Entrepreneurial spirit

The Services are most certainly not short of individuals with flair, imagination and get-up-and-go when it comes to operations and training. The difficulty is usually to stop people from going too far rather than having to kick them into action. Even on non-operational duties, the same qualities of physical and mental courage, the can-do attitude, the determination never to be beaten come to the fore. Getting a ship ready for sea in an emergency, organising a unit for a short-notice operation or mounting an air-sea rescue may call for the rules to be stretched, and for such niceties as leave or a non-essential course to be abandoned.

By contrast, the civilian world can seem plodding, with a web of petty regulations and people who are incapable of action without a severe prod from behind. Every so often the cry goes up that ‘the Armed Forces ought to run the post or the trains’, and high-ranking industry figures wince at the thought of a senior officer trying to deal with the unions.

But these are the same Armed Forces and MoD who take 30 years to buy a new ship, tank or aircraft, which are often out of date by the time they arrive in service. They are criticised year in year out by the Audit Commission over waste. Most people would acknowledge a great deal of petty bureaucracy in the Services, with most Service magazines carrying complaints about pay and allowances.

Moreover, the dull and plodding civilian world produced Branson, Sugar, Leahy (Tesco) and Green – entrepreneurs all, and some in piratical style. From billionaire hedge fund managers to small shopkeepers, civilians take financial risks every day that would bring Service people sleepless nights. Civilians rarely get six months’ notice of a change of job – it is often a brief interview and a supervised desk clearance.

So let’s forget the stereotypes of the dashing, bold, battle-winning hero and the poor, boring, meek clerk. Or, if you come from the other direction, ignore images of stupid, blindly obedient, uniformed cannon-fodder and the sharp, dynamic, high-visibility executive.

Most of us are as competent in or out of uniform, as any study of conscripts in war or the volunteer forces during peacetime will demonstrate. Personal attributes and character are just as much in evidence in both walks of life. However, people tend to be more comfortable in the culture and environment that is familiar to them. A civilian might find it as impossible to accept that life might be ended by a bullet, as a Service person might find it to understand that it is necessary to risk their house to start a business.

Therefore there are most certainly some areas in which civilians are often more capable and have more experience than their Service equivalents. One example is employment. With few exceptions, Forces’ commanders do not have the right to hire and fire, they do not determine wages and they can even have little say in promotion. Generally speaking, all such issues are dealt with centrally. Conversely, civilian managers can often be responsible for all these areas, and their consequences.

So a military boss may feel extremely uncomfortable with a solicitor’s letter or the threat of an employment tribunal. While no one welcomes such things, a civilian counterpart is likely to lose little sleep because these things happen comparatively frequently in a competitive civilian environment.

Similarly, a civilian project manager is likely to have much more control over the workforce, with the freedom to make decisions about who, how many and what skills are required. Lay-offs and recruitment may be at short notice and even a little brutal as people struggle to get the job done with the minimum resources.

Competition and market reactivity demand fast, direct decision-making and action, and maybe the easiest way to imagine it is that most civilian organisations are permanently on operations or the equivalent. Battles may be fought with finance rather than ammunition, but they are real nevertheless. There are casualties and ‘collateral damage’, winners and losers. So, make sure that you are ready for ‘civilian warfare’.

In the run-up to Christmas, we look at close protection, the railways, and the prison and probation service – favourite sectors for Service leavers. The motor industry is huge and extremely varied, as is the world of health and safety, with the latter trying to dispel its killjoy image. Distance learning is something that everyone should know about already, with a major emphasis on enabling Service people to take advantage of the spread of opportunities it offers.

Finally, we look at the work of Veterans-UK. With compensation now available to people killed, injured or taken ill in service, as well as after they leave, this is clearly something that people should know about. It has also been the subject of recent publicity campaigns and is a topical subject for us to cover.