Hi guys,
Now that JL applications are open, I was wondering if anyone could give us some tips and tricks about the application and course in general? Also, how preferable is it for an applicant to be a flight sergeant/cwo and how much is which Marksman you have cared about?
Cheers
According to Diane Abbot, it’s fifteenty pounds tenthly and sixpence ha’penny.
In terms of preparing for the course, it’s fitness, weapons handling and nav.
Get yourself to every shoot or weapons training day you can to consolidate your familiarity with the rifle, boringly you need to hit the pavement every night to get your 1.5 mile time down as low as you can, less boringly you need to do some hard, cross country tabs with a full 50l rucksack (aim for 15km in 3 hours, and 6km in 40 mins), and your nav needs to be first class: make yourself some pace beads, it makes it easier.
A tip which some will honk off about, but in my experience is worth its weight in gold - run so hard and for so long that you throw up. It’s a very liberating experience, it’s a physical and psychological barrier that once conquered just disappears. Your limits are an awful lot further out than you think they are, you just need to get over that first hurdle and the world is your oyster.
Rank isn’t part of the course, it doesn’t matter what you are at unit, no one wears rank slides on the course.
Also, as the course only fires blank ammunition, your prowess as a marksman isn’t really relevant!
What do they mean by cross country; grass, forestry track, broken ground (open moorland or heath). depending on the terrain 1km in three hours is not too difficult as it is only 5km/h, this is a reasonably fast walk. 6km in 40 mins is 9km/h this would be a very fast walk or slow jog. more difficult with a heavy pack.
i’m not sure what they mean - my experience of talking to cadets who’ve done it however is that those who just scrape past the minimum fitness requirements find the course very hard indeed and spend so much effect struggling that they don’t learn much except how to be knackered.
our/my version of ‘how fit do i need to be to both enjoy this course and get the most out of it?’ would be a random 15km/3hr slice of open country - a bit of forestry track where you could make good time, some tussocky slop, a bit of forestry block, some heathland, and a couple of nice steep hills to go up and down.
the 6km/40min is forestry track or equivilant. no real nav to think about, no terrain challenges, just maximum effort.
All you really need to do is get your body conditioned to walk decent distances with weight. It’s largely why Nijmegen cadets do well at JL.