I can’t see this mentioned elsewhere in the Forum and having spotted this over the Christmas break thought i would share as a discussion topic
EDT: Summary:
A “gap year” scheme to give school and college leavers a taste of the Army, Royal Navy or RAF without a long term commitment, is to be launched by the government.
The course is aimed at under-25s and is part of efforts to solve long-term recruitment and retention problems in the armed forces.
Last time I looked, there was nothing concrete for the RAF & very limited numbers for the other Services. Even up to “a 1000” is a very small percentage of potential interest.
Not going to be easy with the basic trg time (13 wks for the British Army / 10 wks for RAF & RN) ) + any specialist trg = pretty much time to leave!
The army scheme will be two years according to the BBC article.
I don’t imagine it making much difference, given the Army have been recruiting 10 people per year for their existing scheme:
A gap TWO yr then?? 
It’ll be interesting to see what the eligibility is.
The examples of “incredible skills and training” quoted in the article are all things the cadet forces offer, maybe it would be cheaper to focus on the cadet forces expansion instead.
Very unsure of details, but it generally seems like a good idea!
I would assume they don’t get the full training, but a taster over the year. Then if they want to commit, they can carry on to become fully trained.
It has 2 benefits. It means people who are slightly on the fence who might otherwise not join can ‘have a go’ and then might join.
The other benefit is for those who are dead keen, and always have been, to have a taste and realise that actually, it’s not for them!
That’s for orcifers - not plebs! 
The Army scheme would see recruits receive 13 weeks of basic training as part of a two-year placement, while the Navy scheme would last a year and provide general training for sailors, according to the i newspaper, external. The RAF scheme is less developed
Last line is par for the course really. Colour me shocked.
With the (old?) SSLC (‘gap-year’ commissions) that the likes of Rory Stewart did in the Army, they didn’t do the full 44 weeks at RMAS but an abridged course followed by an overseas exercise or aid mission.
Yup, 6 week course (alongside TA officers), some training at the regiment, then off to somewhere, usually abroad but not a conflict zone.
it was a small scheme, most regiments only had 2-3 spots a year.
This is going back a fair few years but it was almost explicitly not for those who wanted to join up permanently, the idea being SSLC officers would ‘go into industry’ and spread the word (or as in Mr Stewart’s case, the diplomatic service).
ETA it might have been longer than 6 weeks’ training but the module alongside the TA was 6 weeks.
If Govt had half a brain, it would be join up for a year on full pay, 10 years reserve liability and 2 weeks refresher training per year, and your university fees are written off (or some other bribe).
One of our greatest shortfalls is simply warm bodies with basic soldiering and building site/lorry driving/mechanical engineering skills - the most basic thing that will face the RAF under wartime conditions is dispersion: we won’t have half a dozen flying stations, we’ll have 20+, and they’ll all need to be guarded, supported, and have their runways/infrastructure fixed, and the RAF has but a tiny proportion of the people it would take to run that.
And you expect those skills from Gen Z (or whatever the next level will be)?
Jeepers, 95% probably can’t put together an IKEA flatpack chest of drawers - or is that an unfair marker? 
An increasing number of new drivers are only taking driving lessons / tests for automatic vehicles, that’ll exclude most military trucks / utility types with a clutch. That said, come WW3, will the “white fleet” vehicles even be available for the hire companies??
I think if those are the skills gaps that need filling you’ll need a different incentive than paying of uni fees, those are two different target markets.
the 6 tonne MAN trucks are automatics. I recall a former cadet who joined up as a driver swung by in said truck and let the Cadets scramble all over it (this was some 15+ years ago) and he showed me the “gearbox” which was no different to a knob on a microwave with R N D options
Just sounds like the old YTS acheme to me ….who remembers that from the 80’s?
….hope the pay is better!
One of the issues with this scheme is that it’s billed as a GAP year but is targeting other ranks.
Now I’m sure we have graduates who aren’t Commissioned but I would bet money that proportionally those going off to Uni are going to be looking at Commissions as their first choice if the military is their chosen occupation on graduation.
A gap year can also refer to the gap between education and work. Finish college - gap year - then into industry. I know a fair few who did that. As opposed to gap year then uni.
Never known anyone to do that, the ones who want to enter employment rather than go to Uni generally do so because they want to earn money.
The only ones I can think of who haven’t then gone on to Uni are some of the ones who went travelling and I doubt Salisbury Plain is ever going to be more of a draw than Bali.
Most officers I know commissioned from the ranks and most enlisted aviators in my peer group are graduates.