Could a book really help prepare you for life in the Army?
We think so!
In the British Army Challenge Book – published 17th October 2019 – we’ve set out a huge number of challenges, puzzles and exercises to give a sample of some of the problem-solving techniques you might have to use if you joined the British Army. The book is split into five sections, each with a different focus, designed to test your knowledge, mental flexibility, and team-building skills.
Chapter One looks at the skills of fieldcraft, exploring how you can read the land, the night skies, and the weather in order to help you solve problems you might come across in the outside world. These puzzles are designed so that you can use what you might already know – like the direction from which the sun rises – and apply it to an unknown situation – like finding your way out of the Australian outback single-handedly. Ever wanted to know how to find the North Star on a cloudy night? This section has you covered.
Chapter Two is designed to test your mental flexibility, and anyone who enjoys a logic puzzle will feel right at home. Taking the simple, well-known model of the Sudoku puzzle, the Cognitive Testing section bends the rules as you go along to test how well you can adapt your thinking when circumstances change around you. Logic puzzles like sudoku – and its many variants – are great tools for keeping your mind sharp and flexible. They are essential skills when facing the unknown.
Practical planning and teamwork skills are what you need for Chapter Three – Teambuilding – where readers will find two kinds of hands-on challenge to try out. Both the Command and Leaderless task sections encourage solvers to work together to overcome tricky practical problems, some of which might require creative solutions. This chapter is certainly one to try with friends and family, so get a team together and start solving!
Chapter 4 is all about Survival. It’s time to put your codebreaking skills to the test as you tackle a panoply of ciphered conundrums and enigmatic tasks, as well as a general knowledge quiz. Some might be familiar, and others you’ll have to piece together yourself from what you’ve already learned. Speed, knowledge and memory skills will all be challenged, as a sharp eye and an alert mind are essential tools for tackling high-pressure situations.
The final chapter of the book is a sample of the kind of case study you might be faced with if you were joining the Army as an officer. A single multi-faceted exercise, it is designed to put everything covered in the book so far to the test: memory skills, quick thinking and psychological adaptability will all be required in this section. Can you create a plan to lead your team to safety under pressure?
Packed with puzzles throughout, and featuring a foreword from the Army’s Chief of the General Staff General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the British Army Challenge book will be released on 17th October.