Transcript
I joined the army in 1986. I spent three years in the Irish Guards. I spent four years as an Army helicopter pilot, and then spent the last two years of my career as the Queen Mother's personal assistant, the Queen Mother's Equerry.
Going from the Army into television production isn't necessarily the crazy career path it may initially seem.
Being a TV producer is very much like being an Army officer because you're getting a bunch of people from point A to point B with equipment, getting them to a job and then bringing them back again. It's logistics. It's pretty much the same thing.
You are constantly being tested with your knowledge of the industry, your technical knowledge and your client list and your contacts list to get the right people for the right job. It's always a challenge because every job is different.
The good thing about the army is you are shown that nothing is impossible. They taught me to drive, they taught me to fly – helicopters and planes. They taught me to ski. They paid for me to become a TV producer. I've managed to get quite a lot of genuinely useful life skills… First aider… and diving.
There are so many things I've managed to get from the Army that are either too prohibitively expensive or just, you know, difficult. And parachuting, of course.
Veterans' Day is important for a veteran like me, because it helps veterans to be received better into society. It breaks the preconceptions that people have of what a military veteran is.