Connor T.

Army Air Corps groundcrew soldier.

As a groundcrew soldier my job includes many different roles such as, aircraft handling, re fuelling, underslung load operations, commanding landing sites, maintaining vehicles and much more both routinely in the UK but also on exercises and operations around the world.

I am currently part of the Army Air Corps engagement team.

I have been in the Army Air Corps for over 7 years, in that time I have worked with the Apache attack helicopter routinely in the UK and on exercises in America. Following this I spent 3 and a half years as a landing point commander working with the Royal Air Force on various different aircraft like the Chinook and Puma. Whilst in this role I deployed on exercises in various countries around the world and on Operations in Africa. Since July 2022 I have been working as part of the Army Air Corps engagement team, where it is my job to engage with the public to spread the knowledge of what we do in the Army Air Corps and what a career with us can give you.

Meeting people and talking about my experiences.

My current job role gives me a great opportunity to engage with lots of interesting people and to share with them my experiences thought my career. I feel that once I have spoken to them, they go away with a clearer picture of what it means to be in the Army and what life is like for us. This gives me great satisfaction knowing that they too could begin the journey and experience things they never would as a civilian.

Drive, Determination and a good clear mindset.

Throughout selection and training things will not always go your way, it is designed to be tough and challenge you to give you the tools and know how to succeed in the challenging job as a soldier. It is vitally important that when you have a tough day you have the drive and determination to get up go again and get better. Anyone can do this as long as you give yourself the right mindset.

My first operational tour.

My first operational tour was my proudest moment. It was the first time I used my soldiering skills and training for real in an extremely challenging environment, this tour opened my eyes to what life is really like for people who don't have much and how important it is for these people to be supported. Whilst on this tour I worked closely with the French military in order to support them, which was challenging as many did not speak English, we had to overcome this language barrier in order to succeed and complete the mission. I will never forget my experiences from this tour and these memories will last a lifetime.