RAMC Training at start of WW2

[Stirrick]

I have someone who was called-up into the 'Militia' on 15 July,1939.

He was initially sent to Crookham Camp, Aldershot for RAMC training.
Does anyone have an idea how long this was for, or what it would have comprised ?

I presume that he was transferred to the regular army upon the outbreakl of war.

In January,1940 he was qualified as Nursing Orderly, Group B or C (not sure which this is), Class III.
Does anyone know what that signified ?

In February,1941, he was advanced to Nursing Orderly, Group C, Class II.
Does anyone know what that signified ?

I'm struggling to fill out any of the details around these bare facts.
So I'd be grateful for any advice.

[Andy J2022]

As far as the training was concerned, it might be worth you sending a pm to scrimnet as he used to be with the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC), and will have more knowledge about nursing orderly training etc.

And as far as his status once he was called up is concerned, his militia terms of service would have remained the same, namely that he was embodied for the duration of hostilities and then his commitment would have ended. In that sense he wouldn't have been a 'Regular' even though in every other respects his service life would have been largely the same. If he was promoted at any stage it is probable that he held acting or temporary rank, even though he would have received the same pay as a Regular. This just meant that when the war ended the Army didn't have a large imbalance in the rank structure of the regulars who stayed in afterwards. 

With his trade classification, class II means that he had gained sufficient experience/knowledge in his trade to have earned a slightly higher rate of pay. Usually this would be after around 18 months as a class III, but if he had previous trade experience in the Militia or civilian nursing experience, getting to Class II might have been accelerated. He would have had to be a class II tradesman to be promoted to Corporal.

[Stirrick]

Thanks Andy, forgetting my basics.

Army trades were arranged in three groups, A, B and C, in a descending order of difficulty and time required in attaining proficiency.
(Though it seems surprising that Nursing Orderly would only be a Group C trade).

There were 3 classes of skill, III, II and I, for each trade in increasing order of proficiency.
Roughly corresponding to civil grades of apprentice, tradesman and master craftsman.

[Andy J2022]

Hi Stirrick,

There are actually four trade groups, with T for the technical disciplines. My limited understanding of such matters leads me to think that nursing orderlies were more analogous to health care assistants or porters in today's civilian health service, with relatively few medical skills. For this reason I suspect that Group C might be the appropriate one for them. However I'm sure that scrimnet will have more to say on the subject when he next returns to the forums.