Jo joined the British Army in 1995 and served for 24 years in the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC), reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSgt).

In this episode, Jo talks about joining up and going through training, which was during the terrible times at Deepcut, but after getting through this part of training, she moved onto the famous driver training school, being the Defence School of Transport (DST) Leconfield. She shares being part of multiple regiments, which included tours of Northern Ireland. Jo gets chosen to be the driver for the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, where she had many encounters with the Queen and the wider Royal Family.

Jo moves away from the driver duties for the Royal Family and goes back to regiment life, where she completes a deployment to Afghanistan. Upon her return from the tour, she battles an ongoing knee injury and her mental health. Jo finds new ambition through sport and trialled out for the Invictus Games, being selected for London 2014 and Toronto 2017. She was also selected for the U.S. Air Force Warrior Games Trials 2015, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Across these games, Jo saw success with medalling in multiple sports and events.

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Part 1 & Part 2

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Full Episode: Ep 028 - Sgt Joe O'Connor - British Army Veteran.

In this Viewpoint: Joe talks about wanting to challenge himself, away from the Royal Engineers, and in 1999 went on Special Forces Selection. During training with the SF team, late at night with bad weather and visibility, Joe gets taken to hospital after being blown off the side of a cliff, which ended up breaking his neck.

He shares the challenges he faced to rebuild his life after this life changing incident, before leaving the military and becoming a veteran in civilian life, where he has managed to continue his success in the financial industry.

Watch Full Episode on YouTube:
Part 1: youtu.be/7VAeBpLs_QY

Part 2: youtu.be/dv6Skhyhfcs

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tiktok.com/@militaryveteranspodcast

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linkedin.com/company/military-veterans-podcast

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milvetpodcast.com/merch

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Welcome to “Real People, Real Life”, a podcast where we dive into the authentic...

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Ian joined the Royal Navy in 1975, and served for 16 years as part of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), reaching the rank of Leading Aircraft Engineering Mechanic (Weapons Electrical) (LAEM(WL)).

In this episode Ian talks about his journey in joining the Royal Navy, and what it was like being one of the last courses to go through basic training, at HMS Ganges. He also shares some insights into life at RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus), RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), and deploying on HMS Sirius (F40).

Ian also discusses what it was like preparing some of the Navy’s aircraft for the Falklands War, prior to being stood down himself, and not deploying. He moves to RNAS Portland (HMS Osprey), before being deployed on HMS Glasgow (D88). After this deployment and attending career courses, he spends some time as part of an Aircraft Maintenance Group (AMG), before seeing out his last 6 months within Edinburgh's Careers Office.

Watch Episode on YouTube
Part 1: youtu.be/ROIBj3zsmFk

Part 2: youtu.be/KgEbaiYKVbE

TikTok:
tiktok.com/@militaryveteranspodcast

Instagram:
instagram.com/militaryveteranspodcast

LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/military-veterans-podcast

Merchandise:
milvetpodcast.com/merch

Send us a text

Message at the beginning of the recording is from your host Gav, giving you information on how you can support the show through Patreon.
Supporting monthly would help the show record future episodes and help with the upkeep of the show.
£5 a month will give you access to bonus recordings, where Gav and the guest chat about things that don't make it into the main recording.
Thank you.

Welcome to “Real People, Real Life”, a podcast where we dive into the authentic...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show