Army and TA Jobs and Trade Fair

A huge recruitment drive is underway for Regular and Reserve soldiers across Northern Ireland with a flagship job and trades Fair being held at Kinnegar Barracks, Holywood on Saturday and Sunday 9^th and 10^th March 2013.

The event will showcase the wide ranging employment opportunities available. It is open 10:00 – 16:00 each day, and is free to attend.

The fair gives visitors the opportunity to see the equipment and talk to soldiers about their roles, experiences and expertise. The public will be able to see, among other things, a Scimitar (armoured reconnaissance vehicle sometimes referred to as a light tank) and a WMIK (highly mobile Landrover usually armed with a combination of the following; General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) and Grenade Machine Gun (GMG)) – giving them a great insight into Army life.

There will also be a Typhoon cockpit simulator, the latest and most advanced multi-role combat aircraft. The fair is part of a wider campaign to promote Army recruitment across Northern Ireland through a range of activities and events

Recruiting remains one of the Army’s highest priorities. The Army offers a wide variety of careers for both soldiers and officers in the Regular and Territorial Army with over 200 different roles available. In the last year over 400 recruits went on to join the Regulars and Reserves from Northern Ireland. So far this year there have been nearly 800 applications for the Regular Army and almost 400 for the Reserves. The key message is that this is a big organisation with huge and varied opportunities.

Colonel Nick Tougher, the senior TA officer in Northern Ireland said: “A career with the Army provides soldiers and officers with first-class training and access to further skills and qualifications, as well as an active lifestyle and the opportunity for travel and adventure.

“We think this is a great way to demonstrate and show people in Northern Ireland about the vast amount of opportunities available. There is unparalleled training, opportunity for travel, development of personal skills and great teamwork all in the knowledge that you are doing something beneficial to help the community, “ he added.

Currently, soldiers from Northern Ireland are making a great commitment to overseas operations and training. Medical staff with 204 Field Hospital (V) are currently looking after patients in a modern medical centre at Helmand in Afghanistan, soldiers from 152 Transport Regiment RLC(V) have recently returned from providing frontline support across Afghanistan and soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment are about to take part in training in Africa.

The variety and expertise across Northern Ireland is huge with opportunities for men and women to work in logistics, medical, transport, signals, administration and much more.
For more information about the exciting career opportunities available in the Army, visit www.army.mod.uk/join or call 0845 600 8080.