{"id":316010,"date":"2019-05-11T11:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T09:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=316010"},"modified":"2019-05-10T15:05:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T13:05:49","slug":"heres-what-it-takes-to-join-south-africas-army-reserves-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/316010\/heres-what-it-takes-to-join-south-africas-army-reserves-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what it takes to join South Africa\u2019s army reserves in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Cape Government has published an updated <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westerncape.gov.za\/general-publication\/how-join-south-african-national-defense-force-sandf-reserves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guideline <\/a><\/strong>for citizens looking to join the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Reserves in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The reserves is a voluntary and part-time directorate of the SANDF &#8211; providing guidance, assistance and expertise to the country&#8217;s armed forces and responding to any crises that arise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Joining the reserves gives you the opportunity to serve your country, and a chance to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need in time of natural or other disasters,&#8221; the guideline states.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Your expertise can help improve our country\u2019s defensive needs, and being a reserve gives you the opportunity to travel abroad. You&#8217;ll also have the opportunity to grow professionally and learn new skills.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A reservist may choose to serve in any of the following corps (given that they have the necessary requirements) and support functions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Air Defence Artillery<\/li>\n<li>Armour<\/li>\n<li>Artillery<\/li>\n<li>Engineer<\/li>\n<li>Infantry<\/li>\n<li>Intelligence<\/li>\n<li>Signal<\/li>\n<li>Support functions:<\/li>\n<li>Personnel<\/li>\n<li>Logistics<\/li>\n<li>Finance<\/li>\n<li>Training<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A serving member of the reserves receives all the benefits that are applicable to Regular Force members. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A salary;<\/li>\n<li>Medical aid;<\/li>\n<li>Access to SANDF facilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to join<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The guideline states that there are two ways you can join the South Africa Reserve Force Division, either through the Military Skills Development System (MSDS) or through direct recruitment.<\/p>\n<p>The MSDS is a Department of Defence programme that serves as the entry-level platform for young South Africans who want to follow a career in the South African National Defence Force.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re selected to join the South African National Defence Force through the MSDS, you&#8217;ll undergo an initial period of 2 years voluntary service. After your initial 2 years of service you&#8217;ll be offered a 5 year contract to join the reserves which can be renewed until the age of 65.<\/p>\n<p>Direct recruitment is only applicable to people with special skills such as engineers, IT specialists, diesel mechanics etc.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to join the army reserves, you have to meet the following <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rfdiv.mil.za\/frequently_asked_questions.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">requirements<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A South African citizen;<\/li>\n<li>Medically, mentally and battle fit;<\/li>\n<li>Between the ages of 18 and 26 years (the required age varies according to the category of training\/service) when joining for the first time. This age restriction does not apply to applicants with professional or critical skill qualifications required;<\/li>\n<li>You must have the attributes and qualifications which are required for your training;<\/li>\n<li>You must be able to perform the service or duties attached to the post for which you apply;<\/li>\n<li>If you are employed, your employer must be willing to grant special leave for military activities within reasonable demands;<\/li>\n<li>Have no criminal record.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Training is provided to new recruits but due to the nature of the system, longer courses are presented in shorter flexible modules,&#8221; the guideline states.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Other corps may require you to have existing qualifications in that specific field. For example, to join the Air Force Reserves an applicant must have aviation related expertise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>You can find more information on the MSDS programme <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/293862\/heres-what-it-takes-to-join-south-africas-army-in-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/304332\/south-africas-military-strength-vs-the-rest-of-the-world-in-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South Africa\u2019s military strength vs the rest of the world in 2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Cape Government has published an updated guideline for South Africans looking to join the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Reserves in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":91336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26,6245],"class_list":["post-316010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline","tag-sandf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316010"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316096,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316010\/revisions\/316096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}