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“There were guys with awful injuries, missing limbs,
PTSD, and we needed to make sure that they – and
their families – were looked after and still felt they
were part of the battalion,” says Alan. “For some,
they didn’t have any other life, so it gave them
structure.”
And are our injured soldiers being properly
supported? “Well, there’s support within the Army
and after it. Help for Heroes is sitting on millions
of pounds – I’d like to see more of it filtered
downwards so it makes a real difference,” he says.
“But what really angers me is our soldiers being
prosecuted just for doing their job.”
At Horseguards, third from the left
The Guards are both fighting and ceremonial
soldiers. “We used to be on rotation,” he says. “Red You need to “keep the flame” as far as tradition and
and green training, where green was operational ceremonial goes, both at WCIT and in the Army. Are
service and red the ceremonial. ‘Drilling and there any regimental traditions we would not have
Killing’, we called it.” heard of?
Alan remembers the exact date of his first Trooping “Every year there would be the ceremony of
the Colour (5 June 1990) – he was to serve on nine ‘Hanging the Brick’,” he explains. “The actual
parades during his career – and exactly where brick came from Hougoumont Farm where the
he was on Horseguards. “As a young Guardsman Coldstreams fought at the Battle of Waterloo in
I could feel my own pride and that of the whole 1815.
country in the Queen and in our military,” he says.
“The Sergeant Majors are all in fancy dress,” he
After leaving the Guards as Company Sergeant says, “and the brick is paraded around with band
Major, what attracted Alan to the world of the City? and full honours. We and the officers get pelted
“I’ve been used to the ceremonial and the with eggs and all kinds of stuff.”
structure,” he says. “Some of the livery companies
have been around longer than the Coldstream And then is drink taken? “Just a bit,” says Alan. “But
Guards! I can apply a lot of regimental tradition it is important to remember that tradition is there
to that. I mean it’s not a game, it’s not panto, for a reason. I meet up with my old mates regularly,
and I have a job to do managing the Hall as well, at Remembrance Day, for example. And I’m always
but I can be ‘loud and proud’. I’ve got a bit of a there selling poppies – that is a way everyone can
reputation for doing things with military precision. I remember.”
take that as a compliment.”
Alan has two teenaged boys. Would he prefer them
to be soldiers or to go into IT?
“In some ways it would be a shame if they went
into IT, became amazingly successful, and then
said, at 40, ‘I wish I’d joined the Army’. But it’s their
call.”
Are there similarities between WCIT and the Army?
“There’s the structure, and the camaraderie, and I
learned in the Guards how important it is to plan.”
And do you enjoy it? “I love it. I love the people.
Active service: And I’m not being shot at.”
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Helmand Province
