Soldier On! would like to introduce you to Nick Davis who, having been medically discharged from the Grenadier Guards, having lot his leg in Afghanistan, becomes our Candidate Manager.
Current candidates and service personnel looking for help can email Nick directly on nickdavis
Nick relates his own resettlement experiences:
The night of the 26th May 2007 is the night that changed my life forever. I was serving in Afghanistan on a 6 month tour of duty, when after 8 weeks of being in Afghanistan, I was involved in an IED incident, basically myself and my section of men were blown up by a bomb. Guardsmen Daniel Probyn was unfortunately killed in the blast and myself (LCpl Nicholas Davis) and Guardsmen Scott Blaney both lost our right leg in the blast. Not only did I lose my right leg I also suffered from multiple blast injuries, my hamstrings were severely damaged and I lost most of the muscle on my right buttock and hip. Still to this day I am on pain killers for damage to my nerves and bone around my hip joint.
I was in a small town in Helmand province called Garmsir, this is where the tragic incident happened, after the initial IED blast I was casevaced to Camp Bastion were I under-went surgery, I died once on the operating table but thankfully I was revived, this in its self is a very scary thought. I was then casevaced back to the UK were I would spend a further 8 weeks in Selly Oak hospital and underwent at least another 8 operations. This was a very difficult time in my life, coming to terms with such a tragic event was hard, but with the support of my family I started to heal the mental scars of that night. Now came the onslaught of physical rehabilitation, I was transferred from Selly Oak hospital to Headley Court, this is where all combat injured soldiers are rehabilitated. For the next 18 months I was in rehab, it was a long haul to say the least.
During the time at Headley Court you start to ask yourself if staying in the Army is the right thing for me. This would turn out to be a very difficult decision to make and would take some 4 years to decide. The inevitable day eventually comes where I decided the Army was no longer for me, now I had to ask myself the question What am I going to do?, What career path shall I take? These 2 simple questions will be on the mind of every person leaving the Armed forces due to combat injuries. I have no doubt that this is a difficult transition period for anyone leaving the Army but even harder when you have severe disabilities like myself.
My transition into Civi Street certainly had a few bumps on the way to me securing meaningful employment. I started with the mainstream resettlement package, but found this in my opinion to be useless as its generic to everyone, but we are all individuals. Due to my disabilities I was eligible for a referral to Remploy. I and my Regimental casualty officer met with a representative from Remploy, this was really just a meet and greet. They told me about an apprenticeship scheme they were running with Microsoft, which basically was on the job training and classroom training working towards 4 qualifications. I thought to myself that this would be a very good starting block as IT is in just about every work place now. I was accepted onto the scheme but as time went by and the course got delayed time after time and no placement from one the schemes companies come to fruition. At this point I seriously started to have my doubts, as the scheme had been delayed at least 4 times now.
Then I met Nicholas Harrison from Soldier On! He accompanied my Regimental casualty officer on a home visit. This is where I explained to him about the scheme and all the delays. Nicholas straight away questioned whether this was the right career path for me, but as I had nothing else at this point I chose to carry on with the scheme purely for the experience and the hope that a career would come from the scheme, my hope was in vein! I was then told that I could not start on the scheme unless I had one of the work placements with one of the Microsoft affiliated partners, these companies were not very forthcoming, there was originally 10 companies that agreed to the scheme and only 2 stuck to their word. Unfortunately I didnt even get an interview. This is where Nicholas Harrison stepped in and discussed my treatment with Remploy and Microsoft, and behold they agreed to let me start the academic side of the course and told me they would carry on trying to find me a work placement and guess what? No placement ever appeared. This was really frustrating and left me questioning whether I would ever get a job.
Where others failed Nicholas succeeded and got me 2 weeks work experience with Fujitsu in Bracknell. These 2 weeks with Fujitsu turned out to be so valuable; it gave me a real perspective of working in a civilian environment. Nicholas and Soldier On! also arranged for me to attend an Apple Certified Macintosh Technicians course at an Amsys training centre. This course just helped further my IT knowledge and I gained another valuable qualification from the course. Neither of these would have been possible without the help and support of Soldier On!
Then one day when I had met Nicholas in London, we were on the underground and he explained his plan for Soldier On!, I found out that he wanted to employ medically discharged ex-servicemen. Bingo, I found my calling so to speak, it was that eureka moment for me, I said why not me? So we chatted about the position, the idea of working for Soldier On! really excited me and got me thinking, this is what I want to do with my working life. I want to help those that are following in my footsteps and unfortunately there are many that will be leaving the forces in the next few years that will be in the same situation as I was, asking those 2 simple questions.
I had an interview with one of Soldier On!s Trustees, Julian Dawson and Nicholas and a few days later I was offered the role of Candidate Manager, I was ecstatic, I did it, I got myself a brand new career and one that I think suits me right down to the ground, for myself I have answered the 2 simple questions. The relief and the weight lifted off my shoulders was a real relief, Ive come through a very challenging time in my life with flying colours. This is all down to Nicholas and Soldier On!, they have provided me with a real opportunity and in my opinion a meaningful career and one where I can help those who are about to follow in my footsteps in leaving the Armed Forces.
What can Soldier On! offer to those leaving the forces? Well, we offer a different approach; we offer you that personal touch. With Soldier On! there is always someone at the other end of the phone to help and guide you throughout the whole process of leaving the forces. Soldier On! takes you back to the basics first, they help you to understand who you are, what you like, your character traits and your personal qualities. We understand that despite leaving the forces with potential medical difficulties, these will not become barriers to employment. We will work with you, not to dictate to you what is right or wrong for you or to confuse the situation even further by giving you a meaningless list of job vacancies. This approach is key in selecting a career that suits you as a person and that will enable you to have a long a meaningful career. If at first you dont succeed and soon realise that your chosen path is not right for you, then we start again till we get it right. Soldier On!s support is not just during your transition to Civi Street, our support is for a lifetime.
