Today we celebrate Reserves Day, a day where the nation celebrates the hard work and bravery of the reservists who volunteer their time to the Armed Forces outside of their day jobs.
Reservists give up their spare time to serve in the Reserve Forces, balancing their civilian life with a military career. The Reserve Forces make up approximately one sixth of the Armed Forces personnel and are integral to protecting the nation’s security at home and overseas.
Hannah Winton, Explosive Safety Manager at Landmarc’s Head Office near Salisbury, served in the Army working with ammunition and explosives before deciding to balance civilian life with becoming a reservist.
We asked Hannah to tell us a bit more about how and why she got involved:
“I started working with ammunition and explosives in the Army when I chose to specialise in this field, so I completed a 16-month course to become an Ammunition Technical Officer. Whilst still serving, I was a Bomb Disposal Officer and served in Kosovo where I was responsible for all UK ammunition storage licenses and inspections.
“At the time I had no idea how I would use this expertise if I ever left the military; but working at Landmarc has allowed me to utilise the skills I learnt in the Forces in different ways. I now continue to serve as an officer with the Army Reserve and Landmarc continues to support this part of my career without hesitation, which is really important to me.
“Since I started at Landmarc in 2012, I have been working as an Explosive Safety Manager as part of the Quality Safety Health and Environment (QSHE) team. When I came into the business to support Landmarc and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), my job was to ensure the regulatory issues around people working in ammunition storage facilities were being met appropriately. Since I have been here though, I have been given countless opportunities to expand my skillset, having done a variety of other tasks including bid support, business development, training of new IT systems and more recently supporting the development of the process maps for the business and our new Sharepoint site, Landscape.
“Being a reserve has allowed me to experience the UK training estate from both the user and contracted partner perspective simultaneously, providing a current reality of the requirements of a unit whilst training.”