News story

Army Reserve invites the people of Nottingham to recruitment event

This Saturday, 18 January, the Army Reserve will be calling on the people of Nottingham and the East Midlands to turn out and sign up.

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Reserves from the Honourable Artillery Company at a recruitment event on Horse Guards Parade in London (library image) [Picture: Sergeant Adrian Harlen, Crown copyright]

Reserves from the Honourable Artillery Company (library image)

Reservists from the East Midlands Army Reserve will be in the Old Market Square in Nottingham city centre between 10am and 4pm to showcase job opportunities.

Visitors will get the chance to speak to members of a number of local Army Reserve units to find out first-hand about the variety of jobs available and what army life is like.

Visitors will also be able to see the range of equipment and support vehicles known for their operational roles in Afghanistan, including the Jackal, Mastiff, Husky and Ridgback, and the latest weapons used by reserves.

And the Bilborough-based Nottinghamshire Band of the Royal Engineers will be providing the music at the event.

The Army has an established presence in the East Midlands, including 49 (East) Brigade, which is based at Chetwynd Barracks in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, and a range of units such as the Royal Artillery, Military Intelligence, the Corps of Royal Engineers and the Royal Logistic Corps.

Mastiff vehicles in Afghanistan

Mastiff vehicles form part of a combat logistic patrol in Afghanistan (library image) [Picture: Sergeant Dan Bardsley RLC, Crown copyright]

Corporal John Hennessey, aged 31, from Mansfield, is a reservist with the Intelligence Corps in Nottingham. He said:

Being in the Army has opened up so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have achieved elsewhere. Not many people realise that reserves have all the same opportunities as regulars, but we do.

I would encourage anyone looking for an exciting and rewarding challenge outside of their day-job to join.

The Nottingham event is being run as part of the complementary activities surrounding the new Army recruitment campaign – ‘More than meets the eye’ – which launched last weekend, highlighting the hundreds of different roles and thousands of jobs available in the Regular Army and the Army Reserve.

Some of the roles available include bricklayers, communications specialists, logistics specialists, air conditioning and refrigerator engineers, welders, veterinary technicians, musicians, technical storemen, environmental health technicians, healthcare assistants and infantry soldiers.

The ‘More than meets the eye’ campaign includes TV adverts that are designed to attract new recruits to full-time regular and part-time reserve roles and feature real soldiers and officers from a diverse range of Army roles.

‘More Than Meets the Eye’ TV advert

Major General Chris Tickell, Director General Army Recruiting and Training Division, said:

The Army is restructuring to ensure regular and reserve soldiers are fully integrated into one force, training and working alongside each other. This campaign reflects that and will kick-start our 2014 activity to recruit new full-time soldiers and increase the trained strength of part-time soldiers.

We hope to do this by challenging public perceptions that the Army purely consists of front line combat roles. We want to show potential recruits who are perhaps thinking about how they can improve their careers and lives that there is much more to the Army than meets the eye.

For more information about the exciting full-time and part-time job opportunities with the Army, visit www.army.mod.uk/jobs, search ‘Army Jobs’ or call 0845 600 8080.

Published 16 January 2014