA Commissioning Course. This sword is also donated by Pooley Sword . Alumni Edit There are two Chapels within the Academy, The Roman Catholic Chapel (Christ the King) and The Royal Memorial Chapel, dedicated as Christ Church, which also contains the South Africa Chapel, which was originally the sanctuary of the second Chapel before the it was enlarged. The original chapel was what is now known as the Indian Army Memorial Room. The Royal Engineers designed the original Chapel, which features red brick, terracotta moulding, interlocking pediment copies and corbels in 1879.

The Chapel was dedicated by King George VI on 2 May 1937, after architect Captain Arthur C. Martin enlarged the building in a Byzantine style . The Memorial stained glass and Windows in the chapel honour the Brigade of Guards ; Rifle Brigade ; Royal Fusiliers , Hampshire Regiment etc. Some memorials, including one honouring alumni of the US Military Academy at West Point , are carved into the black marble flooring. [25] On panels devoted to the particular campaigns in which they lost their lives, are the names of ex-cadets killed in action. At intervals above the panels are circular tablets to the memory of College Governors. The names of ex-cadets who have died on active service in the field, or elsewhere are listed in the spaces between the panels. Other tablets on the walls of the porch of the Church were moved there from the old Chapel. At the nave near the chancel steps, old Regimental colours hang from the pillars. [26] Chapel, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 1900 Interior of Chapel, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst 1900

Question: Which British military institution has the motto; "Serve To Lead"?
Answer: SANDHURST