I have just watched the video of our Commissioning Course, Sovereign’s Parade which took place 19 years ago. As well as the inevitable spine tingling, goose-bump rising from the military music and occasion, I was moved by the words of the inspecting officer. We commissioned in 1997, who would have known that his words would come back to us with the commencement of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I think especially of those brothers and sisters of the Academy, who didn't come home and those who came home changed for ever.
Here is an excerpt of that speech:
“Even with the ending of the cold war this is a complex, dangerous and uncertain world. The British Army is what it is because of those who have gone before. The standards they have set, the performance they’ve turned in and in many cases the sacrifice in blood they have made. Never forget that because soon it will be up to you to build on that excellence.
I am quite sure and speak to each of you here, that with the world as volatile as it is, it wont be too long before your ability to command and lead will be tested somewhere in the world, in situations which wont be easy, indeed which invariably will be complicated, sensitive and dangerous, and will require intellectual skill as well as stamina and courage, both physical and moral.
Do your duty.
You’ll make mistakes, we all do.
Always be yourself, if you didn't have what it takes you wouldn't have got this far and you certainly wouldn't have been granted the Queen’s Commission, not to think for yourself or to suppress your personality.
Always be positive in everything in you do. boldness as a study of military history will show, is nearly always the right answer and is certainly the hallmark of a good leader.
Do your duty as your training, your conscience told you, with honour and decency and ensure that others do so too and always carry out the task or command that you've been given at the time with all your heart and the best of your ability without undue fussing or fretting.
Never lose your sense of humour. You’ll often need it, humour is something the British soldier is famed for.”
So, today for me 19 years on from that day, I hear these words, I smile at the memories of friendship, loyalty and honour. I leak a little from the eyes for friends who have gone before me, including Mattie Bacon another former soldier, who commissioned with me. But I do not stop there, for in my own journey which at this time is bumpy and not without it’s challenges, I re-read those words of wisdom and commit myself to continuing to try my very best to live by them. After all if the Queen believed in me enough to grant me her commission, then I must have something going for me.
and lastly,
God knows, we all need a sense of humour, and a military one at that.
Exemplo Ducemus.
