By Zienna.
How on earth do you decide what to do after a 22 year career in the army?
I have tried and tried to push the conversation over the years on what Shoei would do if he left, so that he wasn't left trying to make a decision last minute. If he said he wanted to leave, I would give him the reasons to stay. If he said he wanted to stay, I would give him the reasons to leave. I had to be on the fence. It had to be his decision. I know him, he has given 22/23 years of his life to this first career and whatever he chooses next will get the next 22 years of his life, he will commit big time. It had to be the right thing.
So it's 2018, 2 years before he can officially give notice. Only one warrant officer holds the appointment of Regimental Sergeant Major [RSM] in a regiment or battalion and with massive thanks to Matt Lewis, Hughie became RSM, 1st Battalion 1 R Irish on St Patrick's Day 2018. The RSM is responsible for assisting their commander and maintaining standards and discipline amongst the soldiers in the battalion, in this case around 600 men. It was a big deal.
Its April 2019, 1 year before he can officially give notice and Shoei is deployed with the battalion, as their RSM, to Afghanistan for 9 months in what I bet he would say was the pinnacle of his career. How can you even contemplate leaving, how can you make a massive life changing decision to hand in your notice and leave the army when for the next 9 months you are deployed to Afghanistan as the RSM? He simply did not have the head space for it. All of his time and energy, quite rightly, went into his role as RSM.
Its 2020. The year he can make his decision to stay or leave and we are slap bang in the middle of a bloody pandemic! People are losing their jobs, everyone is staying at home, the world is in sh*t state and what does Shoei decide to do? Leave! Aggghhhhh.
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