Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Armyofficer initial training centre. The Academy opened its doors in 1947 in the former Royal Military College (RMC) at Sandhurst. The Academy is prestigious and has had many famous alumni including Sir Winston Churchill. The Academy straddles the border between the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, marked by a small stream known as the Wish Stream, after which the Academy journal is named. Prince Harry of Wales attended Sandhurst, commissioning on 12 April 2006, and his brother Prince William of Wales is now in his third and final term there. All British Army officers, and many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at Sandhurst.
The Commissioning Course, lasting 44 weeks, must be passed by most British regular army officers before they receive their commission. It is usually preceded by the Army Officer Selection Board and followed by a further training course specific to the Regiment or Corps the officer will serve in. Shorter commissioning courses are run for "professionally qualified officers" (eg, doctors, dentists, nurses, vets and chaplains) and Territorial Army officers. This shorter course, lasting just 3 weeks, is known colloquially as the 'Vicars and Tarts course.'
Sandhurst also runs a variety of other courses for officers, most notably the Late Entry Officer Course (LEOC), and has renowned academic departments staffed by civilian lecturers.
Organisation
In overall charge of the RMAS is the Commandant, usually an officer of Major-General rank, while the Academy Sergeant Major (AcSM) is the most senior individual warrant officer in the British Army (only Conductors of the Royal Logistic Corps rank higher than the AcSM, but there are several of them at any one time). The RMAS has courses which start in January, May and September of each year. Each intake numbers approximately 270 students, each of whom joins a company. There can be as many as ten companies within the RMAS at any one time, each commanded by a Major and named after a famous battle in which the British Army has fought. The company names vary but are currently :
The 149th Sovereign's Parade in front of Old College
· Dettingen Company - the "Short Courses" mentioned above (for Territorial Army and Professionally Qualified Officers) are operated sequentially, and are each known as "Dettingen Company".
Within a company are three platoons each of thirty officer cadets, commanded by a Captain and supported by a Colour Sergeant. Dettingen Company is divided along the same lines as the regular intakes, though smaller courses may consist of only two platoons.
Regular Army
A small number of regular army units are based at RMAS to provide support for the college and its training operations:
· Gurkha Demonstration Company (Sitang): This is a company sized unit drawn from all units of the Brigade of Gurkhas, to provide realistic battle training for the cadets.
· 44 Support Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps: This is RMAS' permanently based transport, logistic and signals support unit.
History
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