Bayside boys sample regiment life

The Royal Gibraltar Regiment hosted 13 students from Bayside Comprehensive School last week as part of their Year 10 work experience.

A week-long programme was devised and coordinated by Sergeant Karon Fortunato from the Regimental Recruiting and Initial Training Team who explained their aim, he said: “We wanted to create an informative but fun week for the students so we designed a programme of events which gave the students the opportunity to get an idea of Regimental life and see for themselves the wide variety of roles available.”

“We managed to give them a snapshot of military life by getting them to take part in some low level military activity, we also did some adventurous training to provide them with a challenge and sense of achievement and we conducted a tunnel tour. Throughout the week the students also took part in a number of sporting activities to highlight the importance of fitness within the military.”

The students themselves said they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and many of them now feel inspired to embark on a military career.

James Reyes, 15, is very keen to join the Regiment and is considering applying for a place at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. The work experience gave him the chance to learn more about job opportunities within the Regiment, he said: “This week was exactly how I expected it to be, the instructors were really good and I really enjoyed visiting different areas so that we could see what roles are available, I was really surprised to see just how many different roles there are.”

For Travis Martinez, 15, joining the Royal Gibraltar Regiment has been a lifelong dream, he grew up feeling very proud of his military father, a retired officer in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, and now wants to follow in his footsteps, he explained: “My dad is my biggest inspiration for joining the Regiment. I definitely want to join the military and this week has given me the opportunity to see what is ahead of me in the near future. I particularly enjoyed going to Buffadero Training Camp, we learnt about equipment and weapons and we were also shown how to use night vision, which is very difficult, but we got used it.”

The work experience gave Daniel Brayson, 14 an insight into the camaraderie and variety of military life, he said: “I was thinking about joining the Regiment before I came on my work experience, but this week has really helped me to make my mind up because there is a lot of banter and so much stuff to do. This week I learnt that the military is one big family and I want to be part of that.”

Ryan Brown, 14 is now considering joining the Regiment as an officer and wants to focus on his education to improve his chance of success, he said: “Ever since I was small I wanted to have a military career, this week has helped me decide that I really want to join the Regiment. If I do well in my in GCSE’s and A Levels I would like to try and become an officer.”

On the final day of their work experience Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Lopez presented each student with a certificate to recognise their attendance on the ‘Army Insight Course’.