Army life / The truth about Sandhurst |
My friends were baffled. Why, at the age of 30, was I going back to school? And, worse, to an institution where your days are longer, your freedoms more limited, and being shouted out is a common occurrence? But last year, that is exactly what I did. It was the best decision of my life.
In the spring of 2025, I passed the Army Officer Selection Board. From September through December, I left my civilian life behind and embarked on the intensive short commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. It was the least ‘free’, least comfortable, least independent place I have ever lived. But, somehow, I had never felt more liberated or content.
Every morning, we got up at 6am to sing the national anthem in our pyjamas
For the outsider, so much of the Sandhurst experience appears very strange indeed. For an institution which champions the sense of purpose it gives to those who work for it, many of the British Army’s routines and habits appear arbitrary. Every morning, we got up at 6am to sing the national anthem in our pyjamas. Creases had to be ironed into uniform. If you wanted to go to a lesson, to the gym, to the car park, you had to march there. Clothes and possessions had to be placed in drawers in a particular order, or punishment would ensue.
‘On exercise’, things got even stranger. Even in the mud and wet, we were to be clean shaven. Feet would be inspected at dawn to ensure they had been dried and powdered. The opportunities to earn press-ups multiplied. Missing........