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for Veterans by Veterans

Regimental Associations & the weServed community

Giving a sense of community to Veterans

Over the years, since I left the Army, I have done much work with the Royal Green Jackets Regimental Association. I joined the 2nd Batallion of the Royal Green Jackets after a year in the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion down in Shorncliffe, Kent. I thought the Green Jackets sounded like a football team; what did I know? I was sixteen years of age, straight out of juvenile detention! The Army had a recruitment drive at the time and was going around the Borstal system (as it was then) recruiting lads by offering them a way out of Borstal if they signed up for six years; that minor detail I didn't listen to. I was more interested in watching the recruiting film of a pilot flying a small two-seater Scout helicopter, flying low over the beaches of Cyprus, waving down at the girls in bikinis, and the girls waving back at them. Then we were asked by the recruiting Sergeant, 'Who wants to join the army?'. Funnily enough, we all put our hands up! Given our literacy and numeracy levels, we didn't realise that there was no way we would be helicopter pilots; we could hardly tie our shoelaces, and we were heading for the infantry. What made it even worse was that I thought I had signed up for the minimum term of 3 years when, in fact, Junior Leaders had to sign up for six because the army wanted their year's investment out of us.

But those years as a Green Jacket were some of the best of my life. The purpose of regimental associations, as I'm sure many of you know (and are involved in!), is to engage with and give a sense of community to veterans, uphold the history and traditions of the regiment, assist with charities they are supporting, help them with employment and other aspects of civilian life. The ethos of the Regimental Association is in line with what we are trying to achieve with weServed, which is why we are so keen to work with and support the Regimental Associations in any way we can.

I've done annual events with the Royal Green Jackets Association London branch over the years, and they are a great bunch of lads. They work tirelessly to organise social events, fundraisers, community work and of course also represent the regiment at the Cenotaph each November.

Making the UK the best country in the world to be a Veteran