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| The secret life of an army officer: I’m a liberal who wouldn’t vote for war The secret life of an army officer: I’m a liberal who wouldn’t vote for war | |
| (4 months later) | |
| The times, as Bob Dylan once said, they are a-changing. I am an officer in the armed forces, but shock horror, I am also a full-on, hummus-eating, Guardian-reading liberal. I would not keep Trident and I would never vote to go to war. | The times, as Bob Dylan once said, they are a-changing. I am an officer in the armed forces, but shock horror, I am also a full-on, hummus-eating, Guardian-reading liberal. I would not keep Trident and I would never vote to go to war. |
| I joined up for the travel (to count, on duty: 10 countries across four continents in seven years) and because I believe in paying my dues to a society that provides a comprehensive welfare state to those who cannot work, eat and exist without help. One day I will leave, knowing what I did made a modicum of a difference, once, to someone, somewhere. | I joined up for the travel (to count, on duty: 10 countries across four continents in seven years) and because I believe in paying my dues to a society that provides a comprehensive welfare state to those who cannot work, eat and exist without help. One day I will leave, knowing what I did made a modicum of a difference, once, to someone, somewhere. |
| As for war, I have often thought: “Why can’t we decide these things with a football match instead?” If it really were that important, your team would never lose and our children would not die in a desert far from home. | As for war, I have often thought: “Why can’t we decide these things with a football match instead?” If it really were that important, your team would never lose and our children would not die in a desert far from home. |
| Don’t get me wrong, I am a professional soldier. Physically fit, a good shot, and an experienced leader. I will do what has to be done and I work hard for those who work hard for me. As a lieutenant, I commanded over 40 soldiers in Afghanistan. As an adjutant of a regiment, I was where the buck stopped for all HR and personnel issues and ultimately, for how “deployable” all our soldiers were. But I am a new breed, and I am not alone in my outlook. | Don’t get me wrong, I am a professional soldier. Physically fit, a good shot, and an experienced leader. I will do what has to be done and I work hard for those who work hard for me. As a lieutenant, I commanded over 40 soldiers in Afghanistan. As an adjutant of a regiment, I was where the buck stopped for all HR and personnel issues and ultimately, for how “deployable” all our soldiers were. But I am a new breed, and I am not alone in my outlook. |
| A new century brings with it new challenges for the army; the soldiers and officers of a new generation expect different things. We are no longer the army of the 1970s, where shouting was pretty much how everything got done. The way we as a disciplined and uniformed force interact with the UK and the wider world has changed. | A new century brings with it new challenges for the army; the soldiers and officers of a new generation expect different things. We are no longer the army of the 1970s, where shouting was pretty much how everything got done. The way we as a disciplined and uniformed force interact with the UK and the wider world has changed. |
| LGBT and ethnic minority issues have been placed squarely at the front and centre of the army’s agenda. There is an annual army LGBT conference, that I have attended and which is a productive event: everyone regardless of sexual orientation leaves feeling positive, included, and inspired about the future. We have transgender people currently serving who are well-supported by their colleagues. Ethnic minority recruitment is on the rise and it is now, more than ever, socially acceptable within these communities to sign up. Each regiment has a welfare department to help with a soldier’s financial problems, divorces, custody disagreements, and the promotion of harmony within the army. Why? Because a satisfied soldier is an effective soldier. How many other employers can boast such a supportive system? | LGBT and ethnic minority issues have been placed squarely at the front and centre of the army’s agenda. There is an annual army LGBT conference, that I have attended and which is a productive event: everyone regardless of sexual orientation leaves feeling positive, included, and inspired about the future. We have transgender people currently serving who are well-supported by their colleagues. Ethnic minority recruitment is on the rise and it is now, more than ever, socially acceptable within these communities to sign up. Each regiment has a welfare department to help with a soldier’s financial problems, divorces, custody disagreements, and the promotion of harmony within the army. Why? Because a satisfied soldier is an effective soldier. How many other employers can boast such a supportive system? |
| Your average soldier or officer is still essentially a flawed human, working for other flawed humans | Your average soldier or officer is still essentially a flawed human, working for other flawed humans |
| However, your average soldier or officer is still essentially a flawed human, working for other flawed humans. Remember that when you see the sharp-eyed rifleman on the news sitting in a Chinook helicopter somewhere hot, or patrolling foreign streets in an attempt to bring stability to another part of the world. The man behind that rifle has a family, a mortgage, a baby, a sick mother – in short, he has a life, a life I as his officer have a direct investment in. It is a life with emotions, feelings, stresses. He might even be your brother or son, if things were different. | However, your average soldier or officer is still essentially a flawed human, working for other flawed humans. Remember that when you see the sharp-eyed rifleman on the news sitting in a Chinook helicopter somewhere hot, or patrolling foreign streets in an attempt to bring stability to another part of the world. The man behind that rifle has a family, a mortgage, a baby, a sick mother – in short, he has a life, a life I as his officer have a direct investment in. It is a life with emotions, feelings, stresses. He might even be your brother or son, if things were different. |
| As soldiers, we go to places on the whim of a government that does not always grasp the human element surrounding the young people they may send to their deaths. We are often working with loose planning in dangerous environments, in countries without a stable government in place. I have been deployed to a mix of stable and riskier countries, and must be prepared to adjust to a new environment at any moment. On some assignments this can mean eating cold rations and washing myself and my clothes in a bowl for as long as is necessary. | As soldiers, we go to places on the whim of a government that does not always grasp the human element surrounding the young people they may send to their deaths. We are often working with loose planning in dangerous environments, in countries without a stable government in place. I have been deployed to a mix of stable and riskier countries, and must be prepared to adjust to a new environment at any moment. On some assignments this can mean eating cold rations and washing myself and my clothes in a bowl for as long as is necessary. |
| My bag is permanently packed and I have sat ready to react within hours to anything – from peace operations to humanitarian crises and conflicts – for months on end. It is necessary, but chaotic. Two of my colleagues have been killed on duty and while I don’t suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, their faces will never leave me. | My bag is permanently packed and I have sat ready to react within hours to anything – from peace operations to humanitarian crises and conflicts – for months on end. It is necessary, but chaotic. Two of my colleagues have been killed on duty and while I don’t suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, their faces will never leave me. |
| The army has a long history of counter-insurgency operations and my own experiences have been alongside skilled professionals. It’s not like the movies: in such situations every action is conducted meticulously, as it has to be. Planning over and over again, and conducting pre-patrol checks on ammunition, radios, body armour, and water are unglamorous but good drills that will ultimately save lives. | The army has a long history of counter-insurgency operations and my own experiences have been alongside skilled professionals. It’s not like the movies: in such situations every action is conducted meticulously, as it has to be. Planning over and over again, and conducting pre-patrol checks on ammunition, radios, body armour, and water are unglamorous but good drills that will ultimately save lives. |
| I can go from exhilarating deployment to drumming my fingers on an empty desk in HQ in the same week. | I can go from exhilarating deployment to drumming my fingers on an empty desk in HQ in the same week. |
| In barracks day-to-day, we are like any other corporation: navigating out-of-touch superiors, jumping through hoops, completing idiotic health and safety courses. My particular bugbear is other soldiers who are not prepared to go the extra mile, those who will make this whole rollercoaster feel like merely a job; as opposed to the all-singing, all-dancing vocation. | In barracks day-to-day, we are like any other corporation: navigating out-of-touch superiors, jumping through hoops, completing idiotic health and safety courses. My particular bugbear is other soldiers who are not prepared to go the extra mile, those who will make this whole rollercoaster feel like merely a job; as opposed to the all-singing, all-dancing vocation. |
| Politics (with a capital P) definitely shapes the lives of soldiers and officers, but office politics and daily frustrations are prominent and the same as anywhere – little arguments, line manager power struggles, coffee fund spats, open-plan offices, ineffective coworkers ... the list goes on. | Politics (with a capital P) definitely shapes the lives of soldiers and officers, but office politics and daily frustrations are prominent and the same as anywhere – little arguments, line manager power struggles, coffee fund spats, open-plan offices, ineffective coworkers ... the list goes on. |
| The recent redundancies and Army 2020 cuts have left many people doing upwards of three jobs to cover the workload. This makes daily working life harder and may go some way to explaining a certain laissez-faire attitude – some people are simply starting to give in as the new structures creak under the strain. | The recent redundancies and Army 2020 cuts have left many people doing upwards of three jobs to cover the workload. This makes daily working life harder and may go some way to explaining a certain laissez-faire attitude – some people are simply starting to give in as the new structures creak under the strain. |
| Saying that, army life comes with bonuses. Yes, I am gainfully employed, and I am grateful for this. The forces’ pay packet does provide benefits, such as Ministry of Defence housing, a pension plan, and a competitive salary. When in the UK, I live on an army estate, where I know my neighbour and where I could, if I wanted to, walk to work. | Saying that, army life comes with bonuses. Yes, I am gainfully employed, and I am grateful for this. The forces’ pay packet does provide benefits, such as Ministry of Defence housing, a pension plan, and a competitive salary. When in the UK, I live on an army estate, where I know my neighbour and where I could, if I wanted to, walk to work. |
| But all is not what it seems. The utopian ideal, this army for the 21st century, has not yet been realised. The army housing? We pay sizeable rent to the government to stay in it anyway. My garage? Not actually big enough for a car. Pension? Slashed in a series of reforms. | But all is not what it seems. The utopian ideal, this army for the 21st century, has not yet been realised. The army housing? We pay sizeable rent to the government to stay in it anyway. My garage? Not actually big enough for a car. Pension? Slashed in a series of reforms. |
| So what does the future hold? Well, in the lingering words of Jamie Foxx’s marine corps soldier in Jarhead, “I love this job”. I love it despite the system and the pervading “last days of Rome” atmosphere. I love the people, the fact the army levels the playing field for all, and I would like to continue serving this country. | So what does the future hold? Well, in the lingering words of Jamie Foxx’s marine corps soldier in Jarhead, “I love this job”. I love it despite the system and the pervading “last days of Rome” atmosphere. I love the people, the fact the army levels the playing field for all, and I would like to continue serving this country. |
| The job offers travel to places you’d never get a chance to see in this day and age (Lashkar Gah is great this time of year), along with camaraderie and an unparalleled sense of achievement if you’re working on the right project such as helping in a humanitarian crisis. We made a real difference in the wake of the Nepal earthquake, for example. However the daily grind is as exhausting as anywhere else, and public opinion can vary widely despite our concerted efforts. | The job offers travel to places you’d never get a chance to see in this day and age (Lashkar Gah is great this time of year), along with camaraderie and an unparalleled sense of achievement if you’re working on the right project such as helping in a humanitarian crisis. We made a real difference in the wake of the Nepal earthquake, for example. However the daily grind is as exhausting as anywhere else, and public opinion can vary widely despite our concerted efforts. |
| One day soon, the army will be nigh-on unrecognisable, and this will either be a great or a grave thing. | One day soon, the army will be nigh-on unrecognisable, and this will either be a great or a grave thing. |
| • Are you a flight attendant, a firefighter or an anaesthetist? We want to hear your candid accounts of what work is really like. Find full details on submitting your story anonymously here | • Are you a flight attendant, a firefighter or an anaesthetist? We want to hear your candid accounts of what work is really like. Find full details on submitting your story anonymously here |