Liam,

I can only speak from my experiences and each of us have our own however;

When i was at school, at 13, each Wednesday we were required to either join the Combined Cadet Force or volunteer locally. I liked the idea of the CCF and doing it with my friends and so I went for that. Joining the Army was not something i had considered before this and if im honest, while i was doing it I still didnt think I was going to. In the CCF i learnt a lot including first aid, leadership and developed my sense of teamwork. This helped me mature and on reflection it was a great choice and im really happy that I did it. I left school and went to university and did other things until I was 27 when I realised that I wanted to do a job that I felt made a difference and i could be proud of. It was then, 9 years later that i recalled my time as a Cadet and considered joining the Army. I still wasnt 100% sure if this was the right decision for me and Afghanistan was in full flow so i joined the reserves to see if it was still something i wanted to do. I quickly realised it was and enjoyed the sense of camaraderie and felt like i really belonged there so i transferred to the Regular Army and have never looked back. The benefits from my time in cadets quickly were overtaken as i learnt more but did have an impact at the start in terms of how to prepare my uniform etc.

In terms of have i ever thought about leaving.......many times. During a career in the Army there will always be tough times and each of us finds these in different places. It could be when you are sat in a shell scrape that is slowly filling with water as it rains and you question "Why am i here?" It could be if someone promotes quicker than you and you ask "Why do i bother?" It could be when you have a family and ask "Is this career the right thing for them?" Any soldier who tells you they havent considered leaving at one point or another is lying however the Army teaches us that Mental Resilliance is key. The grass may appear to be greener on the other side but often it isnt and is just the same grass. There will be tough times but how we handle them is what defines us as a person. Am I really going to throw away a career and an amazing group of friends because the shell scrape has now overflowed and im soaking with 2 more weeks on exercise? No, that would be ridiculous and I know that this will pass and its just a tough time to overcome.

Hope this helps.

25 October, 2024 09:17