Royal Signals

Hi I am looking to join the Royal Signals as signals installation technician or communication systems operator

I was just after a bit of advice if anyone has been or currently in the Signals

What is a general day like, either deployed out or not?

Does either of the two roles see combat? or are they more staying back roles? for example staying back at Camp Bastion fixing/maintaining systems or is it more going on patrol/operations?


Thank you, any advice would be appreciated

Mrs Ikky was previously married to a Signals officer and confirms the general maxim that they would be the first troops into a hostile zone and last out when the unpleasantness is all over.

Danny, first things first. I'm not Signals so can't answer your questions about a daily routine. I have worked closely with them though. Mrs Ikky was previously married to a Signals officer and confirms the general maxim that they would be the first troops into a hostile zone and last out when the unpleasantness is all over. Another maxim which can be applied to all elements of the Armed Forces is that there is no such thing as a routine day, although, depending on your current posting you may have more homeland stability which looks like a 9-5 Mon-Fri existence - just don't bank on it though. Finally, the Armed Forces are now cut to the bone, so where there was often spare capacity and er, units in reserve, those days are long gone. You should therefore expect to be put in harms way whichever service you join. Some jobs are more risky than others, and certainly if you choose to join the Army, then you'll have a personal weapon and be expected to use it when necessary. I haven't seen any contributors to this TSR thread who appear to be Signals, so to get it from the horses mouth, you'll have to talk to Army Careers (see sticky above) and maybe see if you can get a famil visit to a Signals intensive barracks. I take it you've been through the Careers website http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/signals.aspx ?

Did she leave him because he was a liar? Because that is quite clearly a lie 😂

Hi thanks for the reply, so is it not true that Signals are first on/first off? thanks

However, as a general rule in warfare, it's a good idea to prepare your battlespace before committing the main body of fighting troops. To do this you need enabling support services providing the logistics, infrastructure and comms which ensure your fighters have what they need to achieve the task.

Mate, I'm not a pongo, so have little idea what doctrine you guys work to; however, from the R Sigs own careers website:

The Corps have spear-headed operations, including: Afghanistan, Iraq ,the Falkland Island campaign; peace-keeping in the Lebanon; the transition of Namibia to independence; and Operation Granby in the Gulf.

They have been deployed to East Timor, Kurdistan, the states of Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, the Sahara, Cambodia, Rwanda, Angola Zaire and Sierra Leone.

The Corps now moves into developing Information Warfare of the future.

I'm no expert on weaponry, but I always thought spear head was like at the front of the pointy thing. It could of course be that the Sigs are just blowing their own trumpet and are lying. They will be the masters of psyops after all

PS Hurrah for Paradigm. Their facilities facilitated me and the present Mrs Ikky getting together, despite the meagre bandwidth and patchy satellite footprint.

Did she leave him because he was a liar? Because that is quite clearly a lie 😂

nothing moves without communication so it is correct that the R Sigs goes in at the start and leaves last. We set up comms so that all the other groups can communicate over longer distances than their equipment would manage.
I am an ex TG op so I will answer the OP when I get home from work

Communications and the Royal Signals are not synonymous with each other. The infantry, armoured, artillery, engineers and logistics have their own signal trade streams. To say the Royal Signals go in first to set up the FEPs and get all the combat terminals running while the rest of the battle group is sat at the line of departure is a false representation of what the Corps does.

are you somehow not seeing my profile picture?

a typical day in the life of a Signaller is similar to a normal job. in barracks we do work (reasonably) fixed hours but they are set by your unit. we worked from 0830 to 1630 with an hour for lunch plus a 15 minute break in the morning and afternoon. the day is normally a parade to address any business that needs to be done then you go to work which is usually maintenance on vehicles and equipment. sometimes there are inspections (aside from the periodic inspections) or other jobs that need doing. clearing out stores for example. you do not always do your job and other departments (SQMS especially) will need some additional hands to shift equipment around. other than duties (guard etc) you would normally have the weekends to yourselves to go home or do whatever you want.

exercises do come round occasionally and they differ according to how big or small they are. a regimental level exercise would normally be 2 weeks out in the field (quite literally) where you would be given callsigns and practice your job to simulate an operational environment. my first unit was all landrovers and HGVs but my next unit was a division HQ and my squadron had the armoured vehicles which was a larger scale centralised unit rather than light vehicles being set up individually with 3 or 4 person crews. the two regiments that i served with had 3 squadrons of Signals personnel plus a 4th (HQ squadron) which were the support staff. REME, clerks, drivers, chefs etc all came under HQ squadron.

I am unable to comment on the current equipment since they switched to Bowman and it was Clansman when I served. I know landrovers are pretty much only TA now and I am assuming that the 40 year old AFV43 series tanks have now been replaced too. one thing to remember is that we do not attach to a regiment permanently like the Infantry do. we are posted to a unit for 3 years then move to a different unit for another 3 year posting. The Infantry stay together for the length of their service but not all corps do that.

Communications and the Royal Signals are not synonymous with each other. The infantry, armoured, artillery, engineers and logistics have their own signal trade streams. To say the Royal Signals go in first to set up the FEPs and get all the combat terminals running while the rest of the battle group is sat at the line of departure is a false representation of what the Corps does.