The Soldier Academy: Revamped Army training allows more flexibility to choose unit and role

The British Army's new updated training system – the Soldier Academy – will allow recruits greater flexibility to transfer between cap badges and roles.

Recruits scattered across different locations now follow a common 13-week schedule, which is also constantly updated to address worldwide threats.

Brigadier Andrew Garner, who heads up the academy, told Forces News the Army is also changing the way the training is delivered.

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"We talk about a sort of crawl, walk, run philosophy to make sure that we're not losing too many recruits at the beginning of the process," he said.

"In addition to creating the new common military syllabus, we've created a pre-employment training package for all instructors during basic training so that they can then become much more qualified."

Brig Garner also said the new training package helps instructors "understand what it is to be a recruit, not from when they were recruits, but what a recruit is expecting now".

Technology has also become a huge part of the training.

Captain Oliver Pritchard told Forces News all the recruits are now issued iPads that provide individual feedback thanks to a new app called MyTraining.

"Daily and weekly, they can record a reflective diary, how they're feeling, how much sleep they're having, how fatigued they are," he said.

"That's a personal one-to-one thing, just between the corporal and that recruit, which they can help them with.

"It's not quite like Bad Lads' Army anymore. It's very different. It's very much the same standard. It's very much just the approach in which we unlock the recruits' potential. 

"That's the thing that's changed, using technology, being more empathetic, but by no means they've become soft. 

"Firm, but fair."