Telford veteran shares his story ahead of Armed Forces Day
An Armed Forces veteran has opened up about his experience in the military – and why he was tempted back as a reservist.
Matt Dudley, from Telford, joined the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) aged 18, and over five years of service did tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
Following his stint in the army, Matt worked in both private security and in property maintenance – it was during this time that he explored becoming a reservist.
The 36-year-old enlisted as reservist with the The Royal Shropshire Yeomanry – part of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry that currently serves in the armoured replacement role, providing replacement tank crews for regular armoured regiments.
This Saturday, people across the country will celebrate the men and women in the British Armed Forces, as part of annual Armed Forces Day.
Matt said: “My grandfather was the main reason why I wanted to join the army. He had a picture of himself in the living room wearing his military uniform and all I wanted to do was be like him and join the army.
“Initially I wanted to join the Paras because I wanted to jump out of planes. I went through the selection process and passed with ease, however after discussing with my careers office I thought that I would be a better fit for the Royal Logistic Corps.
“I ended up joining as a ‘Pioneer’ – which is essentially a tradesman in the military - doing electrics, bricklaying, you name it.
“I joined at 18, by the time I was 19 I did my three months training. I had only been with my unit for a couple months and then I volunteered for my tour of Iraq, which was promptly followed by Northern Ireland.
“One of the reasons I joined the army was to see a bit of the world. I’d been in Telford all my life so I saw this as a great opportunity.
“In Iraq, we looked after civilian contractors and I really enjoyed the experience. I also did a tour of Afghanistan which was very different and a lot more challenging in many respects - but I learned a lot from my tours.”
Matt, who now works as an advance craft painter and decorator with the Wrekin Housing Group, is allowed to take leave to undertake his training as a reservist.
“There was definitely an itch to get back into green kit.," he said
"A lot of the people I came across in my private security job talked about their experience as a reservist and the seeds were planted.
“Once I got back into kit, it was nice to be back. Because of the private security work – it was an easy transition for me – the soldier mentality was still there and it was like I never left.”
Matt completes up to 29 days training with The Royal Shropshire Yeomanry, including travelling abroad to camps in places like Gibraltar and Germany.
He joined Wrekin Housing Group in 2019 and has been supported to undertake his training as the group is a part of the Armed Forces Covenant.
Matt added: “I think it’s great that Wrekin supports veterans in this way.
“The discipline that the army has instilled in me is just as prevalent in my job here at Wrekin. Getting up in the morning is an easy task – I’m in the gym for 5am and then I’m ready to start work by 8am.
“It’s given me confidence in my own abilities as an individual. In the military you have to do a lot in front of people and soldiers of all ranks and during my time in private security, I had to give security team briefs to my colleagues and ship crews of up to 240 people, which has really helped my confidence grow.”
“Going forward with Wrekin I would really like to see them obtain the gold standard with the Armed Forces Covenant. This would be truly amazing and really show their support for veterans and reservists.”
