Recruits take salute as 400 graduate from Army college

More than 400 teenagers marched off the square and on to careers in the military yesterday as they graduated from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Feb 2018, 15:42 BST
Updated 15th Feb 2018, 15:45 BST
Junior soldiers endure a hail storm as they line up to march on to the parade square for their Graduation Parade.Junior soldiers endure a hail storm as they line up to march on to the parade square for their Graduation Parade.
Junior soldiers endure a hail storm as they line up to march on to the parade square for their Graduation Parade.

The training establishment on Penny Pot Lane runs 22 and 42-week courses for 16-17 year olds looking for a service career.

Its latest graduates were inspected by Major General Paul Nanson, Commandant of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, who took the salute as the parade marched past the dias.

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Lt Col Rich Hall, the college’s commanding officer said: “These soldiers represent the very best of our nation’s young people. I have no doubt that they are fully prepared for their second phase of training which will be every bit as important as what they have achieved to date.”

The junior soldiers on the longer course marched off the square to the second phase of their training in the Infantry, Royal Artillery, Royal Armoured Corps and Royal Logistic Corps.

Among the soldiers on the shorter course are 12 young musicians destined for a career in the Corps of Army Music. It is the first time that such entrants have trained at the college, which opened in 1998 and accommodates more than 1,600 soldiers a year.

Related topics:Harrogate