A small note about my self:
At about 14 the Royal marines came round our school and showed us a video on the training and life in the marines i instantly knew this is what i what i wanted in life. After some research I found out most of the information i needed to know and at about 15, the training program started on small runs and small weight sessions. I was already in the cadets (Air Cadets), the squadron at kidderminster TA center was great at the height of one year we did 7 exercises and applied to lots of adventure training and enjoyed every moment of getting out. Being a huge fan of mountain biking i was out in my spare time in the local forest, helping my cardiovascular system so much. During this time the school got me on the computer program to find a career and the advisor at the time did not believe the fact the royal marines me through and through, at the end of the program (answering the questions to what i wanted in a career) came in at number 1 was officer in the royal marines followed by police officer and then parachute regiment officer.
This then encouraged me to do well to get to officer grades, At GCSE i received C-A in 13 GCSE and was on my way to two BTECS in avionics and public services. Then applying to college. It was only at college problems started on an 8 mile i was exhausted and almost fainted i sat down and recovered then walked the 4 miles back home. Feeling a bit unwell i had a few days off and set off for a shorter run 6 miles this turned out a fail too so again thinking "i must have a cold" had yet some more days off. As my subjects at GCSE and a level was PE I had always kept an eye on my weight and in the now almost two weeks found had lost 2 stone in weight. What a great diet
, i had also been drinking lots and that was going straight through me. Finally speaking to my mum she forced me to the doctors who then diagnosed me as Diabetic. So now my dreams shattered and quite a heavy period of depression followed, Still in the cadets i went on to becoming an instructor and serving 10 years within the cadets was a good time but my time had been served. I started working at an army surplus store and found my next goal in life i wanted to run my own army surplus store, that came live in December last year.
For anyone that has hardship mine may not be the worst ever but has been a hard journey and thanks to my wife for helping me rid the last of the heart ache and i will now be getting on with my life.
To the point of this post over the years i have collected a small collection of royal marines badges and the other week had a clear up and placed them in some frames and i wanted to share this with people.
So here they are
