Page 46 - LBV 2017

INTER-COMPANY TRAINING & VISITS
“Leadership is not a position or a title; it is action and example.”
And there it lay, on the door mat at the bottom of the stairs. Looking down at the envelope, it looked so similar in outward appearance to its predecessor, but I was praying that it would not yield the same result as before.
It had been six months since I had received my letter bearing the bad news of a ‘fail’ at Main Board, and I had undertaken a lot in that time
to give myself the best possible chance at my second and final attempt. This was not to say I hadn’t given it my all at my initial Board. Having achieved a ‘category one’ at Briefing and feeling that I had prepared myself well prior to my first attempt, it would be an understatement to say I was hugely disappointed after being described as not suitable for Officer selection as a result
of being ‘overly mindful of the needs of others’. Being an A&E Nurse and totally committed to my profession, it is hard to switch off from this trait.
However, every knockback makes you stronger, and I was determined not to let the result get the better of me and put me off
my goal of becoming a Nursing Officer in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC). I focussed on what I was able to change, and my priorities were to improve my assertiveness and clarity of communication. I booked onto ‘Endurance Training Leader’ (ETL) and ‘Defence Instructional Techniques’ (DITs) courses so that I could then obtain my ‘Physical Training Instructor’ and ‘Team Medic Instructor’ courses which increased my
confidence in speaking, leading
and instructing.
For the two weeks prior to
my second Main Board, I totally
committed myself to preparation.
When one fully immerses in a task
– ‘live, eat and breathe it’ – I felt
that I was able to focus and achieve so much
to a new level, and assured myself that my emotional commitment would transpire into my work. Obsession becomes key; for example, I would get up at 06:00hrs and not allow myself to go for a run until I achieved 100% in 20 speed, distance, time questions in under five minutes; to me, running is a massive pleasure!
I surrounded myself with the right people who inspired and believed in me. Ex-CUOTC Officer Cadet Malpass ran command task simulations
for me to practice briefing the syndicate.
Using his method of filming the scenarios, we could achieve real-time analysis to improve performance. The following week, I acted as directing staff for a Saint John Ambulance event with Officer Cadet Joe Wheater. We were tasked with running a ‘sucking chest wound’ scenario, and would back-brief the volunteers on how they responded and the effectiveness of their leadership style. UEA Triathlon President, Tom
Huband, pushed me to a sub-40 minute 10km, which helped to make my CV look a little better! The Caiger family were, as ever, so supportive.
The CO provided an invaluable backbone of support throughout my preparation and was aided
by the staff. Captain Ferguson ran a mock
AOSB and put me under pressure to prepare
for the dreaded ‘Planning Exercises’. Captain McCann ran numerous, high-quality development weekends with the external non-biased opinion of staff outside of CUOTC. Colour Sergeant Harris has been an absolute rock throughout the early processes of my medical.
As I picked up the brown envelope from off the door mat, I revisited the question I had asked my syndicate on day one of my second Main Board;
44 THE LIGHT BLUE VOLUNTEER
I totally committed myself to preparation.