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Name: Colin Rees
Rank on Exit: Mne
Years of Service: 4
Qualifications Gained: NVQ in Public Services
After just over four years in the Royal Marines, having served in locations including Afghanistan and Norway, and specialising in heavy weapons, Mne Colin Rees left the Armed Forces in November 2007 to ‘seek new challenges’.
The skills and aptitudes gained in the military that he now finds useful in civilian life include ‘confidence, teaching ability, self-discipline, fitness, teamwork and communication skills’. In terms of qualifications, he gained an NVQ in Public Services while serving, and Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) level 1 on a resettlement training course run by AssetCo Technical Rescue, which he found well run and useful.
His first civilian job after leaving the Forces was offshore work that came about following ‘personal hand delivery of my CV to offshore companies’. Following this work offshore, he explains, ‘I got a job with my IRATA training provider, AssetCo. In this role I used my IRATA training to instruct Confined Space Access and Rescue courses, and Working at Height courses to industry and the emergency services. AssetCo also gave me some training in rescue equipment management and water rescue.
‘This job proved excellent preparation for my current job as a firefighter’, which he found via ‘personal recommendation following the IRATA Rope Access course’. He says that ‘although, traditionally, firefighters are seen as dealing with fires and rescuing people from burning buildings, the firefighters of today respond to a wide range of emergencies including road traffic collisions, people who are trapped, chemical spillages and the new threats associated with terrorism’.
He enjoys the ‘teamwork, working with the community, danger and excitement, and fitness’ required by his work. In the communication, fitness and teamwork aspects of his job, he finds particular parallels with his Service career, while one welcome difference is an increase in salary.
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