Field notes:
Bridging the gap - my experiences helping to rebuild Nepal after the 2015 earthquake.
In November 2015, several months after the earthquake - I fly to Nepal with Tim, Umesh and Matt – all veterans at various stages of their own rehabilitation. I use this word carefully as leaving the military isn’t something you can ever prepare for. It’s scary, intimidating and stressful – essentially changing everything about your life in a 12-month period. The effects, of which, are still felt many years afterwards.
My advice on career transition
At some point in our lives, we decide that what we are doing as a job or career at the moment, isn’t the best for us in the future.
In 2015, after some 12 years in the military – itself a spur of the moment decision that I made when I saw how much friends were really thriving in it - I decided that I should try something new to support causes that I’m passionate about. I’d reached a waypoint in my career, although not achieved the things I’d wanted to – but realised that I had stalled and momentum in a new direction would help me regain the initiative.
This article came about as I regularly get asked by friends leaving the military, how transition works from someone who’s undergone many of them and how it can be more successful.
This is a simplified version of how I transferred from the Royal Marines into the BBC, an international media charity, going freelance, and then starting my own creative agency (Haus of Hiatus).