Page 37 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022 CREST

The Regimental Selection
Board (RSB) process –
an OCdt’s perspective
From the perspective of the OCdts, the Choice of Arm process is the most important part of Sandhurst.
Confirming a cap-badge is the turning point at which being an Army Officer stops being hypothetical, and OCdts can think practically about what they are actually going to do for the next few years. By the start of Inters Term, everyone has expressed interest in two potential options, and has visited at least one of them. Following a visit to their other choice in the first few weeks of term, OCdts undergo a stressful period of interviews and visits during which the Regiments and Corps will decide who they wish to take forward and who they wish to cut. By week 12, the hope is that everybody will have two RSB interviews, although some choose to take only one regiment or corps to board.
Some Regiments will give the impres- sion that they will only take OCdts who have wanted to join them since the age of 5, and can name every battle they ever fought in. This pride tends to go out of the window pretty quickly around week 8 of Inters, when the Reps realise that they have to fill all of their spaces by the end of week 12. At that point the system becomes more kinetic and based on how well an OCdt inter- views and the opinions of their Platoon staff. There are a lot of changes in the run up to RSB week, and the Platoon
OCdt Hewetson
staff work really hard to arrange inter- views for people and find a good fit for everyone.
RSB week was stressful for a lot of 24 Platoon. Some people were confi- dent their interview would be a friendly chat, whilst others attempted to learn 400 years of Regimental History in an afternoon. Each interview was different, as each cap-badge is different, but the system does strangely seem to work. Most interviews were about 20 min- utes, with a board of 3-4 Officers, and questions are based around personal- ity, skillset, and reasons for joining the Regiment or Corps. The results from the board are either an unconditional offer, a conditional offer (if somebody with an unconditional offer refuses the space) and no offer. Those without an offer by Wednesday of week 12 go into clearing, where they interview with Regiments who still have space to find a unit that suits them.
Now at the end of term, everyone has a Regiment or Corps to go to and people are happy. Regimental flags are going up around the lines and people are merrily squabbling about who has the best mess dress as they try to forget that they have a full week of rifle drill still to do before AT and summer leave.