engineering
Soldier
Regular

Carpenter and Joiner

Build skills and qualifications that can set you up for life, while enjoying travel, sports and challenges.

Starting salary
£26,334
Age range
16.6 to 35.6

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Role details

Entry Requirements

Age

To apply for this position, you must be between 16 years & 6 months old and 35 years & 6 months old at the time of your application.

Fitness

Mid Thigh Pull 50kg
Medicine Ball Throw 3m
2km run 11 min

More information about the fitness test

Education

GCSE Grade A–D/9-3, or Scottish National 4, in Maths, English Language and one other subject.

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Unsure about any requirements? Our recruitment team is here to help.

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About the Role

Construction is a big part of the Army's work at home and abroad. Become a highly skilled Carpenter and Joiner, and you'll help with all kinds of building projects. Our first-class training will teach you to work from drawings, plan tasks, use workshop machinery and scaffolding, and prepare timber for use. You'll also learn to make joints, windows, doorframes, partitions, floors and roofing. With this experience plus qualifications, you'll have a great CV if you ever decide to leave Army service. Until then, there's plenty to enjoy: sports, Adventurous Training and fantastic friends.
Carpenter and Joiner is a Trade role in the Royal Engineers. All the Royal Engineer soldier job roles are divided into 5 groups. When you apply to the Engineers, you will apply to the trade group rather than the specific trade. More about types of roles in the Royal Engineers.

Key Responsibilities

Plan carpentry and joinery tasks from sketches and working drawings
Learn the use and maintenance of workshop machinery
Prepare timber for use, manufacture joints, use adhesives, produce windows, door frames, door linings and internal joinery fitments
Carry out general construction work, first-fix timber frames, second-fix internal joinery fitments
Install partitions, floors, roofing, timber-framed buildings, formwork and shoring
Construct scaffolding, interpret scaffold terms, erect access scaffold and install access ladders

Training

Step 1
Your initial military training teaches you how to be a soldier, covering everything from fieldcraft to how to handle a rifle.

If you join as a Junior Soldier (under 17 years and 6 months), you’ll do a military training course at Harrogate.
If you join as a Regular Soldier (over 17 years and 6 months), you’ll do the regular adult basic training.

Step 2
You head to the Royal School of Military Engineering Regiment near Camberley, Surrey, for 12 weeks. Here, you learn military engineering skills, such as knots and lashings, demolition, mine warfare and bridge building. The final stage of training is 21 weeks at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham, Kent. Here, you learn how to use machinery and hand tools to make timber building materials.