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East Midlands UOTC
By Captain Lloyd Watts
East Midlands Universities Officer Training Corps (EMUOTC) is one of 19 such Training Units spread across the country designed to offer university students a chance to develop their leadership ability alongside their studies with the option of, if they chose to, entering military service; be it Regular or Reserve.
East Midlands UOTC is based in Nottingham and recruits nearly 100
new Officer Cadets (OCdts) in October
each year. These come from 8 different Universities: Nottingham, Nottingham
Trent, Derby, DeMontford, Loughborough, Leicester, Lincoln and Northampton. Generally, they will spend 3 years at the OTC and undertake their basic training
and learn soldiering skills in their first year. The second year is spent developing an understanding of the Orders and Estimate Process and the third year is spent further developing their leadership potential if they decided not to commission at the end of the second year. This is done not only through military training, but also through sport and Adventurous Training opportunities, gaining recognised civilian qualifications along the way including a CMI Level 5 Certificate in Leadership & Management.
Fortunately, given that we are based in Nottingham, we have a strong cohort of Mercian cap-badged Officers, Warrant
The Commanding Officer, Adjutant, our own RSM (WO1 Nobby Clark, centre) and a number of OCdts pose for a picture on the steps of Old College at RMAS with the newly commissioned Reserve Officers of EMUOTC. 21st July 2018
OCdt of EMUOTC’s 2nd Year Company deliver their orders in preparation for a dawn deliberate attack. Swynertton. 24th November 2018
Officers, SNCOs and soldiers all here as staff to support the OCdts in their journey. Having arrived myself, being newly posted in January 2018, I have been deeply impressed by the OCdts enthusiasm, dedication and desire to learn more about themselves. Given that they only have 17 Drill Nights, 5 Step Weekends and a 2-week camp per year to conduct their training, the standard they achieve is very impressive.
The Commanding Officer EMUOTC, Lt Col Matthew Ketter ETS (left) presents WO1 (RSM) Michael ‘Nobby’ Clark (right) with a leaving gift. 31st August 2018
East Midlands UOTC produced 9 newly commissioned Reserve Officers on the
July 2018 commissioning course, the largest amount of any OTC or Reserve
unit. Some of those commissioned having seen the work of our local Reserve unit, C (Kohima) Company, 4 MERCIAN have been inspired to transfer across to 4 MERCIAN. 2Lt Natasha Scott, 4 MERCIAN’s first female Platoon Commander, and 2Lt Jacob Stone made the move shortly before Christmas to continue the great relationship the Mercian Regiment has with East Midlands UOTC and further broaden their own skills and knowledge.
Finally, we have also had to say some farewells to Mercian personnel recently, most notably WO1 (RSM) Michael ‘Nobby’ Clark who after serving the last 4 years as RSM here, hung up his boots in August of 2018 and retired from the Army. A long- standing member of 2 MERCIAN and the WFR before that, he was the quintessential role model for the OCdts here and will be sorely missed.
OCdts of Alma Company (2nd year) pose for a post exercise photo after completing their second step weekend at Swynertton. Supported by a fine array of Mercian staff (front centre, L-R Sgt Black, 2Lt Scott, CSgt Webb & Capt Watts) 25th November 2018
THE MERCIAN EAGLE