Page 27 - RADC Bulletin 2021

Lt Col (Retd) Liz Bamber
Mum to Mike (23) and Charlie (21) CDP about to retire!
Benefits of being a serving mum
I feel immensely privileged to have been able to combine my career as a dental professional with military service. My sons, when young, perceived dentistry negatively with the restrictions on sweets and nice drinks it engendered. The upside was the kudos of having the only mum on the school run in a ‘soldier girl costume’ and the trips
on tanks, helicopters and invitations to ceremonial events that came their way.
They have grown up in an environment of parental gender equality. When I joined the RADC in 1989, I understood that my contract would be terminated on pregnancy. The MOD has progressed to be business leading in terms of maternity, and now paternity, support. There is equal pay for equal rank and increasingly equal opportunities for progression. Of greater importance for me as I reach retirement is the lifelong friendships made and camaraderie experienced belonging to the Military Family.
Biggest Challenges
The evidence is that mothers bear the greater burden of organising childcare. Juggling children, work, relationships and running a family home without dropping any of those balls is a constant challenge. Add in the military requirement for regular moves on posting, deployment on ops or
exercise, temporary duty away from home plus lengthy commutes for the sake of family stability and it is truly astonishing to see how committed serving mums are.
Your advice to other parents
A wise woman once warned me that guilt
is a wasted emotion. It benefits nobody and achieves nothing. Save and channel that energy into a positive and constructive force. I was deployed to Bosnia when Charlie was 3. He went to nursery and told them that mummy was dead. She went away and
did not return. They believed him. When I discuss it with him now, he laughs heartily having only the vaguest recollection of
me having been away and yet I still feel traumatised by that event. Wasted emotion!
Be kind to yourself. I see wonderful mums focusing on some small thing they got wrong and not being mindful of all their many successes. Parents don’t need to be perfect, just good enough.
The apple does not fall far from the tree.
Mike is now training at RMCTC Lympstone and Charlie, an Army reservist. You reap what you sow!
Lt Col (Ret’d) Liz Bamber retired from Dental Centre Pirbright as a CDP on 30 June 2021 following a long and successful career in
the RADC followed by her service known
as CDP, Dr Bamber (1989-2021). Dr Bamber was amongst the first RADC females to
have children in service and not be obliged to leave. Furthermore, as she reminded me on writing this piece, it was only a few years prior to her generation that serving women would have to retire early once they got married. Perhaps a stark reminder of how far society and the services have transformed with respect to gender equality in a relatively short period. A special thanks to Liz and her fellow trail-blazing RADC female colleagues. Enjoy your well-earned retirement Liz and future of drinking wine at lunch. Thanks for your service.
Army Service Women’s Network
Cpl V Davis
What is the Army Services Women’s Network (ASN)?
“The ASN is a professional network
that supports women of all ranks across
the Army, both Regular and Reserve. The network seeks to Engage, Inspire, Empower, all service women to meet their full potential”
As we all know equality, diversity and inclusion play a big part in the British Army and being a female in the British Army can
at times be challenging, whatever the reason may be. But this is where the ASN comes
in; our aim is to highlight what women do during their career and to aid development of serving personnel by showing how women can play a vital role within the Army. The ASN support covers many areas be that sporting, goal setting, job roles or being available to answer questions on career, parenting or
just offering help in general. You are able to remain anonymous when asking questions, so do not be put off engaging with the team.
I am lucky enough to be a part of the amazing ASN team. I get to work alongside
some of the most inspiring, hardworking and dedicated women and men from all corps and ranks within the Army.
My role on the committee is social media representative. We have platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On these we encourage women in the Army to share their achievements, ask questions, share thoughts and experiences. We post events that are taking place and do monthly Take Overs where a service person will take over our Instagram page and they share their story and give you the opportunity to ask them questions. For example, we have had Cpl Hollie Davis RAMC, who spoke about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Child Bereavement, and LCpl Scarlett Peters REME who took us through a ‘day in the life of’ at the Army Equestrian Centre.
The social media platform is great as it allows people to see what is out there from their phones, which, let’s face it, is what everyone seems to be glued to these days. From the touch of a button you can ask a
question to one of our accounts. Everything you ask or want advice about can be dealt with confidentially if you wish. The things that most people ask about are careers, troubles at work or just finding that JSP that you know is out there but have no
idea where to look. We do have so many knowledgeable individuals working with us.
Our Instagram currently has a following of 1,450, Twitter 1,300 and the Facebook group is a massive 4.5k.
Please do give us a look up – if you haven’t already.
Social Media Networks
Facebook – Army Servicewomen’s Network (closed group)
Instagram – army_servicewomens_network Twitter –
@Army_ASN – Main page @ASN_CoChair_1 – WO1 Kelly Caswell-Treen @ASN_CoChair – Col Hannah Stoy
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