The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (commonly known as Sandhurst) is the British Army officer training centre. The academy is prestigious and has had many famous alumni including Sir Winston Churchill. The academy lies within the Bracknell Forest district in the former county of Berkshire, but the nearest town is Camberley in Surrey. HRH Prince Henry of Wales will be attending Sandhurst in 2005.
All British Army officers, and many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at Sandhurst.
The commissioning course, lasting 44 weeks, must be passed by most British regular army officers before they receive their commission. It is usually preceded by the Regular Commissioning Board and followed by a further training course specific to the Corps the officer will serve in. Shorter commissioning courses are run for "professionally qualified officers" (eg, doctors, dentists, nurses, vets and chaplains) and Territorial Army officers.
Sandhurst also runs a variety of courses for officers, and has strong academic departments.
History
RMA Sandhurst was formed in 1947, from the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (which trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.
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