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ST EDWARD’S
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F E A T U R E S
three hours out of town, and town was a petrol
station and a pub - that's it! It's quite physical
work with a high injury high risk but it’s a very
simple, satisfying existence and the mentality
is very similar to what you need in the Army.
On a remote cattle station if something goes
wrong nobody is going to come and help you.
You can’t call the electrician or the plumber -
you have to come up with a solution yourself.
You have to fix it, and that is pretty much the
military approach - "adapt and overcome".
If you hadn’t joined the army, what
would you have done?
If circumstances had been different I might
have stayed in Australia. I don't know. . .
maybe something to do with international aid
relief. Long term I think I will probably end up
teaching; I really enjoy training people, working
with recruits, working with young soldiers. I
used to do a lot of work with Teddies CCF
and that kind of thing and really enjoyed it. So
eventually I may find myself back at a school…
maybe this one, you never know!
BritishArmy Girls was big news when
it came out onTV last year.Tell us a bit
about it.
The show definitely turned out to be much
bigger than I was expecting. It was never
something I thought I was going to have to do
and snuck up on me slightly! It moved very fast
from the time when we became aware of it to
actually happening, and I was shocked to be
asked to do it. It’s quite a strange experience
to have your job, which you do very naturally,
suddenly invaded with cameras watching you
all the time. It makes you very aware of all
of your mannerisms, and a little bit paranoid,
whereas normally you would just get on and
do it. But you do get used to it. The film crew
was absolutely great and the end result was
absolutely worth all the stress and effort.
Do you have any further plans to be
onTV?
Definitely not, although when I turned up to
speak at Gaudy last year there were cameras
there too, so you never know what the future
holds! It has certainly been an interesting
introduction to TV and the media, and I can
now see how useful a tool that can be.
What do you think the value of CCF
is forTeddies pupils?
Such experiences, whether in or out of a
uniform, add huge value for everybody. CCF
gets you out of your usual school boundaries of
house, class or year group, and makes you do
something with a wider group, all in the same
uniform, all hopefully working togther towards
a common goal. It takes you out of your
comfort zone, which is really important for self
awareness, but is getting harder and harder to
do in a normal school environment. It allows
you to do things you never get to do otherwise,
and gives you a very small understanding and
appreciation for the military, which society as a
whole does not understand very well.
What's your view on women serving
on the front line?
There are certainly women who are capable.
The physical demands are high but they're not
ridiculously high, and with the right training,
equipment and fitness there are definitely
female soldiers and officers who could fulfil
that role. I think in some ways, whether
physically, mentally or emotionally, females
are actually better equipped to deal with
the pressures of being on the front line. The
reality is also that there isn't such a thing
as a ‘front line’ any more - we talk about
combat roles. Morally I think it is the right
thing to do, although clearly there are some
complicated issues in practice. For what it’s
worth, I think it is going to happen, but that
it will be a gradual thing and it will take some
getting used to. The guys have been in men-
only groups for years and years and years in
a testosterone-heavy environment. It will be
a big change - but that doesn't mean it will
be for the worse.
Anything else?
I'm really looking forward to getting married
in the school chapel in December!
Rosie trains senior NCOs on a CCF Field Weekend