UPDF Recruitment 2019/2020, UPDF Cadet Recruitment 2019, UPDF Professional Recruitment 2019/2020.
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, UPDF 2019/2020 recruitment form, application portal, entry requirements, deadline and how to apply online for free here.
Applications are invited from in suitably qualified applicants for the 2019/2020 Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces UPDF recruitment exercise. INTERESTED AND SUITABLY QUALIFIED members of the public can apply for any of the positions available at Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces.
The minimum academic qualification for cadet recruits is a senior six certificate or its equivalent, while general recruits is a senior four certificate.
The ranks
For basic military training, where recruits are passed out as privates, the lowest rank in the army, the requirements are lower compared to those of cadet officers, where one graduates as second lieutenant, the lowest rank of commissioned officers.
Commissioned officers manage, command units and according to the British system, adopted by Uganda during colonialism, they wear pips on the shoulders with red gorgets on the collars. They range from second lieutenant to general while non-commissioned officers wear them on the lower and the upper part of the arm.
Lt Col Ankunda says for cadets, the minimum academic requirement is Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE), while for recruits, it is the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE).
This year however, the emphasis was put on those who studied science subjects. “We wanted those who can easily be trained to fly planes and operate computerised weapons,” he says.
The most important requirement for anyone to be recruited in the army is they must be nationals. “He must be a Ugandan of good character,” Lt Col Ankunda adds, “They must be known in the villages where they stay and must come with letters of introduction from the LCI to the LCIII. We don’t want to recruit chicken thieves.”
Unlike in the previous recruitments where recruits only needed one letter from the LCI, the recent one was more bureaucratic. The recruits were this time required to add a letter from the LCIII. This was intended to weed out people who forge LCI letters and manage to get recruited.
The army spokesperson says the more bureaucratic process helped them reduce forged letters from local governments. “This worked well for us. It was used because of the lessons learnt from previous recruitments. There were many forgeries.” One recruitment officer, who did not want to be named, said, “If one goes through that chain, there is smaller probability of having forgeries.”
UPDF Cadet Recruitment : The process
Weeks before the recruitment started, the army makes announcements through the media, throughout the country on the quality of people they want and they also caution all local leaders to be careful while making recommendations.
In the past, university graduates would join as recruits, but these days the army recruits them for the cadet course because experience has shown that if they join as riflemen, they naturally demand promotions. They are eventually taken for either cadet or Young Officers’ course so that they become officers.
Every district is given a quota depending on its population. Kampala District which has the biggest population in the country had the highest number of recruits. There are some districts which failed to raise the required number of recruits. But this is covered by the districts with a higher quota.
Upon the end of training, these recruits will be foot soldiers who will be deployed in the jungles in Central African Republic or Somalia to fight the enemy.
Currently, the 3,000 that were recruited are undergoing drills. They will spend nine months being initiated into military life. They are trained in field craft, skills at arms, tactics, marksmanship, political education and others.
UPDF Cadet Recruitment : Promotions
Whether they are cadet officers or recruits, all soldiers want to be promoted at the operational or command levels.Can a foot soldier grow in ranks to be a general? Lt Col Ankunda believes so. “I’m lieutenant colonel. I can become a general. But, I started as a foot soldier. From Makerere University, I was a foot soldier for five years,” he says.
An officer at the rank of brigadier, who also fought during NRA war says, an officer, who has not tested the life of a riffle man, will have missed something very critical in their career development.
“If you have never slept outside guarding a central post or an escort of a big man behind a jeep or a member of a platoon chasing the enemy in jungles of CAR, there are things you will have missed,” he says, “it is because you appreciate what soldiers go through.
So that when you become a leader or a commander in future, you know their needs.”
He, however, says that not everybody can be an officer. There are soldiers who serve as riflemen until they leave the military.
UPDF Cadet Recruitment : Requirements for joining the army
1.They must be citizens.
2.They must be healthy and physically fit and ready to undergo medical examination. Tests are carried out on all sensory organs as well as general health including; HIV/Aids.
3.They must be aged 18-25, and must be single with no children (family men are not easy to manage or deploy).
4.The standard operating procedure is that; you have to wait for four years before you get married.
5.All recruits must have a minimum form of education of senior four or its equivalent and not above UACE (for basic training) but cadets it’s UACE and above.
6.They must present original documents and photocopies of all academic papers.
7.All recruits must be of good conduct with no criminal record.
8. They should have letters of recommendation from LCI to LCIII
9.Gombolola Internal Security Officers must sign the letters to confirm their conduct.
10.Presenting false documents is a crime.
For more information and inquiries, you can contact the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) by visiting the institution’s official website: http://www.defence.go.ug/
