Rachael Henson, of Milton, who is currently studying at Longcroft School in Beverley, East Yorkshire, put down her revision books, and joined up to serve with the army for a week!

Rachael (17) and 36 pupils drawn from throughout the country were used as guinea pigs in a pilot scheme run by the British Army to introduce potential officers to life as a soldier.

The course is titled the POWEC (Potential Officers Work Experience Course) and is designed to give each of its participants crucial experience in the tasks and tests of the Regular Commissions Board (RCB). The RCB is the stringent pre-entry assessment every aspiring army officer has to complete successfully before they can commence their officers training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Most of the students on the course had just completed their A-levels, and had expressed an interest in an army career at their local Army Careers Information Office. In fact, a handful had already sat the RCB and remarked: "We would have definitely been better prepared if we had had this kind of experience. We're not saying it would have been easy, but we would have gone into it with greater confidence."

The five-day course had the 36 members split into four teams of nine and competing against each other at shooting on a combat firing simulator, map reading and navigation, various command tasks and survival skills. All of this was served up with a liberal dose of 'fizz' (army parlance for physical exercise).

Perhaps, the most daunting test was the long race and assault course with its formidable 8ft wall and 30ft scrambling net to overcome. Ashen faces and jelly legs gradually turned to beaming smiles and a jaunty swagger when those who initially declared themselves petrified and unable overcame their fears and successfully negotiated the forbidding obstacles.

Course commanding officer, Major Paddy Hartigan, commented: "The whole aim of this course is to introduce potential officer recruits to a military environment, yet with an emphasis on fun and comradeship. They learn to become more inter-dependent, realising that the whole is greater than the individual parts when working as a team."

Rachael was a former sales consultant at the Kiln Park Holiday Centre, and still lives with her mum and dad, Richard and Linda Henson, when not at school.