Page 17 - QARANC Vol 15 No 2 2017

The idea of ‘Boy Soldiers’ is not new and a brief glimpse back at our Corps history records Hospital Apprentice Andrew Fitzgibbon, aged 15 years, winning a Victoria Cross during the capture of Taku Forts, China in 1860. The RAMC formalised its junior soldier intake and on 4 February 1955 fourteen Apprentices arrived from the Army Apprentice School Chepstow to establish the RAMC Apprentice College within the RAMC Depot & Training Centre in Church Crookham. In 1964 the Depot and College, moved into its final home in Keogh Barracks in Mychett, near Aldershot. The College went from strength to strength and from its humble beginnings it grew to a point where, at any one time, approximately 200 Apprentices were in training.
The routine was a mixture of Military and Medical training and Education and in any given week an Apprentice could be seen in action on the drill square, in the model ward trying to understand the intricacies of a ‘Many-tailed Bandage’, sweating over equilateral equations and digging a two- man fire trench (to ‘Stage 3’). If this wasn’t enough, we had sports afternoons three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), hobbies evenings twice a week and Church Parade on Sunday. There was, of course, still time to ‘bump’ floors, polish boots and be inspected!
To ensure that there was an element of organisation and
Lord of the Flies William Golding
to engender competition, the Apprentices were divided into three ‘Houses’; ‘Harden’, ‘Chavasse’ and Martin Leake’ although other ‘Houses’ came into existence for short periods to cope with increased Apprentice numbers. Each House had a ‘House Officer’ and ‘House Sergeant’, and then just to add to the confusion, a number of the senior intake held command appointments, Apprentice Sergeant Major and each House had an Apprentice Sergeant & Corporal and three Apprentice Lance Corporals. What could possibly go wrong with this William Golding social experiment!?
The ‘Apprenticeship’ lasted for 18 months culminating in a Corporals Course (which enabled promotion to substantive Sergeant) and two subjects from the Education for Promotion Certificate scheme which gave us a massive head-start on the ‘Fourteen Weekers’ – Adult Recruits. Once we ‘Passed- Out’ of the College, we entered Adult Service as a Medical Assistant Class 3 (or Class 2 for those who had selected Medical Assistant (now Combat Medical Technician) as their main trade) and commenced our trade courses as RAMC Male Nurses, RAMC Clerks, Medical Storemen and the variety of Clinical Technician trades.
As with all good things they end. The RAMC Apprentice College was no exception and in April 1984 it became the Junior Leaders Division RAMC. 12 months later the Division
THE GAZETTE QARANC 15
The last of the Few!
A final muster of ex-RAMC Apprentices
“’This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. That’s a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren’t any grown-ups anywhere”. The boys understand that the ruling order of society that they are used to has disappeared”.
Photograph taken outside the former RAMC Apprentice College, Keogh Barracks, Nr Aldershot Photographer - Sgt Sandile Dlamini RAMC (AMS Corps Recruiting Team)
(Front L – R) App A’Lee, App Fletcher, App Moore, App Cpl Reeves, App Wiles, App O’Callaghan, App LCpl McCulloch (Rear L – R) App Sgt O’Brien, App Yates, App Cpl Woolsey, App Cpl Earnshaw, App Cpl Meredith, App LCpl Hall Absent on duty (collecting the tea urn and cakes for Miss Sibbald in the WRVS room) App Marshall, App Woodall