A New Start
In 2003 I signed up to join the Infantry but got medically deferred for over 2 years due to a serious motorcycle accident.
I lost interest in joining the British Army at that time because of all the medical setbacks and the time it was taking to have further operations.
I continued with my civilian job and went on to study medical science at college and biomedical science at university.
Many years later in 2020, I joined the British Army as a Reservist. Now with financial commitments that I didn’t have when younger, I realised joining as a Regular soldier was no longer an option for me.
One of the reasons why I joined as a Reservist was to do more exciting and challenging things before getting too old! I also wanted to get my C+E driving licence.
Within a short time of serving as a Reserve it became apparent that, with my civilian job commitments, things weren’t progressing at the pace I was looking for.
Struggling to get to drill nights due to emergency work as a civilian and being unable to take time off to do what is available with the British Army, I soon got stuck in a rut.
"FTX, a highly professional company"
After hearing about Operator Sponsored Reserve positions available with FTX Logistics, I decided to enquire about the possibility of joining.
Ticking all the boxes except for one, having Cat C and not my C+E licence, FTX decided to give me an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down. They funded my C+E licence acquisition.
After gratefully accepting the offer to become a HET Operator, I began the training provided by FTX and gained my C+E licence within a short space of time. Further training is being provided and also the opportunity to go on military deployments in future.
FTX logistics is truly a highly professional company that I am very proud to be employed by.
I have to be careful in how I describe being a Reserve, as I don’t want to put people off doing that if being a Sponsored Reserve is not for them.
At the same time, I think I have been able to highlight the benefits of being a Sponsored Reserve. i.e.
- reasonable pay to continue with my financial commitments, which for me is paying a mortgage off on my own
- looking after and paying for my 3 children,
- and also the fact that there is no requirement to take time off from my civilian job to do military training. This is because it’s all paid for time and part of my contract with FTX.
