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for Veterans by Veterans

That Sense of Belonging

From my early days in the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion to my last day as a Sergeant in the Special Air Service, the one thing I benefitted from hugely was that I was part of something, I belonged. Having been abandoned as a baby on the steps of a London hospital, going through kid's homes and foster care system in South East London, attending nine different schools in seven years, ending up in the Borstal system, knowing where I belonged and who was on my side was never something I had.

I knew I wanted to belong somewhere, even when I joined the military straight out of juvenile detention; what appealed to me about the army was being part of something.

Whilst the sense of camaraderie and community isn't unique to the Armed Forces, it is undoubtedly one of its best attributes and something that every service leaver will miss. Your experiences with your mates in the unit are unique. After all, what other job asks you to put your life on the line for those you are working alongside? You might not have a natural affinity with every single person you serve with, but you know and they know that you are bound by something more substantial than any personal feelings, a code formed by days, months and years of gruelling training of pain, resilience, triumph, despair, times that you've felt wet, cold and hungry, times you've needed your mates to carry you, often literally!

It's a broader community, though. It isn't just the men and women that you serve alongside; it's knowing you are part of something much bigger than just you and your mates. Something that asks a lot of you but, in return, feeds, clothes, houses, supports, educates, and, perhaps most importantly, understands you.

All this is what you lose when you become a service leaver. At best, as I've explained before, you stumble around, not understanding the mechanics of living in a civilian world (those doctors, banks, school admissions, job interviews). Still, you only have to look at the number of Veterans living on the streets in the UK's towns and cities to realise that there is a more significant loss here. These are the people who have lost their tribe and haven't managed to replace it, the people who are now lost, falling between the gaps, lonely and isolated from society because society doesn't 'get it'.

Charities are helping pick Veterans up when they reach rock bottom, but we'd like to see no service leaver getting to rock bottom but instead being supported and equipped to start or continue the next phase of their civilian life. We want the weServed community to replicate that sense of belonging that we all had whilst we were in the Armed Forces, putting us back in touch with people with whom we have that critical shared experience, people who 'get to' and understand that there may be some day to day adjustments to make. Still, as long as we stick together, we can see a brighter and better future for service leavers and their families.

weServed is currently offering Veterans an exclusive opportunity to invest in and join the weServed movement. For as little as £50, about the same as a round of drinks, you can become a legacy shareholder and be part of something once more.

Andy McNab CBE, DCM, MM, DArts

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