We were thrilled to received the news that Old Bloxhamist, Perry, has passed out of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
2nd Lt. Perry Jolley (LS/Sy 2004-2011) recently passed out of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, an occasion made doubly special by the Sovereign’s Parade being reviewed by another Old Bloxhamist, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw (Wn 1970-76), the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who represented the Queen. Perry sent us the following:
“I left Bloxham School in 2011 and spent four years at the University of Exeter studying for a Masters in Civil Engineering. Following my graduation I started the Regular Commissioning Course to become an Army Officer at Sandhurst in September 2015; a 44 week long course broken into three terms. For the first five weeks cadets are taught basic soldiering, the course then moves into developing leadership by expanding the cadet’s character, intellect and professional competences to a level demanded of an Army Officer. Our skills were put to the test throughout the year with a range of field exercises, each getting progressively more demanding as the year went on to test cadets under pressure.
There are academic studies throughout the course which further developed our knowledge on Defence and International Affairs, along with War Studies and Communication and Applied Behavioural Science. Towards the end of the second term, cadets are selected for their regiments or corps and I was lucky enough to get a place within the Royal Engineers. I commissioned on the 12th August 2016 where 204 cadets from the whole of the Academy took part in the Sovereign’s Parade to mark this special occasion and was fortunate enough to be reviewed by an Old Bloxhamist, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Academy, made lifelong friends and learnt a great deal about what it takes to be an Officer in the British Army. I am now taking part in an arduous course known as ‘P Company’ that tests mental and physical robustness over a number of weeks, to earn the reward of wearing the coveted maroon beret and a place in the Airborne family under 16 Air Assault Brigade. I will then, if successful, go onto the Royal Engineer Troop Commanders Course which will teach me how to lead a troop to enable the Army to live, move, and fight through construction, infrastructure support, bridging, demolition and route clearance. Finally, once I have completed that I will take over command of a troop of roughly 30 soldiers in August 2017.”
We always welcome news from Old Bloxhamists, so if you have graduated, passed-out, won an award, been promoted, moved abroad – tell us! You can email [email protected] or complete our online survey.