In A khaki uniform, topped off with a black beret, Cadet Graham Smaul is ready to take command. He has just completed his final cadetship exams and expects to get his commission in the Army later this year. "The chance to lead" is what attracted him to the military life. And after completing the cadet course this year, he will be put in charge of a platoon of 30 people and ranked as a second lieutenant.

He loves the course. It's not a bit like Biloxi Blues at the Cadet School in The Curragh, Co Kildare. "It is tough but very rewarding . . . I really enjoy it," he says. It's the comradeship he values over anything else. "I've made friends here that I'll have for life," he says.

He'd always been interested in a military career: "It's what I've always wanted, and having had an idea I researched it." At the start, he says: "it is a shock to the system but you learn and you get used to it quite quickly and you see the need for it."

Like the monks of old, his day starts at cock-crow. The clock radio (there's no bugle call at reveille in the Curragh barracks) goes off at 6.00 a.m., and by 6.30 a.m. he must be up, fully shaved, in his uniform and on the square ready for "a quick inspection". There's "a more thorough inspection" at 8.30 a.m. after breakfast.

He sat his Leaving Certificate in 1997, and joined the Army in October the following year. He was given his commission this summer at a ceremony which involved parading and marching. The course was physically and academically challenging, he says, cautioning those who might be interested that "it does require dedication and that bit of commitment. You have to really want it and have a good deal of commitment. Despite all the hard work it's very rewarding."

There were 37 in his class, including three females. A month before he completed the course, he and his fellow cadets had to sit 38 exams in a range of subjects, including economics, politics and history as well as military-related subjects such as defensive tactics, platoon tactics and ambushing and patrolling.

The most important aspect of the training, he says, is "the development of leadership and they have very good methods and techniques for developing those qualities in you . . . Everybody is given an opportunity to lead, be it in a tactical exercise or in the day-to-day routine around the barracks."

Initially it was the chance of overseas travel, the "slightly different life-style" that appealed to him about Army life and "the chance to lead".

Some of the outdoor activities in which he's taken part include abseiling, rock-climbing and canoeing. "You don't need to be tremendously fit at the outset," he explains.

A typical day can involve 90 minutes of physical training. As students they study before lunch, and in the afternoon they are out on the Curragh putting the theory into practice. Dinner is at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m. they do general cleaning duties around the barracks and then at 7 p.m. they can relax. Usually they go to bed at 11.30 p.m. and so ends another hard day at the . . . bootcamp.