Military veterans will be able to qualify as teachers in two years under a new Government scheme.
From next year, ex-service personnel who do not have a degree, but have experience or qualifications as instructors, coaches or mentors, will be able to sign up to a programme that will put them in the classroom in around half the time it usually takes to become a teacher.
The move is part of a bid by ministers to encourage members of the armed forces to consider teaching as a career.
The Department for Education also said that former military personnel who already have a degree will be handed bursaries and able to enrol on teacher training courses with extra bespoke training.
The two schemes are part of the Government's Troops to Teachers programme.
The Westcountry has a huge pool of ex- and serving personnel. Around 14,500 of the people signed up to the armed forces are based in Devon and Cornwall, overwhelmingly in the Navy.
Colonel Ed Newman, 47, joined the Army in 1989 after reading history at Exeter University and completing officer training at Sandhurst.
A veteran of the first Gulf War, Afghanistan and Kosovo, he left the Army in August 2012 and the following month started on a two-year teacher training scheme.
He teaches history at The Wellington Academy, in Wiltshire, and also runs the school's Combined Cadet Force.
He said: "Ex-servicemen can bring something extra to a school. We still need to learn the teaching techniques, and that's challenging. But we have experience in dealing with people and in leading and managing them in challenging circumstances, and we bring an ethos with us – respect, integrity, discipline, which is very relevant to the school environment."
Education minister and Liberal Democrat Yeovil MP David Laws said the schemes would help ex-servicemen and women to make the move into the classroom.
Mr Laws said: "Many members of our inspiring armed forces possess the skills and expertise relevant and transferable to the classroom – leadership, discipline, motivation and teamwork. Every child can benefit from having these values instilled in them."
But a headteachers' leader raised concerns that the programmes would not provide the right preparation and support for teaching, and warned against creating a "military ethos" in schools.
Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "There is no doubt that some ex-military personnel have the potential to make excellent teachers, but they need the right preparation and support. From what we've seen so far, this programme lacks both."
Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg said: "It has taken three years for Michael Gove just to launch this scheme, and during that time only a handful of volunteers have come forward – just one in 500 trainee teachers, and the number is falling."