One man’s resettlement

Chris Green has experienced a resettlement journey from Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Logistic Corps to self-employed consultant; he is now working with companies to develop training for Service leavers, as well as distributing healthcare products

Chris Green is now in the fifth decade of his working life. It started back in 1964 when the young Royal Engineer joined 250 other anxious youngsters at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, to learn how to become an officer, and emerged two years later as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Transport.

Following young officer training he was posted to Germany, where he commanded a transport troop and was the regimental signals officer before running a fleet of staff cars at BAOR headquarters.

Formal courses were followed by a long-desired move to the Far East and service with the Gurkha Transport Regiment in Hong Kong. Soon, he moved to the Gurkha Mechanical Transport School, running driver testing in Kowloon (‘interesting’) and then becoming its Chief Instructor.

After four months back in England on a junior staff course his next tour of duty found him in Kathmandu running the Nepal end of the Gurkha air trooping to Hong Kong. His love of the Gurkhas was eventually rewarded by sub-unit command back in Hong Kong.

The next 20-odd years were filled with interesting and very enjoyable jobs including trying to keep women peace protestors out of Greenham Common, regimental duty in Germany, training recruits and protecting the nation’s military secrets during a long stint in the Ministry of Defence. No complaints about a career that was ‘richly rewarding, great fun, and full of marvellous people and friends.’ He doesn’t miss it but has many happy memories.

Green’s final military job was running the 4th Division Service Leavers Support Team, again in Aldershot.

Uniquely placed to learn about all aspects of resettlement during his two years in this post, he sat in on briefings and courses, helping others to cross over to new lives. The job included advising on housing, children’s education, regional issues and financial matters as well as employment and job hunting so he was ‘not complacent but understood the system’.

In 1997, now aged 51 and a Special List Lieutenant Colonel – mark-time rates of pay and no further promotion – he was informally sounded out at an employment fair about leaving the Army early for another job. Although he knew CableNet Training well from seminars and other meetings, the approach was so low-key that he was not sure what the long conversation was about, although it ended with an invitation to call. A week or so later, he made the call that led to the firm job offer which was his trigger to put in his resignation and leave the Service seven months later, after attending accounting and management courses.

As military adviser with the company, he ‘acted as the link between the company and all areas of the MoD, acted as military “expert” for CableNet staff, attended resettlement fairs, and ran interference for the company with Career Transition Partnership and single Service resettlement staff.The transition from military to civilian was interesting for both sides,’ he says, ‘and feeling at home can take longer than you expect.’This job lasted until 2002, when he was made redundant due to the downturn in telecommunications; but he was immediately rehired part-time because the company ‘needed the expertise on a regular although not permanent basis’.

A year later, mutual contacts approached him to see if he could provide similar services to Trade Skills Training as a resettlement consultant, so he became self-employed. There was no conflict so this added another name to his newly formed client list.

In his spare time he distributes ‘Herbalife nutritional and weight management products – only a sideline that started in July 2003’ when he wanted to lose some weight himself and thought that ‘having another string to [his] bow seemed sensible’. As an independent he simply buys the products at cost and offers them to other people at a specific selling price, keeping the margin himself.

He has been working from home since September 2001; his wife goes out to work so he is on his own. ‘I’m glad I didn’t work from home immediately on leaving the Army. The discipline of going to the office suited me, although it mightn’t suit everybody.’

However, he reports ‘a significant drop in salary. I still haven’t caught up with what I was earning in the Army, but I can’t be sent to Iraq and I can largely work when I want to. I know what I need to do and I do it. Being your own boss is both a challenge and a blessing, but if you don’t work you don’t get paid. However, I haven’t yet filled in my first self-employed tax return. That’ll produce reality.’