Junior Soldiers are rising to the challenge of one of the Army’s toughest promotion courses.
A soldier fires a general purpose machine gun (GPMG) as part of the Potential Non-Commissioned Officer course.
Teams of soldiers complete casualty evacuations as part of the Potential Non-Commissioned Officer course on Otterburn’s harsh terrain.
A soldier from The Royal Welsh fires his personal weapon while on the Potential Non-Commissioned Officer course.
A soldier from The Royal Regiment of Scotland fires a general purpose machine gun (GPMG).
A soldier from The Royal Welsh during section attacks.
Teams of soldiers complete casualty evacuations as part of the Potential Non-Commissioned Officer course on Otterburn’s harsh terrain.
The intense five-week ‘Potential Non-Commissioned Officer course’ (PNCO) tests their readiness to progress from Private to Lance Corporal.
Seventy Junior Soldiers from The Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Royal Welsh, The Royal Irish Regiment, and The Royal Yorkshire Regiment are being prepared for future leadership roles.
Going from Private to Lance Corporal is often thought to be one of the hardest promotions in the Army to attain and the hardest to retain. The PNCO prepares the soldiers for the change they will face once gaining their first Army promotion.
Starting with classroom-based learning, demonstrating the theory of being a good leader, troops then move to firing ranges to apply the knowledge they have learned, leading their own small team in the field, completing section attacks and casualty evacuations on Otterburn’s harsh terrain.
Captain Tuach from The Royal Regiment of Scotland said: “Courses like the PNCO brings soldiers on tremendously, from classroom-based learning to being out on the field, learning how to command soldiers themselves.”
The course is run from Otterburn Training Camp by the Union Division Training Team, which deploys three times a year to deliver the PNCO.
It’s a gateway to their future and a great way to progress up the ranks.
Sergeant Cruise-Taylor, from The Royal Yorkshire Regiment, is a trainer at Otterburn. He said: “They’re the next generation of leaders so they need to come on the PNCO to learn how to be a good leader.”
“It’s a gateway to their future and a great way to progress up the ranks.”
The Sergeant, from 1st Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment, continued: “I’m coming towards the end of my military career so it’s important to see and inspire the next generation, the seventy soldiers here today are a great group to pass the baton onto.”
The course is part of the Army Leadership Development Programme, a progressive system of training to give soldiers the leadership and management skills and wider military knowledge they need as they rise the ranks.
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