This is quite a broad question so this could be quite a weighty read but here goes.

When I was a civilian I had been out of university for some time and struggled to work out what I wanted to do for a career. I hadn’t done as well at uni as I had hoped but was looking for a job that I felt would make a difference. I had been a cadet and enjoyed that, so joining the Army was always at the back of my mind. Unsure of whether I wanted to commit to regular service I joined the reserves in the Royal Signals as they were the unit that was close to where I lived. As a reservist I completed basic training and many of the modules to commission as an Officer. Concurrently I was able to do representative sport for the Army

After a while I personally found the reserves didn’t work alongside my lifestyle and I wanted to join as a regular officer to commit fully. Having already completed my AOSB as a reserve this was pretty easy and I just applied for a place at Sandhurst. I was fit due to sport and so for me Sandhurst itself was mostly about learning how to be a soldier, learning about leadership, military studies and platoon level infantry tactics etc. It was a tough 44 weeks but ultimately really rewarding and fun. During this time I applied for my Regiment and was accepted into the Royal Tank Regiment.

Following Sandhurst I undertook Initial Trade Training to become a Main Battle Tank Troop Leader in the Royal Armoured Corps in Bovington. Learning how to command tanks was awesome and exactly what I had joined to do. I arrived at Regiment 6 months later and joined the demonstration Squadron, which was a Squadron of tanks that provided the crews and vehicles for all of the exercises. I was super happy as it got me more tank time than all of my friends combined. I also went to Norway and Europe for 4 months to learn how to Nordic Ski and to compete against the rest of the forces and some civilians.
Following my time in the Demo Squadron I deployed to Afghanistan, my Squadron was training people on arrival into the country to better prepare them for the tasks ahead. I came back and went on another Nordic Skiing Season. On my return from that I joined a CBRN reconnaissance squadron as a planning officer. Our job was to find chemical weapons in case they were ever used in war. I learnt a lot in this role and it was great to be one of only a few specialists within the whole army.

At this point I moved to jobs away from Regiment and was posted to the Falkland Islands as their Media Officer. I look back at this as one of my most enjoyable times in the Army and one that set me on the path I now walk today. Media was awesome, and as a relatively junior Captain I was given the responsibility of managing press, social media, filming etc in all British territories in the Atlantic South of the Equator. I met some great people and had experiences none of my friends back in tanks will have.

My love of all things media saw me move to Army HQ and run aspects of the Army Social Media accounts, this was amazing and taught me so many transferable skills. I had to take a break from media as I attended some career courses but then moved back into a similar role for NATO which allowed me to travel accross the Alliance and work with some amazing communicators, absolute specialists in their field. With a Combat Camera Team, it was our responsibility to tell NATOs story and with all the nationalities there was so much to tell. Having started as someone who wanted to make a difference, my work helped in deterring aggression to the Alliance and was seen across the world.

I have recently moved into this role in recruiting and hope to show people the varied careers it’s possible to have in the Army so that they may experience the rewarding time I have.

04 September, 2024 12:33