Army Training Units (ATU) provide Basic Training for a proportion of

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

recruits in the British Army.

History

ATUs were created as Regional Training Centres (RTC) - which were in turn created from Brigade Specialist Training Teams (STT) - to provide basic training and specialist courses for the UK Army Reserve (formerly the Territorial Army). They were originally commanded and administered by their local Regional Forces (RF) Brigade. From 2012 they were renamed Army Training Units and command of the ATUs passed to Initial Training Group (ITG), part of the Army Recruiting and Training Division (ARTD), now part of ARITC. ITG is responsible for all Army Basic Training, both Regular and Reserve, except Regular Standard Entry Infantry.

Role

Army Training Units (ATU) are commanded and staffed by UK Army Reservists. Along with Regular Army Training Regiments (ATR), they provide Basic Training to Army Reserve recruits, except those joining the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

. Reserves recruits are selected at an Army Recruit Selection Centre. They then undertake a short basic training course known as ‘alpha', over four weekends or a residential week. The alpha course is followed by a 15.5-day residential 'bravo' course to achieve trained soldier status. These generic courses teach essential elements of the Regular Common Military Syllabus 2014 (CMS 14). Recruits will then attend Initial Trade Training courses as stipulated by their cap badge / Corps. The

currently runs its own alpha course twice a year.

Locations

*ATU North – Queen Elizabeth Barracks,

Strensall Strensall is a village in the Strensall with Towthorpe civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Foss north of York and north-east of Haxby. From the 2011 Census, the civil parish of St ...

and

Altcar Training Camp Altcar Training Camp is located in Hightown, Merseyside, England. The estate is composed of beaches, marshland, fields and small woods. The range is run by the North West Reserve Forces & Cadets Association. History William Molyneux, 4th Earl o ...

*ATU Northern Ireland – Ballykinler Training Centre *ATU Scotland –

Redford Barracks Redford Cavalry and Infantry Barracks is located on Colinton Road, near the Edinburgh City Bypass, east of the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. Redford Barracks was built between 1909 and 1915 by the War Office and designed by Harry Be ...

*ATU West –

Wyvern Barracks Wyvern Barracks is a military installation on Topsham Road in Exeter. History The site was established as an artillery barracks for the Board of Ordnance under the name of Topsham Barracks around 1800. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and

Maindy Barracks Maindy Barracks is a military installation in the Cathays district of Cardiff in Wales. History Maindy Barracks opened in 1877. Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Reserves Basic Training courses (ALPHA and BRAVO) are also delivered by: *

Army Training Centre Pirbright The Army Training Centre Pirbright is an initial training establishment of the British Army, at Pirbright Camp. Scope The ATC, along with the Army Training Regiment Winchester and the Army Training Regiment Grantham, provides Phase 1 milita ...

(ATC P), comprising 1 and 2 Army Training Regiments (1 and 2 ATR) and HQ Regiment, located at Alexander Barracks, Pirbright * Army Training Regiment Winchester (ATR W) located at Sir John Moore Barracks,

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Army Training Regiment Grantham Prince William of Gloucester Barracks is a military installation near Grantham in Lincolnshire. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Spitalgate airbase, in October 1976, as the new Central Volunteer Headquarters f ...

(ATR G) located at

Prince William of Gloucester Barracks Prince William of Gloucester Barracks is a military installation near Grantham in Lincolnshire. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Spitalgate airbase, in October 1976, as the new Central Volunteer Headquarters f ...

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

and Venning Barracks, Donnington

References

External links

Army Training Units
at army.mod.uk {{Authority control Military units and formations of the British Army Army Reserve (United Kingdom) Training establishments of the British Army

History

Role

Locations

See also

References

External links