I did get called a fucking idiot, um,

by some senior officers who had said,

you know what, what are you doing?

If you are just constantly told that

you're a piece of shit, you're beasted

for everything that you do wrong.

Like, you are gonna come outta that

thinking that that's just the way, and

that's gonna inculcate toxic culture,

which will ju to leave their families at

four hours notice, to move, to go anywhere

in the world best you make sure that their

families are catered for and best you.

Make sure that they feel valued

because if they don't feel valued and

they don't feel as though they're,

they're worth anything, they're not

gonna have their kit ready to go.

Guys, welcome back to another

episode of the Combat Fuel Podcast.

We are joined today by now, Mr. Tom

Collins, uh, former Army officer

and now online fitness coach.

Tom, thank you very much for your service.

Thank you for joining us.

Please tell us a little bit about you.

Um, yeah, thanks very much mate.

Like I really appreciate, um, being here.

Uh, having been involved with combat

fuel for a number of years now,

this is, to see it grow first and

foremost is, is just incredible.

Um, so yeah, I, uh, served as a

army officer in the royal signals

and the Queen's GIR signals.

Ja Ker, um, joined the Army at 18,

uh, and yeah, left it, left it the rip

old age of, of 40, um, to pursue what

was my second passion and now my major

passion, fitness and, and coaching.

It's a big difference.

Army officer major, maybe perhaps

look at Lieutenant Colonel.

Uh, hopefully so then.

Spin and on telling people how to

do adult pe like without dumbing

it down and no disrespect there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It, it's a, it is a monumental

transition from what we would

stereotypically imagine a military

officer to go and do after service.

It's, I don't think I know any other

officers that have left service

to then your level to go into

fitness coach is, it's pretty cool.

It's commendable as well to,

you know, it is not been done.

It's not, it, it wasn't that

a natural transition, was it?

I, I think it's quite cool, I think

for most people who, most people

who actually like took the time

to know me throughout my career.

Um, and this might be a weird

thing to say, but I was never

a stereotypical officer.

No.

Um, and for those who genuinely know

me, it wasn't that much of a leap.

Um, I did get called, uh, in

fact, are we good for swearing?

Swear You can say whatever you want.

Swear.

Okay.

I did get called a fucking idiot, um,

by some senior officers who had said,

you know, what, what are you doing?

You know, verge of Lieutenant

Co. Like, what's going on?

You are due promotion next year, year

after, you know, you could carry on.

And I was like, it's just,

it's just not for me anymore.

Um, and I think it probably the path

probably started when we started

talking, um, as I was getting

more and more into my fitness.

Coming out of coming

outta lockdown or, yeah.

Just coming outta lockdown.

Yeah.

21. We first started talking, I think

I started, I did the bodybuilding thing

and I started gaining a little bit of

traction on social media, people just

asking for advice and I was totally

unqualified to give that advice outside

anything but triathlon coaching.

Um, so I wasn't giving any, and so I

thought, well, I'll go and get qualified.

And it genuinely just started to

roll from there because the more

I did it, the more I loved it.

And I think when you, when you realise

that you love something more than

something else, yeah, you've got it.

You've gotta run with it.

You've gotta go for it.

Um, because otherwise I was just

gonna be, I was just gonna be

miserable for the rest of my career.

I don't want that.

Yes.

Commendable, putting, put, put

yourself first, didn't you?

But let's rewind like

back to, to childhood.

Where, where did you grow up?

Um, so I was a, a pad brat.

Uh, my old man served in the Royal

Engineers, uh, 38 years, man and boy.

Um, and so I grew up, uh, in

the uk, in Germany, uh, Cyprus.

Um.

Only child on, you know, military camps.

Uh, brilliant environment to grow up in.

I think, uh, changing schools quite a lot.

Uh, it took, its, I think it's took,

it took its toll and I actually

asked, I think I'm probably the

only, only kid to ask, but I asked

my parents to go to boarding school.

Um, I was just, I kept finding that no

matter what school I went to, I'd either

done the things that they were covering.

Yeah.

Or I hadn't done the things

that I should have done.

And so maybe started to just

misbehave and play up a little bit.

Yeah.

And I, I dunno, I must

have recognised that.

And I had a friend, we were out

in Germany together, and, and she

was going off to boarding school.

She was like, maybe, you know, I mean we,

we, I was what, like nine 10 at the time.

Um, and I thought, okay, that's, that's

a, maybe that's something for me.

Um, so I went to the Ju Yorks Royal

Military School down in Dover, uh,

put on a set of, uh, a set of blues

uniform at 11 for the first time.

Um, and I wouldn't

change it for the world.

It was, it was a phenomenal experience.

Um, do you think that was going to

boarding school, dad being in the military

was influential and you wanting to join?

Um, in, in my childhood,

it was the exact opposite.

Um, I didn't wanna join the army.

Uh, I, I think I even, I, my mom reminded

me of this, um, I wrote a poem, uh,

in, I think it was in year six and I

can't remember it, but it was all about

what we wanted to be when we grow up.

But the last line was, um, and if

all else fails, I'll join the Army.

Like my dad.

Um, I did, I just didn't want to.

Um, but then I think I, I did

one of those career tick tests

and it came out as Army officer.

And I was about 14 at the time, 1415.

I was like, no, that's

not what I wanna do.

Can I take it again?

And I kicked and I screamed

and they let me take it again.

And it came out as Army Officer again.

They do.

So I was said, oh, okay.

So I applied to, uh,

Wellbe College, um, yeah.

And I went off to, to Wellbe College

to do, to do my, to do my A levels.

And from that, I still had like

some, some highs and lows about

wanting to join the military.

Um, and actually.

Prior to going to Sand Erst.

So I'd finished Rollback College, did my A

levels I, they sent me off to university.

I'd already signed on the dotted

line by this and taken the, at

the time, the Queen Shilling.

Um, and they sent me off to university

and there was an opportunity that came

up to go and defer my entry to Sandhurst.

And at the time Prince William and

Prince Harry were going through Sanders.

They were oversubscribed, they

were like busting for people

to, to delay their intake.

So I said, well, yeah, of course I don't

wanna go anyway, so, yeah, absolutely.

Um, and so I went out to New Zealand,

uh, became a skiing instructor.

Um, I went to Thailand, uh,

became a scuba diving dive master.

Um, and just spent what was around

about, I think it was about nine

months, just travelling about, um,

and I dunno if this is the right place

to to say it, but there was a, a very

distinct moment where I think the whole

game about joining the army changed.

And I was on a payphone outside of seven

11 on the Islander Tel in Thailand.

I was on the phone to my dad and

I actually said to him, um, so I

don't know how you are gonna square

this, but I'm not coming home.

And I was so, I was so young and naive.

I, I said, I dunno how you're

gonna, uh, you're gonna swear

this, but I'm not coming home.

I dunno if you have to get in

touch with, I dunno how it works,

Sanders or the Army or whatever.

Um, I just don't wanna do it anymore.

I've had offers for ski instructor

positions out in Japan, and um,

I'm going to spend my time between

there and, and here in Thailand.

Now, bearing in mind at the time, he was

a late entry captain in the, in the royal

engineers, and I firmly expected him to

just give me what for, but he didn't.

He was so calm and he

just said, okay, son.

Two things.

Firstly, if you don't come home and

you don't turn up to DUT when they

expect you to, you will be posted

awol and you'll be arrested as

soon as you arrive in the country.

But let's put a pin in that.

And the real issue is that

there was something that made

you want to be an Army officer.

And if you don't come back and you don't

live that out, I promise you, you will

regret it for the rest of your life.

And at the time it was okay.

Yeah.

Cheers, dad.

Thanks very much.

See you later.

Phone goes down.

But over the next few weeks that I was

there, it just started building and I was

like, actually this, this has to happen.

I, I'm not gonna live

with, with that regret.

Maybe he's right.

Um, and I've told him, I've told

him that he can't remember the

conversation, but I've told him

that I genuinely life changing.

Life changing moment.

Brilliant.

And was your dad a bit of a role

model to you wanting to join?

Um, yeah, I think so.

I think back to both of my parents and I

think my mom and dad had massive, massive

influences that I can probably only

recognise fully a little bit later on in

life in terms of the military service.

Um, you know, joined as

a, joined as a soldier.

My, my dad joined as a soldier,

went up the ranks, you know,

was just so good at his job.

It's, it's why we moved every two odd

two, three years because of either

promotion or, or, or he was just

going onto a better job or whatever.

Yeah.

And now having the experience of knowing,

you know, what his career was, I can

really appreciate just how well he did.

Um.

And he always was involved with sport.

Uh, he was, uh, involved with

army windsurfing for years,

royal engineers, snowboarding.

You know, he always, he

always pursued those things.

And it really opened my eyes, even in my

career, to the possibilities that were

out there within, within the military.

And so when it came time to put my

name forward for regiment skiing,

I would always say yes, I would

all, I would say yes to everything.

And, and maybe we'll talk about that,

that, that as, as advice later, but

I would always say yes to everything.

I really got that and

his work ethic from him.

But then in terms of a much sort of more

deeply personal role model, experience,

my mum and the way she went about and

lived her life, like both of my parents,

as an only child, it's really easy to just

plough all of your attention on one kid.

Yeah.

Right.

But I think actually what I

learned, particularly from my mom,

is that life is for living, right?

Life is for, and I don't want

it to sound selfish, but put

yourself first because you have to

pursue your, your own happiness.

Um, and I do hope she watch, she will

watch this, but I don't think I've

ever said, shout out mom to, I don't

think I've ever, ever shout out to mom.

Um, I don't think I've ever said to,

to my mom just how much I respect a

decision she made to move to Jamaica.

I was at college, so be, um, like,

like 17, 18 years old, and she'd met

someone after my parents divorced.

Um, she met someone and

they moved out to Jamaica.

That was her pursuing her happiness.

And I remember having conversations

with my grandparents about it,

saying, why are you so upset?

She's, she's doing something that she,

she feels is right, like, what's wrong?

Making her happy, exactly

what's wrong with you?

Um, and I had those conversations

with them, which is a, it's a,

looking back, it's a big thing for

a 17-year-old, with 18-year-old to,

to be having those conversations.

But I don't think I've ever told her

just how much I respect that decision.

Um, and it shaped, now I see it

shaped the rest of my life because I'm

now a father to an 11-year-old boy,

Harrison, who's, who's just amazing.

But the way that I live my life in the

pursuit of hard shit and challenges

and happiness and stuff, I'm bringing

him along for the ride and I'm a

much better dad because I'm doing

the things that actually fulfil me.

Um, so in terms, yeah, like, could

you say, so if you'd stayed in and

you were unhappy in your career,

you wouldn't have been as a. A good

dad, would you not have been a dad?

That is as good as you are now if

you'd stayed in service, no chance.

And that, I, I say that like

with, with absolute clarity.

I got to the point in my career

where I couldn't, I couldn't see

the enjoyment that came after, after

leaving my subunit command, which is

the best job ever properly shaped me.

Amazing job.

Um, with the Queen Ker signals.

What's the next job?

Staff college.

A staff job.

Somewhere in Andover or

Northwood or, or somewhere else?

Um, first geographically, that

would've taken me away from my son.

And whilst I've got a phenomenal

relationship with his mom, like we,

it's, it's so relaxed and, and fluid.

Like there's no friction when it comes

to childcare or anything like that.

I would've been absent for a

whole week at a time because

there's, there were no jobs.

So in terms of geography,

that would've not worked.

But secondly, like, and we'll talk about

why, why I left, but I, I couldn't see

future, me being happy, like no rank, no

money, no status is going to fulfil me.

I was, I was in the army because

I wanted to interact with

human beings and lead humans.

And I loved my career.

I'm ne I will not say a

bad word about my career.

It was amazing.

But I jumped off at the perfect time.

And let's, let's put us back to Sandhurst.

So you, you obviously did go.

Yeah.

You did turn up.

I did.

How, how was that feeling?

Week, week one.

Day one.

Turning up there, seeing the college,

like, um, so it's a, it's a pheno.

It's still, you know, it's,

it's such a phenomenal sight.

You know, you've got, you walk up the

steps of old college, you know, you've

got your ironing board under your arm.

My mom and dad were there.

Um.

All thoughts of, I don't

wanna do this anymore.

Completely vanished.

It was a bit overwhelming for about a day.

But then when you realise that the

first five weeks is all about basic

training, it's all about teaching you

drill, teaching you how to iron, teaching

you, you know, basic military craft.

Well, okay.

I wasn't, I haven't been serving,

but I was in military boarding

school since the age of 11.

I knew how to iron, I used

to earn extra pocket money by

bullying at everybody's shoes.

Yeah.

Like you get, you get two

pound fif, uh, two pounds for,

um, uh, pocket money a week.

And I used to charge people a

pound or a pound 50, depending

on the state of their shoes.

Yeah.

I'd spend my whole Saturday just

bull shoes for, for parade on Sunday.

Yeah.

Um, and I'd and a boatload of money.

Nice.

What was a boatload of money at the time?

Um, so I knew, I knew all of that stuff.

And actually the first five weeks

less, you know, a bit of sleep and a

bit of early mornings and, you know,

being, you know, being shouted at,

even if you know what's going on.

Like, that's, that's all part of it.

It, it wasn't, it wasn't

that, that difficult.

Um, where it became hard was

coming back after the first term.

Like, you go away, you've got, you've

got your, your first 14 weeks or

so, then you go away and you've got,

you know, a couple of weeks leave

and then coming back, all thoughts

of, I don't wanna do this anymore.

Completely returned, like, and I

started going through interviews.

I was, I spoke to old college commander.

Um, I was lined up for a

command dance, um, interview.

You know, a lot of money's

been invested in you.

Well, but college, you know,

you're gonna have to pay that back.

And there was all, all sorts of, of

stuff going on, but I was just adamant

I didn't wanna be there anymore.

And then why?

Um, I think.

I, I didn't understand at the time whether

or not it was the career that I wanted

or the career that I'd fallen into.

And so I, I think I had in my mind

that it wasn't necessarily my choice.

It was all right.

I went to military boarding

school, then I went to Wellbe

College, I did the tick test.

They said, go and be an Army officer.

I went to Wellbe College, I went to uni.

I actually dropped out of university

like two and a half years in.

Um, and just had this massive

crisis of identity, like, do I

really want to be in the army?

They want you to be a, a certain thing,

you know, be a certain way, and I

don't think I necessarily fit that.

Um, and when you are then put under

pressure to do as you're told and iron

your kit and all of that stuff to go

away, and you sort of get used to it

first term, fine, okay, well I'm here.

What's the next day you got?

And then you go away on leave

and you go, oh, oh, right, okay.

This is what real life is.

Coming back in was, was

really, was really tough.

Um, but, but then you go on and

exercise is about, I think it's like

five days into the second term and

they, it was called rural return and

it's essentially just an absolute

thrashing, like it's section attack after

section, attack after section attack.

And it was a complete thrashing.

And I loved it.

Like, I dunno, yeah.

What happened, but I loved it

and I was like, okay, right.

That's it.

Now I'm locked in.

Let's, I'm done.

Let's go.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, that, it was, it was

a weird, it was a weird moment.

'cause I'd got, I was so upset going

onto that exercise and then in the first

section attack we did, something changed.

I was like, because at this

point you didn't know you

were gonna join the signals.

You go through Sandhurst to become

an officer and at some point later is

when you find out where you're going.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So I was, I was, uh, because of going

through, uh, college, I was sponsored,

it's not really a thing, but sponsored

by, uh, sponsored by, by Royal Signals.

Um, and I sort of, I had in my

mind that I was gonna join the

signals, but I also had the royal

engineers because, because of my dad.

But, and if you are watching

this dad, I am sorry.

I don't think I've ever

told you this either.

I had made my mind up that I was not

gonna join the Royal Engineers no

matter what, because he's a big shadow.

Yeah.

Like my old man is a big character, you

know, late, you don't, you don't become

a late entry officer without being known.

And I was always WA

bit worried about that.

So I wanted to forge my, my own way.

Um, which is really, it, it's

interesting because, you know, fast

forward however many years, I'm

now chair of Royal Signals, Alpine

skiing, going to the same location

as all the royal engineers and where

my dad lives now in Noif, in Austria.

And he's known as the major, right?

Yeah.

Because he's just been there for,

he's been there for years now.

He's settled there.

So I got this embarrassing,

why am I saying this?

So I got known as the baby major.

Um, and, and so, and so, you know,

that shadow was cast no matter.

Yeah.

No matter, no matter what.

But yeah, it was, it was the

raw, it was the raw signals

for me because I responded.

I like technology, I like,

you know, phones and computers

and, and stuff like that.

Like using them, not necessarily

knowing how they worked.

Um, and so, so yeah, that's

And why not infantry?

So when I, when I started along

the path of joining, of joining

the Army, my dad said, uh.

You're not gonna go in as a soldier,

you're, if you're gonna join the

Army, you're gonna go as an officer.

Um, I never quite understood

why, 'cause I was like, okay,

well I'll just join the army.

I'll, you know, I'll be a soldier.

No problem.

I'll follow in your

footsteps and, and stuff.

Even though I, you know, I didn't really

want to, that was the, the progression.

Um, and he said, no, no.

Join, join as an officer.

Um, and then the pathway to that was

Wellbe College and from Wellbe College,

they recruit into the technical course.

Yeah.

So the idea is they invest

money in your education.

They send you off to

university, you know, a level.

I did maths, physics, electronics, and

it, and then started electrical and

electronic engineering at university.

So it was always a pathway into

the, into the technical cause.

Um, and the thought of joining

the infantry genuinely didn't,

or any, anything else didn't

really enter my, enter my mind.

Um, even more so because you,

you had that first exercise, you,

you're like doing section attacks.

This is cool.

So, ah, well, yeah.

So they've, they've got you because

as a Ian to join, even if so, even

if I'd have said, no, look, this

is absolutely what I wanna do.

I love this element of it.

Yeah.

As a, as a Ian, it's very

difficult to join the infantry.

Like they, they actively will.

It's been done.

Uh, a couple of my

mates have have done it.

But you have to, you have

to really make your case.

Um, and you have to really go after it.

And actually quite often you end

up joining a core technical core

and then transferring, um, which

is, you know, which happened, uh,

to to, to a few people I know.

But I guess the drive for me wasn't,

wasn't there that, that much.

So we're in sand test, you know, we've

done our second term, still enjoying it.

Have you got any major highs

and lows going through?

Uh, the major high was, and it

sounds so trivial, but the major

high for me was winning the marching

shoot competition as a platoon.

Um, I was the, uh, I was the

platoon sergeant, um, and I think.

I was never really even growing up.

Like I was never really, really fit.

I was always naturally fit,

naturally athletic can turn my

hand to pretty much anything.

But the one thing I've always been able to

do is put the effort in, put the graft in.

Even as a, as a junior officer, I got

a, I got a reputation for, if you've

seen Lieutenant Collins Animal on, on

pt, he wasn't, I, I definitely wasn't,

but I was, I was able to suffer.

I was able to just grizz

it out as much as possible.

So winning that march and shoot

competition like that was testament to,

I'm not the fittest in the platoon, but

I have to take on a, a leadership role.

Um, and Tony, Tony Richardson, um, who is

our PTI, um, absolutely phenomenal bloke.

Like, just brilliant.

Um, he gave me a pep talk beforehand

and he was just like, you are

the platoon sergeant, right?

Fuck Officer Gade, this, you

are the platoon sergeant.

You have a job to do.

And I was like, yeah,

I've got a job to do.

And at the time, you, you are in this

world, you're in this bubble, and it

becomes the most important thing, like

to act as if you are that platoon stripe.

Like it's, it's, it's, it's

really weird 'cause you're in a,

you're in a training environment.

Yeah.

None of this matters when you

get out, but at the time it

is the most important thing.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I'd say that that was,

that was, that was the high, like

that was definitely the high and,

and lows was, or was there any lows?

Not after that first term.

Like, yeah, you can, you can point

to exercises, uh, like marathons

Chase, which was A-C-B-R-N exercise,

and you are in full, full Romeo.

Yeah.

And your gas mask is filling with sweat.

I'm a, I'm a sweater, right?

And my gas mask is filling with sweat.

And you're like, do I, do I lift

it up like we're on exercise.

Like this is not real if I lift it up

and pull the sweat out, but then the

consequences of being caught doing that

are just not, they're just not worth it.

Um, so yeah, you have those and,

and the, the, uh, I can't remember

what our defensive exercise was,

um, but digging in on eckford

training area, which is just chalk.

Yeah.

Like, it's just awful.

And you're there and you're just

digging and digging and digging.

Having hallucinations.

Yeah.

'cause you're sleep deprived and

you're absolutely on your ass.

Um, I mean, those are the lower moments.

Um, I don't, but overall, you, you

just, you get through those low moments

because of the people around you.

Like, so this year is actually our, uh,

20th anniversary and we are all meeting

up in June, our platoon meeting up in,

in in June, down in, down in London.

And.

You just remem like we've got this

WhatsApp group going now, and little

stories are coming out and like people

are throwing up old photographs and stuff.

And it seems like yesterday, going

through training seems like yesterday

because it was such an intense experience.

It's etched on your mind.

Um, but then you remember that

we had 20 years of a, of a career

after that, or 18 years of a career

after that, before I got out.

Um, everyone went off and did

their own, their own thing.

Um, and yet you're sort of,

you are born into this, this

unit that existed for a year.

It was a platoon and a, and a

company and a training establishment.

And yet I have an affinity

with all of those people.

It's, it's, yeah, I think.

Military training is a, is a

phenomenal crucible to, to partake in.

Um, and it, yeah, just, I agree.

Incredible.

I should have asked you to start, how,

how many people started training and,

and how many passed out Would, oh God.

Do you lose many at Sandhurst?

Do you know?

I have, I I wouldn't be able to tell

you, but I, when they, when they leave,

I think, what is it, it's probably like

a 70, 80% stay on through the platoon and

then you get people who have had injury

and so they go off to to luck now and

they, they come in and, and that, but the

vast majority of those sort of waste out

or leave around about the five week mark.

Okay.

I think so, you know, you are,

you're told you've gotta go through

the first five weeks, your basic

training and, and all of that.

And then there's exercise long reach,

which depending on how you plan it

can be like 80 kilometres around the

Black Mountains, which is something

that like very few people will have

ever done before arriving at dut.

Um, but yeah, I think, I think

seven 70 or 80% sort of go in.

I think by the time you get to,

there's such a, such a, a long,

uh, selection process to go that

by the time you get there, the vast

majority of people are capable.

It's just 'cause it's a very much, I

think the reason Sanders is so well

renowned is that it is very much

a train in rather than select out.

Yes.

You've, you've a whole year.

There's a lot of time there to form

someone from civilian into, into Army

officer and also remember that as a second

lieutenant, the, the role of Sandhurst

is to, to just get you ready just for

that first position because a lot of your

growth happens once you get to your unit.

My first unit changed me as a, as a

person, um, because of two people in, in

particular, my, my SART major and my oc.

But Erst is just to prepare

you just for that first unit.

And so I think that you can

then grow as an army officer.

Um, but I think, yeah, I think

by the time people get there,

there's, it's, it's pretty strong.

Nice.

Nice.

And how, how was pass off for you?

Uh, amazing.

Like, so my dad came along, had his

full uniform on, my mum came along,

got all dressed up, I had family there.

My grandparents, you know, I've got

pictures of my, my, my granddad and,

and, uh, we'll, we'll definitely

talk about why I got sort of into,

more, into, into sport with him, came

with his medals on and just, just

an incredible experience all round.

Um.

And I think to be, to be a part

of that parade in particular, you

know, it's world renowned, the, the,

the Sandoz commission in parade.

Um, and ev you know, everyone's lined

up, everyone's got their swords.

Um, it's just a great experience.

It's a bit of a blur, um, because

all you are concentrating on, all you

are focusing on is don't fall over.

Yeah.

Don't, don't fall over the, the

Queen, uh, uh, queen Elizabeth of ii.

Um, that was a weird thing to say.

Uh, came and she was

our inspecting officer.

Um, William was in my, my intake, and she

did, uh, did the, the, the inspection.

Um, just an incredible thing.

And then you have the, the

commissioning ball afterwards.

You know, you wear mess dress, but you

have your, your pips all covered up.

And then at midnight, you know, I've got,

I've got a picture of both my mom and

dad taking off the felt over my pips.

I'm getting goosebumps thinking about

it now, like it was all that time

ago, but just a, a great experience.

Um, and we had like this casino thing

and yeah, it was just, just great

to have so many of my family there

just supporting me on what was, I

mean, it's probably the biggest thing

that's ever I've ever done in my life.

You know, joining, joining the

military, it set me up for, for the

rest of my, the rest of my life.

Um, yeah, it was a

great, great experience.

And, um, might be controversial,

not the, the distinction

between soldier and an officer.

Yeah.

How do you view the soldier?

Not just your soldier, but as a,

how do you view them as a whole?

How do I view soldiers?

Soldiers compared to officers?

Okay.

Um.

So I think, I think the

distinction largely comes down to.

Accountability and, and leadership.

I think when you are a second

lieutenant, you are put into a position

of authority with no experience.

You have no credibility.

You have very little subject matter

expertise, and actually, you, you,

you don't like, you're not, you're

not in charge like your senior NCOs.

They're in, they're in charge.

You are just, there you are, you are

the one who, if it goes wrong, I think

it's, it's a key lesson to learn as a,

as an officer if it all goes wrong, even

though you had no idea it was going wrong,

you had no input for it going wrong.

You, uh, you are still accountable.

You are absolutely accountable

and you cannot shy away from that.

But then I think you quickly learn the,

once you learn that lesson, you quickly

learn that the skills and the expertise

that you bring to the table, they're not

the technical for, for the signals anyway.

They're not the technical expertise.

They're the, they're the, the

management, the command, the

leadership more than anything of

those people to get the job done.

So I think I always made

the distinction that with.

Without, without an officer in a platoon,

for example, or, or, or, or troop.

Things would still run, things would

still get done because, well, the,

the lads know what they're doing.

You know, I have very intelligent

soldiers working for me, but my role

is to get them to do the things when

maybe they don't want to do the things.

And I think that is, there's, there's

the distinction, I dunno if I've ever

explained that very well, but the

soldiers are the heart, like the heart,

nothing can get done without soldiers.

Nothing.

Like you put a bunch of officers in a

room, yeah, they can make a decision.

So what?

Nothing, nothing gets done.

And I think growing up as a, growing

up as a pad brat, watching my dad as a

soldier, as a junior, NCO, as a senior,

NCO, as an officer, like I just, I

learned that very, very early on, that

the soldiers are the ones that matter.

Like they, they matter because

without them, there's no

job, nothing can get done.

But the role of the officer

is to lead it, is to inspire,

it's to provide that direction.

It's to provide that vision, to

corral that effort to, to output

something meaningful along, along a

path like a, to get the, to get the

job done, to get the mission done.

I think when you take individual

units and you look at the structure of

the, uh, of any unit or the military

or whatever, like individual groups

of people all doing tasks is great.

But where the, where the officer

cohort in, uh, comes in is by

getting those individual groups of

people to all then pull in the same

direction for something meaningful.

Um, I suppose that's, does

that answer the question?

I think that's how I,

yeah, that's how I see it.

I think it's brilliant.

Brilliantly.

And interesting as well to

see your perspective on it.

Whereas, you know, others we spoke to like

off camera, not naming names, it as well,

soldiers are there to do not to think.

And it's like, it, it's nice to,

to hear your distinction and the

understanding of, you know, like, yeah.

I think that's brilliantly.

Well, well said.

And it shows that I think you as a

character as well, you know, the respect

you have for, for those that are,

are on paper underneath you, um, but

you don't see them as underneath you.

You see them as they're

equal to a job to do.

Which I think is, and that's

what makes a good leader as well.

You know, someone that doesn't look down

upon someone and you understand the roles

and you're, you say you're there to lead.

Yeah.

I, I, I appreciate that.

I think, I think what's, what's been the

most remarkable thing since I got out just

on, on there is, um, the number of people

that I have either bumped into at like

a High Rocks or a triathlon or a ultra

or whatever, who have recognised me and

they've been like, you were at this unit.

And I was like, oh, cool.

I was running, running around at High

Rocks in Birmingham last year and, uh,

I was running alongside a bloke and I, I

kept, I, I fucking recognise this bloke.

Yeah.

Um, and he, he just went,

are you Major Collins?

I was like, I said I was.

Um, and he said, you are

the reason I'm doing this.

It's like, what?

He goes, you did, you did High Rocks.

And I was like, I did High Rocks after

I sort of, after I, I was, you know,

getting out and he said, yeah, yeah, but

I've followed you on social media since

this unit and I'm doing it Blew my mind.

It was absolutely incredible.

And I think every time that, 'cause I'm

not afraid of putting myself out there.

I am me, I have always been me.

Individuality is your greatest asset.

Like, I think you, you develop a

bit of a, I dunno if you've actually

got something about you, if you're

a bit of a character, people will

not be afraid to say, you know.

I remember you from so and so.

You did this.

Like I've had, I've had coaching

clients who were, I took through phase

one training, like, which it was ama,

he reached out, a guy called Nathan

just reached out and he was like, I

dunno if you remember me, but this,

and I immediately took a picture of

one of the, the photos from my wall.

I was like, of course

I remember you Mr. Day.

Here you go.

There you are there.

You're like, just, uh, it's, yeah.

It's really, yeah, it's cool.

So thank you.

Appreciate that.

Absolutely, man.

So we've passed out a training.

We're now going to our first unit.

You know, we've got some hair

tours that are coming up.

But where did you go first?

What was your first posting?

Uh, 16 Signal Regiment.

2 5 5, uh, signal Squadron,

uh, out in Germany.

And I'm, I count myself so

lucky to get a Germany tour.

Um, I wanted to get away from the uk.

I wanted to, I'd been, you know, I'd lived

in Germany as a, as a kid a little bit.

Always heard my dad speaking very

fondly about, you know, Germany

and I, yeah, it was a bit fun.

Um, so I went out to, went out

to 16 six, um, was in 2 5 5.

My start major was, uh, Tony McBean.

And my, my OC was Bill Anderson and

I mentioned those two names because

of the profound impact that they had.

I was a, I was a wayward junior officer.

Um, if I can say good at my job, you know.

I sought popularity over respect.

Um, I'd go out on a piss with the

soldiers, which isn't the done thing.

It's not necessarily the done thing.

Um.

And some will say, oh yeah,

you know, that's great.

Getting in, getting in with

the soldiers and stuff.

But I was doing it because I

wanted, I wanted them to like me.

I thought that was the path.

Thinking back, I thought that was

the path to, to good leadership.

Um, so I would go out on the piss, I

would go to the all ranks club, um,

often into the junior Ranks club.

Um, just, you know, and I always

thought to myself, well, you know,

they're inviting me in, so, so be it.

You know?

Um, I can't get in trouble for this.

Turns out you can, you can.

Um, and I, yeah, so I was again, so good

at my job, but was seeking popularity

more than, more than like respect.

And I think it, it really, I

don't, I think I caught it in

time or I didn't catch it in time.

My SART major Tony did, um, absolute,

absolute legend of the royal signals.

So he was our core badge.

Uh, went on to to commission.

Um, and I arrived in the unit

in the August we were, we were

preparing for her 13 to, uh, to

leave in the, in the new year.

And we had Christmas function, went

onto the Christmas function, got

absolutely upside down and everyone

was getting back on the buses to go.

We were in town to go back to camp.

And I got on the bus and I just

shouted who's coming into town?

And of course, junior, junior officer,

like everyone erupted, like, what?

We are being, what fuck, we're being

told we can go out, he's in charge.

I had one pip I was in charge of nothing.

But it's a, it is an authority figure.

Like I I, I talked about earlier.

So everyone erupted and everyone

started getting off the bus.

One of the staff sergeants, um,

told everyone, big, massive Fiji and

bloke, everyone sit the fuck down.

You're not going anywhere,

sir. You're outta line.

Now did I recognise that I was outta

line and sit down and do as I was

told, which is what I should have done?

No, of course not.

I fought back.

No, come on, let's do it.

Um, and I'm really ashamed

of it, to be honest.

'cause it was not the

way to behave anyway.

The whole bus got off.

We went into town, we got upside down.

Nothing happened.

Everything was great.

We all went back in.

Um, now because the Army has

a way of doing, uh, these

functions on a Thursday night.

Yes.

Um, rather, rather than, uh,

uh, on a Friday where you

can recover over the weekend.

We were in work Friday morning,

I was late, I was hungover.

Not in a good state.

Got into, got into to

work into the office.

Shut the door, sat on the big

chair, just like fucking hell.

I'm, I'm a knot in a good way.

Here.

Knock at the door, open it.

Sar major wants to see you.

Oh shit.

Okay, cool.

Now, I, I'd already, I got to know

Tony a little bit and I went in and

I sat in his office fully expecting

the hair dryer treatment, fully

expecting to absolutely unload.

And he didn't, he gave me the worst,

hard hitting, disappointed dad

chat that I have ever received in

my life, even from my own parents.

And I sat there and all I could think

was, oh my God, I've let you down.

I've let me down.

I've let the oc, I've let everyone,

I've let my soldiers down.

And I, it crushed me.

Absolutely crushed me.

And then Bill the OC just opened the

door, put his head in, looked straight at

Tony, didn't look at me straight at Tony.

I went, everything okay?

He went, yes, sir. He

goes, is he gonna be okay?

Yes sir. Okay.

And he closed the door.

That is such a powerful leadership lesson

that I didn't recognise until a little

bit later that the OC trusted the SART

major to sort this junior officer out.

Not in a way that's going to just

berate him and make him feel, you

know, little and small because

like I say, I was decent on my job.

My character was just off.

And it just took a little

bit of realignment.

And I'll never forget, there was a

absolutely another defining moment

and testament to Tony's character.

And that carried on

with, with Bill and Tony.

They really shaped me,

testament to Tony's character.

Fast forward a few years, I'm

the Agitant at 30 Sigma Regiment.

He's turned up.

He's just come from being core

badge is now a late entry.

Captain walks into the office.

How are you doing?

We, you know, we shake hands.

We have good, uh, good hug.

And he sits there and we talk for two

hours, just about old times in Germany.

And now, and at the end of the

conversation, he said, there was a

time when you were, you were a wet

behind the ears second lieutenant

and I gave you a bit of mentoring.

Now the tables have turned.

It's your turn.

I mean that to me.

What a man.

Yeah.

He know he's coming in as a, essentially,

you know, a, he's a late entry, but

he's a, a junior in the officer world.

He's new to the job and he's

asking for, for a bit of guidance.

Like, it just incredible.

Tony, uh, Tony sadly passed

away from Mountain Neuron

Disease whilst we were at 30.

Um, and I used to just travel up and,

and down to, to Newcastle to go and to

go and see him as, as he was in decline.

But I made sure he knew the impact

that he'd had on that early career.

And, and that time, time

at 30, just, just amazing.

Um.

So that was, that really shaped

me and I think it sort of got

me ready for going away on tour.

'cause again, really Junior, didn't,

you know, I had a troop that we

were in a role that we were gonna

be dispersed all over Regional

Command South, which included Helman

Province, but other provinces as well.

I was working for a Canadian, uh, is a

trilateral Signal Squadron as, as part

of Regional Command South on, on H eight.

Um, we had Canadian OC and two troops.

My troop, which was dispersed

all over, uh, ca catering for the

communications for, uh, some of the

provincial reconstruction teams.

Um, and a, and a Dutch troop as well.

So really cool like environment.

Um.

And about halfway into the tour, I

got asked if I, 'cause the troop was

running, like once you sat once, comms

are in, comms are in, like, it didn't,

it didn't take much more leadership.

So I had spare capacity and I got asked

by my OC if I wanted an opportunity to

go and work with, um, some Americans.

And so I sort of double hatted

for a while for, for the last

three months of the tour.

And I went to be a liaison officer

to a American Special Operation task

force, um, in their own parallel

mission of op Enduring Freedom.

Um, which opened my eyes

like as a second lieutenant.

I'm reporting between the regional

command, um, headquarters, like to

this special operations task force.

It's like, what the fuck am I doing here?

I have no experience for this.

But I think again, it talks back to

the point about Sandhurst is that

it gets you ready and teaches you

how to think, not what to think.

And I think that that's been, then

that element of flexibility has

just been prevalent throughout

the rest of rest of my career.

So the second half of my Eric a tour was

not only managing my, my tro, but but also

as a, a bit of a liaison officer as well.

He is mad.

He's brilliant.

Any highlights for that at all?

Um, probably, yeah, probably

getting out on the ground with,

with some of the Americans.

They do things in a very different way.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, very different way.

We had to get, you know, ECM

waivers and, and, and all that and

all, and all of that stuff know.

Well it took, it, it took a, it, it took

a, a ma mammoth amount of effort, but

getting out onto the ground with them,

you know, again, 'cause I was really young

as well, like cutting around in Humvees.

Yeah.

And then going out on patrol

with the Americans and stuff.

Like, it is just a wild experience.

Really.

Yeah.

Really, really cool.

Really defining and, and I know people

watching it that I want to ask, did

you get yourself into any firefights or

was there any soldiering that was dumb?

No.

Um, and, and I'm, I'm, I'll be

really, really open, uh, about that.

Um, really open.

'cause I mean, what's the point?

Yeah.

Um, you know, I, I wasn't

an infantry soldier.

Um, there was, uh, contact, but it wasn't

anything I was about to say special then.

But yeah.

It wasn't, it wasn't a part

Scary, but not, not a particularly

like intense experience.

Um, so yeah.

Not, not, not really.

And I don't think, and it do, you know,

it's a really interesting point, right?

Because I think people have this

preconception that if you're in the army,

you've, you know, everyone has done that.

Yeah.

And it should be absolutely okay to say.

Yeah.

No, absolutely.

No.

I, I didn't, yeah.

Like I, I had a, you know, a rich career.

I, my army career was about

my leadership of the, the

soldiers in the technical space.

Yeah.

Doesn't, and the guys that

have experienced war fighting

is such a small minute Yeah.

Percentage Yeah.

Of our forces and the people

worldwide, like not that many people

have, have gone and experienced it.

And it's, you know, tank.

He, he had a lot of

abuse in his early days.

Like, oh, you're a Marine and

you haven't even been to war.

It's like, sorry, that I

was born after the war.

Yeah.

Like, I'm, I'm really sorry that my

mom didn't birth me in time for her.

Oh no.

Down date of birth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, a little bit more I think

than certainly, certainly obviously

a bit more when I went out with, with

three Para, um, on, on Herrick 13.

Um, so 'cause after 16, six, I

went to a train establishment.

Yeah.

Took soldiers through phase one training.

Again, like I, I said, so I actually

said this in my dine out speech.

My career is like a

highlight reel of my life.

Like, I genuinely see it as, as the

best moments that I've been through.

There're Yeah.

Low moments and high moments.

It's all the same thing.

Like, it, it's just amazing.

Um, and I loved phase one training.

Absolutely loved phase one training.

Like my train, again, this is my

character, but they got me a sweatshirt

with FOC written on the back.

Yeah.

Friend of Crow.

Like, because, because my, my job's

not to scream and shout at the Yeah.

At the recruits or the

soldiers under training.

My job is to get the best outta them.

Yeah.

And they need a

psychologically safe space.

And that might sound like

a very woke thing to say.

No, no.

But but, but it's about

trust, it's about empathy.

Yeah.

You know, if you want instil discipline

and, and reaction skills, then yes.

Okay.

Some shouting and stuff

is need to be done, but it

doesn't need to be done by me.

That's not the job.

And that's why, and there are

people that have specific jobs

and specific roles to do to train

people, be it soldiers or officers.

Yeah.

You know, we was in training our

screws were our friends and leaders.

The platoon sergeant though.

Yeah.

He's the screamy, shouting

percent angry man.

And it was like, yeah, it was,

and there, there's a role to play.

Absolutely had, but if you needed

it, then it switched it off.

I remember my sister was in a

really, like phenomenally bad car

crash, hit head on by a lorry.

Absolutely fine.

And in the end, I mean broke like

hip leg, like mad and going in.

But then I got to the

ATO sergeant and I was.

You are really nice.

Yeah.

Like, and it couldn't done anymore.

Like, let's get you

home, let's get you done.

We're gonna do this, this, this.

And yeah.

Everyone has their role to play, to

bring people to where they need to be.

And it's, yeah, absolutely.

If everyone's screaming and

shouting, no one would join,

well, no one would join the army.

A lot of people would not stay.

Yeah.

That see that, that absolutely

is the, is the point.

I think when you, when you're a phase

one training instructor, whether it, you

know, as a, as a junior and senior CE

officer or whatever, you, you have to

remember that the people that are coming

through, everyone did it at some stage.

The people are coming through

don't know what they're expecting.

Like they have this media portrayal

and the recruiting videos and all of

that, but they don't really know what

it's like to be in, in the military.

And if you just take them from day one

and just absolutely hammer them with

what you think the military is all

about, you're gonna lose people and

you're gonna lose good people as well.

Yeah.

And it's not, you know, the, the, the best

people are not those who can just take it.

You gotta take the banter.

No, they're not the best people.

The best people are those who can be

an individual within the confines of

a set of rules and so that everyone

is pushing in the same direction,

but can, can think autonomously.

You know, you, you talk about

that conversation you had with

someone like soldiers of the doers.

They're not there to think, I

believe firmly the other way.

Like they're the ones with the knowledge.

They're the ones with the skillset.

I used to constantly say, particularly

as a, as a squadron commander, like

whether you're a TRO commander or you are

a signaler private soldier, I was very

fortunate to, to command ker soldiers,

um, honoured is is the word I would use.

But whether you are a, a, a, a

true commander, whether you're

my ops officer two ic, one of the

signalers, come to me with what you

think the best solution is and have

me make the decision this or this.

What do you think?

I think this will go with that then.

And then we'll see whether,

whether it works out.

And I think coming back to the role of

the officer, the role of the officer is

to instil that trust because ultimately

the subject matter expert is the one

who is going to have the best solution.

Not always.

And if it goes wrong, then take

the accountability for it and say,

yeah, okay, it didn't go wrong,

but we'll try something else.

But you need to, you need to get them to

a point where they're not afraid of trying

something, not afraid of innovating,

not afraid of making a decision.

Um, and that starts at

phase one training, right.

If you are just constantly told that

you're a piece of shit, you're beasted

for everything that you do wrong.

Like, you are gonna come outta that

thinking that that's just the way and

that is gonna inculcate a toxic culture.

Yeah.

Which will just carry on

throughout your entire career.

Uh, it just constantly roll downhill.

And it was, yeah.

I remember going through training

and chatting to some other guys and

getting to our battalion and thinking.

He's being all right to me.

Like the when's it gonna start?

And you know, the Vikings from

Royal, we a very grown up battalion.

It was very much like big boy rules.

You know, we didn't have any of this like

weapon cleaning on a Friday afternoon.

Mad Mick, our co at the time, we'd

like, like coming, coming, coming,

have a chat Friday after C os pt and

he would always listen to the blokes.

And there was none of this

like doing a room inspection,

like standing by your beds.

It was always big boy rules and it was,

you know, we were a commendable battalion.

It was, yeah.

Chatting to the lads, I'd see him on

a promotion card house and they're

always like angry at everything think.

And that sounds like a

really positive environment.

We, yeah.

We don't have any of this.

Like, again, when's it gonna start?

Like surely, you know, there was a

few guys that were just like dicks.

Like I had a lad large, like just

didn't like me for whatever reason

to know we, and my protein powder

that I had in tubs and break my room

door And is that the new flavour?

Um, yeah, that's where

Unicorn piss came from.

Um, you, you know, you always

gotta get something like that.

As a whole.

We had a really good strong like

family battalion and again, because

we had good leaders, you know, all,

all of our officers were phenomenal.

And I remember distinctly once our second

lieutenant on tour, Adam Peters, he was

told off by ROC and he called him by

his first name and we were like, wow.

He basically fell asleep on Stag,

um, on Radio Stag as an officer.

But because of the family mentality we

had, no one took the piss out of him.

Yeah.

We were like, so what

sir? We made a mistake.

We all made mistakes.

Yeah.

And 'cause he owned it and you know, we

had no, nothing else to say about our ROC.

We had a very open door policy either

taught in camp and it was Yeah,

yeah, because good leaders 'cause

you're not screaming and shouting and

you're doing this, you're doing that.

And it was always really good.

Yeah.

So I think people like you a testament

to what the, the British Army should be.

So it's, it makes it a better place and

it makes it operationally effective.

You know, if people are there and they

just, they hate you, they hate the army.

You hate that.

You, you're not an effective soldier.

You're not an effective fighting force.

Yeah.

My, my, my commanding officer, my

CEO Neil Sco, he's, uh, he's out,

he's in the civil service now.

Um, works at the home office.

Our role at 36 when I was

Adjutant was deploying people

Fast notice all over the world.

And I went on to be the ops officer of

that, that unit as my last ever job.

And I took with hi and took with me like

his, his words and he always said that.

Culture will eat strategy for breakfast.

And when you are asking people to

leave their families at four hours

notice, to move, to go anywhere in the

world best you make sure that their

families are catered for and best

you, make sure that they feel valued.

Because if they don't feel valued and

they don't feel as though they're,

they're worth anything, they're not

gonna have their kit ready to go.

They're not gonna fee, they're

not gonna want to do it.

And when you're asking people to go

around the world at four hours notice

to move, we're talking, leaving kids

birthdays, you know, just anniversaries,

family gatherings, you know, at four

hours notice to move you can be more

than 20, 30 minutes away from camp.

And we were holding people at

that redness for months at a time.

You've got to look after them.

Yeah.

And so if you have ever have an

opportunity to believe them, to trust

them, to give them time off to, to

invest in them, their education,

their physical, um, uh, fitness,

anything like that, you do it.

You take it.

And I think I learned again

a lot from, from from Neil.

I think we worked really well together

because that was always my view

as well, you've got to look after

your people because like we, we all

know, and let's not get political

about this, but we all know that

the military has been underfunded

and under invested in four years.

Even throughout Afghanistan.

Yeah.

Like even throughout Afghanistan and Iraq.

Um, we've been under invested in

and what has meant that we have

still been the reference army

best in the world and all that.

Our people.

Yeah.

Because they're willing to do

the things even when it's shit.

Yeah.

And that's why you've

got to place them first.

Yeah.

You're gonna, you know, you're

gonna ask 'em to do shit stuff.

So make them want to do the shit stuff

by treating them right to begin with.

And it also comes down to

like leading by example.

You, you'd never ask someone

to do something you wouldn't

be willing to do yourself.

No.

Um, yeah.

I think we all carry it

over into C Street as well.

You know, I'd never ask any of

the guys here to go clean our

toilets if I wouldn't do it myself.

So it carries on from the absolute

bottom to right at the top.

You know, you've got to lead

by example, haven't you?

You know, and if you treat people

right, they'll want to work for you.

And I think Richard Branson said

it, he was, you know, treat people

so good that they can leave and

give them all the qualifications

to leave, treat them so well.

They don't want to.

They don't want to.

And it, yeah.

Absolutely.

Brilliant.

And we touched on another tour, Harry 13.

Yeah.

Um, with free power.

Um, how was this, what, what occurred?

So, so I mean it was,

I fell into that role.

Um, I was, I was at phase one

training and I got an opportunity

to go and be the regimental signals

officer for an artillery regiment.

Um, and at the time the rule

signals were trying to give out

rule signals officers to go and do

the, the job of a regimental signals

officer for, particularly for tours.

Um, 'cause no one wants to do comms.

Yeah.

Uh, and they're like,

yeah, go and do that.

And I got the opportunity.

They said, you have to do this.

But because I was a non grad, I spent

longer at Second Lieutenant, so I

did two years as a second lieutenant.

That sucks.

Yeah.

Um, it's normally a year.

It's normally a year if you've

got a, a graduate and then another

three years as a lieutenant.

So five years in total, if you've got a

degree and you get three years seniority

or two and a half years, whatever.

It worked out as you did like one

year as a second lieutenant and then

another year and a half as a, as a

lieutenant and then you're a captain.

Um, but because I had all that time, I

sort of said, okay, well I'm gonna go and

do phase one training, then I'm probably

gonna go and do a second tall TRO command.

This is gonna be amazing.

And I took it as a real opportunity.

I was like, I get to do these jobs again.

Um, and so I'd sort of delayed going

on what was the, the junior Officer's

tactical awareness course tac, um,

until after phase one training.

But when this job came up, they

said, it's an acting captain's role.

You have to have your jot tuck.

So I said, all right, fine.

So I went and asked my

oc, can I go on this.

And he blocked it for a number of

weeks and said, no, no, like you,

you know, you'll miss, uh, two weeks

of, of the course of this intake.

And it was like the first, no, I

think it was even one week 'cause I

was, I'd said I'd go and do it and

leave and then, and then get it done.

Um, and it was one week and it

was week one, which is not, I

mean, as an officer you have very

little to do with it in week one.

There's a few interviews and stuff,

but they can happen in week two.

Like it's a bit of baptism of

fire, get all your kit issues.

You marched around the place and Yeah,

and it's like really entry stuff.

So I was, I was quite annoyed.

Um, so I made my case, made my case

lost the artillery role and they

said, look, we needed an answer.

And I was like, okay, great.

So my agent said, sorry, you've

lost that role, but I had booked the

place on tac so I was like, alright,

well I'm going, can I still go?

Like, yeah, you can still go.

So I went and there was a guy,

uh, in there and we went round

the table and they're like,

oh, you know, what do you do?

What do you do, et cetera.

I said, oh, I'm at phase one training.

And this guy said, uh, and the

regimental signals officer three

power and I fucking hate it.

And I was like.

Okay, you are hating it.

And I don't know why I even

thought of to go and ask, I've a,

what, what authority have I got?

So we had a, we had a brew and

I just said, you hate your job.

He's like, yeah, yeah.

I, I keep getting promised this

job as a, as an FST commander,

but no one wants to be the RSO.

And so I'm stuck and I was like, I

wanna be the RSO and this is not how

career pathways work in the army.

This is not how you, that conversation

should not have gone anywhere.

Yeah.

But because I was at phase one training

and because I had a bit of a mouth on

me, I rang directly our desk officer up

in Glasgow and I said, currently on tac

there's a regiment signals officer in

three para who doesn't want to be in the

job and they're looking for a replacement.

I know I lost out on the artillery job.

Any chance we could make this work?

Tom, you should not be calling me.

You should not be talking

to me about this stuff.

Like, go through your aine.

I was like, but I'm at a phase one

train establishment the Adant doesn't

deal with with, with this stuff.

He said, okay, we'll go

through your Squadron two ic.

So I did and I got back off jtac.

And anyway, the conversations were had

and next thing I know they've put it to

a, they've gone to core headquarters.

I've asked, would you give up one

of your offices to do this job?

And because of, I don't know, 'cause

of the conversations that I've, I've

had now this was a recurring theme.

I'd sort of started telling people

that I was going for the RSO job.

It's not true.

I was, I hadn't, it's not true at all.

I have no authority.

It's not an application process.

Um, but because I'd started telling

people Word had got to core headquarters

and the core colonel said, yeah, Tom

Collins could go and do that job.

And so out of nowhere because you just

start telling people it's gonna happen.

Yeah.

I got a, I got a phone call.

Would you like to go and be

the RSO at three power's?

Like, yes, I fucking would.

And I, shit, as soon as I said

yes, I absolutely shit my pants.

'cause I was like, oh my

God, I don't have my wings.

I don't do anything.

And so I spoke to the guy who was in the

job and he said, uh, yeah, number one, you

need to get, you need to get your wings.

I'll book our, we'll go through

the, the, the training wing.

We'll book you on PE company.

You need to get your wings.

Otherwise the blokes won't respect you.

And I bought into it and I was

like, yeah, okay, yeah, fine.

Let's get that book, get that booked.

I arrived at Battalion and went for my

first interview with the, so I went and

saw the Adant, uh, and when I saw the,

the CO and as I went in and the Adant

was like, okay, so you're booked on

your regiment signals officer course.

And I said, oh, I think I'm

supposed to be doing P company.

And he just, he just sort of

laughed at me and he was like, what?

No, you're here as the

regimental signals officer.

No one gives a shit if

you've got your wings or not.

And I was like, oh, okay.

Is that true?

I dunno if it's true or not.

Yeah.

Um, and then I went into the,

to the CO's office, uh, James

Coates abs just phenomenal.

And he sat me down and we talked and

stuff, and he wanted to know about me.

He wanted to know about my background.

He really great, great leader.

Great Co. And at the end of the

conversation, he said, so you booked

on your Regimen Signals Officer course.

And I thought, this is not

the time to raise that.

I wanted to go and do P company.

Uh, you booked on your, your RSOs course,

uh, you're gonna come top of that course.

It's like, um, I, I'll certainly

try, sir. And he said, this is three

para we come top of the courses.

I was like, okay.

Okay.

Sure.

Yeah, no worries.

Off, off we go.

And so went on the course,

uh, did, and it, it was great.

And then pre-deployment training,

did you come on for the course?

Uh, I did come to the course, but

I mean, I'm a real signal officer.

If I hadn't, that would, that would've

been, yeah, that would've been a problem.

Yeah.

So, uh, got back to battalion

pre-deployment training.

Um, on one of our last exercises, uh,

one of the intelligence officers who

I'd known from college, guy called

Andy, uh, came in and told me that

one of our mates from college had had

just died out in, uh, Afghanistan.

He was rural rifles, um,

guy called Neil Turton.

Uh, just phenomenal bloke.

Um.

Someone walked to Green Forces,

walked into the ops room, RPG,

straight in, um, not good.

And it, it sort of, I don't

know, it really, it woke me up

to what I was about to go and do.

Um, because the first tour,

like I've said, like it was, it

wasn't, you know, particularly

exciting in the traditional sense.

I had a great tour,

but it, it wasn't that.

And so I sort of, sort of

woke me up to, to what?

In fact, I'll tell you Neil

interested, I, I find it interesting.

We were at college together, Neil

Turton and I, um, and we decided that

we were gonna take up boxing at 16.

And he was the first person to

ever give me a real fucking thump.

We had boxing gloves on, we

were doing our green glove,

and I didn't have my guard up.

We were just sparring.

And he gave me this absolutely for

like massive hooks, straight around

my jaw, straight around my chin,

banging it knocked me to the ground.

And I get, I just, I felt it was at

the time, like hurt and oh my God.

But I think that was the very first time

I realised that I'm not made of glass.

And that's a great lesson

to learn when you're a kid.

Yeah.

Like when you realise you're

not made of glass, like that

is a great lesson to learn.

Um, so yeah, always,

always thank Neil for that.

Um, so yeah, but after PTC we

went out, uh, to Natalie North.

Um, and that tour was, it was so

interesting 'cause when we got there,

we'd taken over from the Theatre Reserve

Battalion, which was, uh, the lax.

Um, and their role was very, very

straightforward as in that they had

very defined mission, establish,

leave it alone, don't go out,

couldn't step out of their cps.

Like it was, it was horrendous.

And.

The approach that the co and, and

three power took was, okay, establish

and then push the boundaries.

Push the boundaries, and then by the

end, like the lethal force that was

being used was massively reduced.

It was the time of, uh, general Petraeus

and his, uh, courageous restraint.

Um, you know, not firing unless

you have to, and, and all of that.

And it was such an interesting tour

learning and seeing that high level

leadership from a, a true infantry leader.

Uh, it's just great.

And because of the work that he did,

we had brigade commander come down.

We had, uh, general Petraeus come down.

Uh, we had, uh, CGS,

uh, Rob Wall come down.

We had, um, uh, CGS

General Davis come down.

Like it was, it was incredible

that, that the influence that we

were having in, in the region.

And, and I always look at that as what

I learned about that tool was, was how

to operate a higher level of leadership

at the commanding officer level.

Uh, just, just brilliant.

And he was someone who absolutely cared

that people knew what they were doing,

and then trusted, he trusted his company

commanders, um, you know, steered the,

steered the, the, the battalion on

the battle group through some losses.

Um, just with, just, he was,

he was absolutely phenomenal.

And I think I, I find, I, I

find myself thinking back to the

opportunity that I got scaly back

officer to go and be embedded with.

Present company accepted the

finest infantry soldiers that

the Army has got to offer.

Just how lucky that I was

to have that opportunity.

Um, and that's when I say, you know,

my career was a highlight reel that's

up there because Nonw scaly back.

And actually the one of the most

valuable lessons I learned is they

didn't give a shit that I did enough.

My wings.

'cause I was good at my job

and I gave a shit about them.

They didn't care.

No one cared.

Can you keep up on pt? Yeah.

Cool.

That's, that's as far as that went.

What, what did that do for your mindset?

Mindset Be like being respect, you know,

you've been told this thing and then

you're like, actually, like, people are

respecting me because I'm good at my job.

Yeah, well it's that and, and, and I

think that is that then it, it spoke

to me that actually your character

and competence matters way more

than your rank, your qualifications,

you know, your position, character

and competence count so much more.

And I then took that into

every job that I had.

Then after, when I'm Squadron two

IC with some London ceremonial work

behind the scenes at Buckingham

Palace, um, to, to adant to a London

based SA staff job squad and command.

Like, it was, it was an, it was an

amazing environment to be, to be a part

of where you were valued for who you

were and what you bring to the table

rather than the rank on your chest.

Like, and, and that was,

that was something that,

that really stayed with me.

Like I think we were, we were going

through a planning cycle, um, and

there was a, a, a particular mission

and there was gonna be, it was gonna

be out of, out of the range of battle

group headquarters for our VHF comms.

And they went through this whole planning

and, and stuff and, and I was trying to

put my input and it was quite early on

quite trying to put my input and, and

say, look, we're outta planning ranges.

We're gonna have to do this, this, this.

We're gonna need re bros, we're

gonna need, uh, 'cause everyone had

become really reliant on satellite

and ultimately that wasn't as

reliable as maybe we had thought.

And we didn't have all of the resources.

Not everyone could be on a, on a tax app.

Um, and we did this planning cycle and,

uh, I remember distinctly cycle JB um.

Wow, that's a, this is a really weird mo.

He's now one of, he's now

one of my coaching clients.

Um, he was the, the ops officer and

everyone was talking round this,

round the table and it was, you

know, very loose planning cycle.

Everyone's, you know, talking and he just

quieted everyone down and just handed to

me the non para reg bloke in the room.

He just handed to me and

said, is this gonna work?

And I was like, no.

Okay, we'll break.

You need to come up with a plan of how it

is gonna work and then we'll come back.

And I was like, fuck, I'm.

I'm really valued here.

Yeah.

That, and I, I, I genuinely feel

throughout that entire tour, whether it

be the soldiers, the other officers of the

mess, I, I felt valued and because I felt

valued, my fucking God, I dug out blind.

That was a really cool

lesson to, to learn.

About, about how people feel rather than

just what they say and what they do.

It's, it's, it's a, yeah, that life

should be about making sure that

those, you surround yourself with

those people who want you to win.

But making other people come along for

the ride is all about making them feel

valued, making them feel as though they've

got something to offer because they do.

Yeah.

Everyone's got something to offer.

You just, you know, you maybe

need to find out what it is and

you don't find out what it is.

If all you're gonna do is just

tell them and ignore them and Yeah.

Ultimately though, you came down

to saying the army wasn't for you.

How did that transition come about though,

from like, hearing your passion and

your voice the best job you've ever had?

Absolutely.

Loving it.

So then if I stayed in the Army, I

wouldn't have been a good dad and

I was, I would've been miserable.

Yeah.

So I think, I think that

started like, so there's a.

I think particularly, particularly

as an officer where you move every

two years, everyone says, you know,

a change is as good as a break.

Sometimes it's not.

And you get thrashed and then thrashed

and then thrashed and just you as

you are at breaking point, they,

you change jobs and you're like, oh,

okay, well this will be different.

And then the cycle continues.

The cycle continues.

Um, so I was, I went to, I was

in a staff job in London and uh,

after that it was subunit command.

I wanted to command GIR soldiers from

30 s Regiment where I was agitant.

Um, I had an exposure to Ger 'cause

I started getting invited to messing.

Um, so, uh, just like social gatherings,

not just because I was adant, but

I started getting invited to the

ones where the CO wasn't necessarily

invited down at squadron level, down

at troop level, which was odd 'cause

I'm a senior member in the regiment.

But because I'd taken the time to

get to know a bit about the GIR and

their culture and the Qaida, um,

that was a real cool sort of moment.

So I, I always knew that I wanted to

command, um, and lead and lead gir.

So when we were putting in our subic

commands, um, you gotta fill out that

PPP and you gotta put eight choices down.

And I put four and I said, I

want 2, 4, 8 Ker Signal Squadron.

And then I listed the

three other or two other.

And then the one that was coming online,

Ker Signal Squadron sent it off to

a PC Tom, you need to put more down.

And I had the conversation.

I said, if you don't assign

me to a GIR squadron, I really

don't care where you send me.

I don't care.

Like, send me any way you like.

This is all I want.

Would love one to one to three.

And then I wouldn't mind, uh, with the,

with the fourth squadron that was coming

online, um, well that's pretty bold.

I was like, well, you're not

getting anything else from me.

That's it.

That's all I want.

Um, and then I spoke to my previous CE

who's a full colonel by, by then, um,

might have been a one star either way.

Um, and I messaged him and I said,

I've put my PPP, I'm not sure if

I've made a mistake, but I've done

all the G squads and nothing else.

And he went, is that what you want?

I was like, yeah.

He goes, then you haven't made a mistake.

He goes, also, I'm on the board.

I was like, cheer.

Okay, okay.

Um, now we're both out now.

So this is, this is fine.

Um, but he, the way that they do

those, those boards, they go around

the table and they, they, you know.

Go down the list of names and they go

down the list of squadrons and it came

to two for eight go single Squadron.

Um, and as it goes, Neil went, um,

Tom Collins is perfect for that role.

Any questions?

No questions.

Tom Collins next to the name.

And I was outta country gig at

the time, uh, with Luke Combes.

Um, and I just got a text

message off him before the

board results had been released.

And he just said, how's you Nepali?

I was like, fuck.

Nice.

Yes.

So I was so happy.

So that squadron command was the best

job I think I could have ever had.

Like we, we went through COVID, uh,

we went and built the NEC Nightingale

Hospital, um, in, in Birmingham.

Um, and it was, it was genuine.

It was the biggest test of leadership

because it was all, it was almost

leadership, remote leadership,

uh, and everyone, like nobody

fuck it with the GIR soldiers.

They're a community.

Like they need to be together.

And so now we're all disparate

and, and, and, and dispersed.

That was a real test.

So I had to think of ways

that I was gonna do it.

And I used fitness and I, uh, and

this is, I know this is long-winded,

but this is where it sort of started.

I used fitness and I said, right, we're

gonna do, uh, zoom, zoom PT a couple

of times a week, but started really

early, like before it became a thing.

We were, we were doing it.

Um, and.

I would go out on a run or something

every single day and I'd say, you

know, we're allowed people to join us.

They were in the rules and

stuff, who's coming out?

And I would just have a rotor of people

running with me every single day so that

I could still get to see them, I could

still get to know, I could still get

to see if they're all right, look them

in the eye from even a couple of metres

away and just make sure they're okay.

Um, and that, that continued throughout,

throughout COVID and, and I, I set the

mission to my team and I said my number

one priority coming out of, uh, whilst

we were in lockdown, is that every

single soldier emerges fitter than when

we went in the education and all of

the online stuff that everyone seems

to worry about and the tick boxes and

getting your mats done and all that.

So major, make sure that happens.

I care that everyone is fitter when

they come out because I truly believe,

and I believed it at the time, that

when you focus on your physical

health and your physical wellbeing,

everything else falls into place.

You become disciplined, you have

clarity of mind, you've got more energy.

You're just a wholly

less irritable person.

So I focused, I focused on that, um,

and we did, and we came out and it

was at, at the same time we come out

lockdown as the new RFT was coming

about and stuff, and they smashed it.

Like absolutely smashed it.

So, so that was really cool.

Um, I mean, I could wax lyrical about,

about my, my time with the, with the, the

ERs because it's, it was life affirming.

Like so, you know, I've got AMI just khi

China, there is no one quite like us.

I've got my CrossCore on my arm.

Um, just a phenomenal experience and

exiting that job, that was really

the beginning of of, of me thinking,

okay, this is not for me anymore.

Um, and I think it, it really

came down once I was work.

It was working late, it was in the

ops room, um, and there was a stack

of policy documents on my, on my desk

and I was the regiment ops officer.

So it's not unusual.

And I counted them, I dunno what the

number was, but I also know, I know

for a fact that the, the overriding

thought in my head was, I have more

policy documents on my desk and the

number of humans that I've spoken to

today, that's not a good place for me.

And if this is how it's gonna be,

I need to be doing something else.

Um, and so that was the, that was leaving

squad command was the catalyst, but then

that sort of really, was that like the

pin and drop like, um, yeah, I think so.

That, that, and, um, and we

might come onto it when, you

know, for, for the advice, but.

I was, I've always been and always

will be an individual character.

And I think that I'd started pursuing

my fitness in a ma in a major way.

It was like my defining feature.

But throughout the military you get people

who are really fit and they get known

for being really fit in, in a one area.

For me, I, I dunno, I dunno

whether it's boredom or that I

just like doing lots of stuff.

But, you know, way back when I first

started sort of triathlon, and this

was some, I mean, it wasn't like at

the start of my career, I was never,

you know, like I said earlier, it's, I

just used to be able to grizz it out.

But when I started triathlon, um, it

was because of a conversation that I had

with my, my grandfather and my granddad.

He, um, we used to have this banter back

and forth about what it took to be fit

in the army in his day versus my day.

I said, well, I've done two

tours Afghanistan round.

I had one was with three para.

Yeah.

He said, come back to me when

you've done five tours and

they're all a year long sunshine.

Um, okay, okay.

Uh, I've done a sprint triathlon.

I'll do an iron man and

I'll never forget it.

He said, Thomas, do you

know what your problem is?

You are all mouth and no trousers.

And I was like, you not, I'll do one.

I never did.

And then he, he, he, he died at

a, uh, or the, the night of or

after a family wedding, I went up.

Um, he had a heart attack, tried

to bring him back with, with BLS.

It, uh, certainly didn't work.

Um, and it had a real profound impact

on me and on the train home from this,

this weekend, this wedding, uh, I

entered two Ironmans and I was like,

yeah, okay, well I've got it now.

Yeah.

Um, and after that, like I was, I

was, I didn't really train very hard.

I gave all the excuses in the

world, oh, I'm desk bound and stuff.

It's all nonsense.

You could, I could have

absolutely done it.

Um, but I did it just to get round.

Um, and, and so I, I did and that

sort of then started, and then I

went into ultra marathon running.

Um, and then in lockdown,

that was when I started really

focusing on strength training.

Borrowed a load of kit

from our CrossFit box.

I'd, I'd just started at, you know, two

months before we went into lockdown.

Um, I stood at running at the time,

like took the squadron on half marathons

and, and you know, in Stafford got

the p who got my PB and then lockdown

hit, all of my events got cancelled.

Yeah.

And I'd been into ultra marathon running

and stuff for a while and long distance

obstacle course racing and, and stuff.

Um, and it just sort of

all just fell a bit flat.

So I started lifting, dumbbells,

and skipping in my kitchen.

Um, and really got into

the strength training.

So then for whatever reason, I saw an old

corporal of mine, um, Wayne, Wayne Barker.

Getting shredded on Instagram.

And I was like, what's going on mate?

And he goes, oh, I've

started bodybuilding.

I was like, fucking, oh, okay, cool.

I think I'd quite like to give that go.

Yeah.

Now I'm not a big bloke right.

But I was like, oh, I'll give that a go.

Yeah, why not?

I was 38 years old at the time.

Yeah, I'll give that a go.

Um, and so, so I ended up doing

a, a whole season of bodybuilding.

Got on stage at five shows.

Yeah.

Came second at a, a national comp,

um, fifth in this international.

Like I was just, I was, I was in it.

I loved it.

Yeah.

Um, and it started attracting

a bit of attention from the

soldiers in the regiment.

All positive guys.

And, and, and, and, and women

started coming to the gym

like at the same time as me.

Yeah.

Because I managed That's, yeah.

Well I, I, I, I'd managed to get

the gym open at six o'clock in the

morning, whereas before it was seven

and I was like, I can't do seven

because I needed two hour session

and then I gotta get to work.

So I'm gonna need that

gym open at, at at six.

Can we, can we change policy?

Can we do something?

Yeah.

Are you, are you happy to open it up,

sir? Yeah, I'm happy to open it up.

Is there gonna be a PTI there to, to,

'cause I'm not qualified or anything.

And one of the PTIs was like,

I've been busting to get this gym

open at six o'clock, so I wanna

do my training in the morning.

So.

Well, there you go.

There's an unlock Happy days.

Yeah.

So I was going to the gym every, every

day and more people started showing up.

And so from the, from the soldier

side, it was really positive.

Um, I would, I got double

hatted, not afraid of using

the word hat, not got wings.

Um, and I was double hatted

as, uh, as OC support Squadron.

And so on a Monday morning after a

competition, I'd arrive like, like

in some very bad taste, fancy dress,

let's say just tanned up to the max.

And I'd just stand there and I'd go, okay,

you've got 30 seconds, let me have it.

And oh my God, the abuse

and all, everything we do.

And I'd be like, okay, we're done.

Happy days, thanks very much.

And then we go on our day late

because I've gotta embrace that.

Yeah.

But I look stupid.

Yeah.

Like I'm not gonna hide from that.

Um, even took a regimental

parade like at once.

Um, so, so yeah, getting, getting that.

But then on the other side started getting

a little bit of, I dunno whether it was

like scepticism, cynicism, whatever it is.

Um, I started getting, I got questioned

about my affiliation with combat

fuel, which really got my goat, um.

Questioning, you know, is it right

that you should be the right smile?

'cause we've had this conversation, is it

right that you should be, uh, endorsing a

company that isn't on informed sport Fine.

Um, and then is it right?

You should be giving out a discount

code that you might get some support

from the, from the brand, from.

And it really annoyed me because this

is a veteran owned brand that supports

service currently serving people.

What, like e take out the fact that

it's a supplement company, take out

the fact that there's a discount

code or whatever, what better

organisation to be involved with Yeah.

Than something so, you know, a, a,

a person in you, but also a brand,

a company that looks after veterans,

looks after currently service personnel.

Like, it was just mad to me.

Um, and it all, then the questions

of, oh, well, should be, should

you be working out so much?

You know, you should be in

the office at a certain time.

Like, fuck in hell.

Like, what, what is this?

Am I failing at my job or not?

Yeah, no, I'm not.

Well then leave me alone.

Yeah.

And I think that's, then it just sparked

a little bit more, or just sent me, it

pushed me further down the path of if

this is gonna be where I'm at, I probably

don't want to be in this organisation.

I think because the military as a

whole, and it's taken a while to sort

of think about this, but the military

as a whole is a phenomenal machine.

To be a part of the support

structures, like everything

as an organisation is amazing.

Yeah.

We have to always remember that, that in

organisation is made up of individuals.

And one of the differences, again, between

being soldiers and officers is the higher,

higher up you get as an officer, the

less people have a say in your career.

Like you have your own say of

course by being competent and

applying for jobs, et cetera.

But the less people write

your report as a, as a junior

soldier, you have, yeah, okay.

Your senior NCOs and your true command,

but then you've also got your OC Squadron

and your two IC and the other officers

within the squadron who will know you.

And if a report goes to the board that is

just off, then that report gets changed.

Yeah.

The higher you up, you get,

your report starts being looked

at by less and less people.

And so the power that those individuals

have over your career, that it

becomes a lot more significant.

And I started thinking in these terms and

I thought, well actually, I don't want

less people in charge of, of what I do.

I wanna be in charge of what I do.

Like I wanna, I want to live my life

in a way that is meaningful for me,

that no one gets to define my ceiling.

Um, and I think all of those

factors cobbled together started

to, to really play into, into it.

And with the bodybuilding and being

affiliated with, with combat fuel.

You know, like I said earlier,

you start to get a little bit

of questions, some attention.

Can you help me out?

Do you write programmes?

Because I was getting in like.

I mean, I felt like shit, but

I was in phenomenal shape.

Um, to go on stage, I thought,

well, actually I quite like this.

So I went and qualified to be a pt,

added up to some triathlon coaching

calls and then like, okay, well

I reckon I could do this set up.

What was at the time PT with tc?

Um, 'cause someone told me the

name needed to be podcast able.

Um, so I was like, yeah, PT with tc.

But originally when I set up the

account, oh, I'd forgotten originally

when I set up my Instagram PT with

tc, it was not because I was going

to become a personal trainer.

It was genuinely physical

training with tc pt with tc.

Um, and the reason was because I said

to the people that had questioned my

affiliation with, with Combat fuel,

um, alright, well I won't put up

anything military on this account.

Yeah.

It's just gonna be me working out.

And then you've got, you've

got not a leg to stand on.

'cause what I do with my own

personal comms is entirely up to me.

Yeah.

And if I'm not representing myself as

a, as a, as a, as an army officer or

in the Army in any way, you, you've

got absolutely no leg to stand on.

Um, and it's funny, isn't it?

Because anyone who goes to, to my my

PT page, you would really struggle

to find anything about the military.

Yeah.

Like I, it's in there every remembrance.

Um, I've got some traction with

some controversial opinions

I've got about Armed Forces Day.

Um, but I don't really

shout about it because it's.

It was an amazing part of my career.

It made me who I am, but the people

who I want to, to coach, they're

not necessarily training for.

Yeah.

For the Army.

It's not, it's not the

only thing about me.

And I think that was the main thing

when I realised that the army, I

didn't want the army to define me.

Then I need to go and

do do something else.

And you said something just before

we started recording, which is

you had always identified yourself

meeting someone as Oh, yeah.

I'm, I'm Tom Collins.

Yeah.

Uh, I'm, I'm officer left two

years ago now I'm a an online

coach, but that's changed now.

Now you are, I'm Tom

Collin's, an online coach.

Yeah.

That, and it, it came as a

massive surprise as well.

Um, when I left the first few months,

like, like because of resettlement

and stuff, I left the office in

the August and I wasn't actually

out of the Army until the February.

Um, and I got two months my sort of

last hurrah for, um, army downhill

skiing, um, for, uh, for the back

end of my back end of my career.

Um, so I had to get haircut and shave.

Yeah.

Um, and uh, and I went out and,

and, and went and did the army

championships for, for the last time.

Um, 'cause skiing has been so, like,

so important throughout my, my career.

Um, from junior officer taking

the regiment team away to captain

of the core team to chair of

royal singles, alpine skin.

It's always been that thread.

Um, and so it's really important

to me that I, I managed to fit

that into, to resettlement.

Um, and my CO was great

about it at the time.

He was just like, yep, no worries.

You can fit it in.

We can, we can make it work.

So, uh, so yeah, so I, I, I'd

left the office quite like out

last day in uniform quite a while

before I, before I left the army.

But then that first year I was, I

was waiting to be assigned into a

reserve position as an OC squadron.

'cause I didn't feel as

though I wanted to leave.

I just didn't want to

be regular for forever.

Um, and so I found it really easy

to transition, or, or I thought,

I thought I did, I thought I was

finding it super easy to transition.

I was still speaking to everyone.

I was still had my hand

in with the reserve.

You know, we're still going to ker

functions and stuff like, no, no issue.

Um, and then.

I decided, I, I was squadron OC for

a little while, but I couldn't give

it the time care and attention the

business was, was where my focus

was, you know, providing for my son.

So I couldn't give it

the care and attention.

I just stepped away.

I said, look, this is, I wanted to do

this, but if I'm not gonna do the job

right, these soldiers deserve way more

like than, than I've got to offer.

And so I just, I stepped, I stepped away

and, and let someone else, um, go in.

But about a year after I left,

um, properly, and I, I remember

it was just before I was stepping

away, but they told me I need to

go and do the RFT Fitness test.

So I went onto camp and I was,

did all of the things and I ran

round camp and I was on my own.

Um, and I was wearing my

old squadron T-shirt 2, 4 8.

And as I was going around, because

it was on Stafford where I was a

squadron commander, you get recognised

and I had, you know, Ja ker gu sub.

Like, it was, it was really cool.

Like, and I was seeing

people waving to 'em.

I'm like, hanging out my ass on that

2K loop, like trying to, trying to

come in under, under seven minutes.

Um, and I'm around and I got

back home and I recorded a

video, which I then didn't post.

And then I, I, I did and it really hit me.

I just burst into tears and

all I could think was, fuck,

I've made a terrible mistake.

Like, I miss it.

I really, really miss it.

And that feeling then lasted for months.

And it was really difficult.

I spoke to, I spoke to

Matt Spruce about it.

I've spoken to, uh, to Harry McNess about

it, and I was like, what is going on?

Like if I made this fucking terrible

mistake and then anxiety starts

building because it's like, well,

if I went back in, now they're

gonna hold me at that rank.

I've lost out being a lieutenant

colonel now for another few years,

and now then I'm gonna be 50.

I was like, oh my God.

And all of these feelings

just really hit me.

But over time, they started to dissipate.

As I started coaching more people, as

I started recognising the impact that I

was having on that, this is another thing

I've totally shied away from saying like

the, the positive impact I was now having

on people's lives, the life-changing

experience people have had from being

coached by me, started to bring me back.

I was awake again.

And so this last few months, so I

did leave two years ago in February,

but these last few months, it's the

first time I've caught myself not

defining myself by what I used to do.

I don't have a lot of content

about the military online, but I

still thought of myself as a, as

an army officer who's just left.

Whereas now I'm forging my own path.

I'm, this is who I'm, that's a

huge monumental bit of self-growth.

You served.

Yeah, absolutely.

You served your adult life in

the military is who you were,

and it's a hard thing to let go.

So it's a big testament to, to doing that.

And you're doing something you love

now, and it's, um, it's who you are now.

Although you're not PT with TC anymore.

No's the coaching now.

Yeah, I was never a pt. Like, I

think, and that's, that's the, like

when you, when you come into the

online PT space, like I've worked

for, I've worked as a CrossFit coach.

Yeah.

Um, I've done a very limited stint

as a, on the shop floor pt. And this

might be a controversial thing to

say, but I don't think I would be very

good as a, as a PT on the shop floor.

I don't think I would be very good, um,

because I don't have that experience.

Like, yeah, okay.

I, I would've to go and cut my teeth

and I would've to learn how to do that.

But where I really found my stride

is when I started in, I dunno, you

attract people because of who you are.

And most of the people I was

attracting, they just wanted,

they wanted that support.

They wanted, you know, I worked with, um,

Adam Glover from Integration Nutrition.

He was battle forward nutrition

at the time, you know, and we,

uh, had a business partnership.

He would sort the nutrition, I would sort

the training and it was, you know, it was

PT qualified, it was general training,

pt, weight loss, that kind of thing.

Um, and whilst it was having a real

positive impact, soon as I started

up doing events again myself, like

going to high Rocks and running and

stuff, I like my, my athlete base,

my client base started going, do you

think I could do something like that?

I'm like, yeah, yeah.

Okay, let's fucking do that now.

High Rocks hadn't had, they hadn't

had a coaching pathway up there, so

I was like, okay, there's no formal

qualification that I can get in

this, so let's just do some research.

Let's, you know, learn,

let's educate myself.

So I started doing research and, and

and stuff, and I was like, actually,

you know, a lot of the principles are

very similar to triathlon training.

Like, and, and training in general.

Progressive overloads,

block periodization.

I was like, okay, now let's

mix in my passion for High

Rocks and I love all of this.

And so started getting

people to go to those events.

Then I took up, you know, triathlon

again, now I've attracted more

triathletes and my coaching business

has morphed into now where it was,

okay, let's, you know, lose some

weight, feel better about yourself now.

It's very much like if you want

a, if you want a pathway to growth

and if you wanna become a better

personal round, I heart back.

And it's something I said earlier

in, in, in this podcast, like.

My view on change in your

life has not changed.

If you want to change your life

for the better, pursue something

physical, go after something physical

because it is tangible, you know?

And if, and, and within the coaching

space, whether it's a marathon,

half marathon, 5K, high rocks,

triathlon, whatever, if you've

got an end goal in mind, it's much

easier to put in the structure.

It's much easier to put

in a periodization model.

Okay.

So let's identify your

strengths, your weaknesses.

What do we need to work on?

Ah, your, your aerobic

endurance is not very good.

Well, let's work on that first.

Actually, you've got a massive aerobic

endurance, but your, your engine,

your capacity is not very good.

Okay.

Well, we can work on that.

You know, pursuing a performance, and this

is now I'm finding myself, I'm in, I'm in.

So I'm enjoying it so much

that it doesn't feel like work.

I get up every single day, I review

all of the athletes, like what

have they done the day before?

Voice messages and text messages and

notes on training peaks and stuff.

And it's just amazing.

And I think to be able to, to go from

somewhere that I have held as a personal

belief for myself, and now start to

instil that on others, utilising what

was a block of time in my life in the

Army that I, I just, I I I, I adored

my time in the army, but if I think

about the things that I really enjoyed,

it was the leadership of people.

And I've now taken this passion.

I've put it in.

Yeah.

And that's what's so, yeah.

Amazing.

Brilliant, brilliant.

And the most recent event you've done,

you went and did a, a half Iron Man.

Yep.

And then, because you are

mental, um, five days later,

decided to do a Backyard Ultra.

Yeah.

And as a backyard Ultra, it's 4.2 or

4.167 miles on the hour every hour

until there's only one person remaining.

And, um, and you managed 17.

Yeah, I came back in on the 17th lap.

Um, should you have done Half Iron Man

five days prior and then done that?

Why not?

Hey, I love that.

I love that.

I, I, yeah, I think so.

I think if you, if you slow down, you

slow down, like that's in life, I think.

And, and particularly with

your, with your physicality.

Um, but also I think it's

about understanding what that

Backyard Ultra was for, for me.

Um.

My pursuit of triathlon is

my, is my goal this year.

Uh, I've got, you know, done one

70.3, I've got another 70.3 in

July, then a full distance Ironman

in August, and then another full

distance Ironman in in October.

They're the key markers.

They're the, they're the A races.

Um, everything else that falls

underneath is either for enjoyment

or it's for my coaching community.

Uh, we had five athletes go at the red on

backyard ultra testament to how they did.

We've now got 12 already

booked in for next year.

We are gonna have the biggest tent.

The are gonna, well, I'm gonna

build a village in there.

Um, all people, normal people, normal

people, labourers, project managers,

CEOs, like, I've got coaches on board.

I've had R-A-P-T-C coaches, like,

who have been coaching clients.

Um, I didn't mention it earlier, but

Bill Anderson, my first oc, he has

been a coaching client of mine, that

defining moment for my, for my business.

Um, and at 52 got a three 13 marathon.

Like wow.

So, you know, just, just incredible.

He came and did the a hundred

K trail walker, um, ultra

Marathon last year as well.

Um, so we've got 12 people who

would've never have thought to do

about, killed Ultra, but because

we did it well, they now think

that they can do it and they can.

Um, and so, you know, high Rocks

is, I have an open challenge to

all of my, uh, coaching athletes.

I don't train for high rocks.

If you wanna do it, you put the

tickets, you tell me we'll do it.

If you've never done it

before, it's amazing.

And if you have and you really wanna push

yourself, then we'll do that in London.

The last one just gone, uh, Matt,

Matt Mellon, uh, him and I got

a 1 0 4 in the pro division.

Um, he'd been touching on the one

20 as a, as a, uh, for on his own.

Amazing, like amazing in the pro.

He's a, he's a big bloke, but

because of the work and the running

and all that that we put in, he was

like, I want you to really push me.

So we did, and we got a 1 0 4 last year.

Uh, me and Rob got a 1 0 1, like,

and this is a, a guy who was, when

he first joined me like two and a

half years ago, 120 kilos, couldn't

run three kilometres without being

outta breath and stopping twice.

Now he's, he did his, he was

there at the Backfield Ultra.

Yeah.

Yeah.

50 k the, the weekend before.

And it was, and then

did the backfield Ultra.

Yeah.

And he only stopped because of injury.

Only stopped because of injury.

And that was, yeah.

Un preventable.

It was, yeah.

One of those things.

And that, but that happens.

Well that's why, uh, Gaz from

plugging rehab so important within,

within my, my coaching team, because

he's already, they've spoken.

We know we just need to let

it settle for a few days.

Then he'll come back with a slight

change to his strength training routine

guided by the subject matter expert.

Yeah, I think that that sort of,

again, goes back to what I was

saying, like my coaching philosophy

is I'm not a rehab expert.

I'm not a nutritionist.

However, every man Jack coach out

there seems to think that they're a

rehab expert and a nutritionist as well

as a PT or coach, and they, they're

just selling people on this stuff.

You're gonna do some people some damage,

and you're gonna instil some bad habits

with your nutrition and, and whatever.

I wanna stay in my lane, like I know what

I'm doing with training and programming.

If you've got an injury, go and

speak to Gaz, your nutrition

performance or day life.

Go and speak to Adam, you

know, and, and I think.

It comes again, it's a lesson for,

for later on, but surrounding yourself

with the people who want you to win.

Um, and they're my, they're my confidence.

So confidants.

Um, so yeah.

It's, uh, that backyard house.

Yeah.

I think, to be honest, I, I've

said this to you privately.

I was, I wanted more out of that.

I have to recognise the reason I didn't

get more was, uh, 'cause you'd just done

a mad half Iron Man five days prior.

Stomach and tatters is well documented how

my, uh, how my bowel movements upset me.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, I wouldn't change it though.

Yeah.

The pursuit of hard shit.

That's what we should do.

Absolutely.

And, you know, you've got to get,

I mean, you don't have to, but

I think it's a huge advocate.

Like get comfortable being uncomfortable

because that's where growth occurs.

You know, like I'm petrified of doing

events and talking on camera, and if

I think anyone new to combat fuel and

we're looking at it now and me gobbing

off on camera chatting absolute waffle.

I, so I hated it.

I used to sit there in my bathroom and

film myself and then watch it back.

And I'm like, I still like struggle now.

Like, I'm like not looking at the camera.

Like I get huge anxiety for doing it.

But again, look what it's

helped me to achieve.

You know, like being able to

talk to people and I'd always

can't look at them like, yeah,

probably a bit of m going on there.

And now it's, yeah, but get comfortable

but being uncomfortable and you'll,

you'll achieve things that you'd look back

on and think, wow, that's, I, I'm Alex

from Combat Fuel, obviously, obviously.

Brilliant.

I absolutely love it

every time you say that.

But that's, that's the thing

about your comfort zone, isn't it?

It's like, um, this sounds, you know,

it sounds very, uh, pie in the sky,

but it is like a plastic garden.

It might be a nice place to live,

but nothing ever grows there.

No.

Like you, yeah.

You just gotta, gotta

put yourself out there.

Yeah.

Completely agree.

Let's, um, chat about a few little

words of supplements, you know, that's

completely, um, biassed and an absolutely

shameless plug, but we're sat here on

our podcast, so we're, we're gonna do it.

Yeah, for sure.

Have a little run through, like some, some

products that are like your, your go-tos.

I think I've got them right.

So ev every, every single thing

on there, I use every single day.

Like every single day.

Uh, left to right, the creatine, I

mean, it's so well documented now.

It shouldn't need saying, but if you

are pursuing some kind of physical

performance, some kind of growth in that

area, it's such a Well go on the website.

Yeah.

It's all that.

Even if you don't do any Yeah.

Sport or physical activity,

still use creatine.

Absolutely.

Everyone should use it.

So I, so I, I, I, I, I'm a two scooper.

Yep.

Um, so 10 grammes a a day, um.

And I, I mean, I've done it

for, I've done it for years.

Like I've done it for years.

AIDS in not only performance

recovery and, and stuff.

Like, I don't think it needs

say, go out and, and do it.

Yeah.

Performances, but the,

the flavours game changer.

Yeah.

Right.

That was it.

No one likes scooping, chalky,

like, shouldn't be dry.

Scooping, creatine, any needs

the water, but not overnight.

See, I'd listen, I learn.

Um, but the flavours that

strawberry and lime is banging.

In fact, they're all, I've got

all of them in the cupboard.

Um, so, uh, so yeah.

Uh, the creatine whey protein

for me, so I, I eat very simply.

So I, I eat pretty much the

same stuff every single day.

Porridge in the morning, chicken

and rice, or chicken and potatoes.

Chicken and rice or chicken potatoes

and some snacks gels for my, for my

fuel in rice, crispy squares, fruit veg.

But it's pretty much the

same thing every single day.

Um, and I like having protein first

thing in the morning because it just

sets, sets me up for the rest of the day.

Plus it tastes banging.

Have it in my porridge done.

Top tip though, instead of the way that

the vegan protein, 'cause it's so fine.

Yeah.

Right.

If you are, if you are trying to lose

weight, if you are trying to be in a

calorie deficit, add in the vegan protein

to oats to make porridge with water.

'cause it's so fine.

It soaks up so much water.

Yeah.

You can have a massive bowl Yeah.

With like 40 grammes of oats.

Yeah.

And you're, you're like two 50 calories.

Yeah.

And again, if you are, it's

a big but big old bowl.

Yeah.

It's huge.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it, and it, they actually tastes

really good for a vegan protein, you know.

Yeah, it does.

Yeah.

Testament to what we do as a brand.

Like we only make good products.

Chocolate.

Chocolate brownie vegan

protein is the one for me.

It is good.

Um.

I'll go clarity last, but, uh,

multivitamin, I mean, we all like

to think that we're getting a good,

balanced, healthy, rounded diet, but

it isn't always, and actually it's

a bit of insurance there, but Yeah.

And doing, doing it again, like for,

I think that's 1799 off the top of

my head for a three month supply.

Done a your OD your optimal daily amount

rather than you recommend daily amount.

There's not a better multivitamin

it out there anywhere on the market.

Yeah.

Um, we, there's no Zika magnesium in it.

Oh no.

Why have you done that?

Well, because it's in another products.

And that, and, and that, that's why

I, I think the first time you bought

out Zika magnesium, it wasn't the the

ultra, it was just the the first one.

Yeah.

That changed my, changed my sleep.

Like it's so under, it's undervalued

by a lot of people's sleep.

Yeah.

Um, and it's like a flex in the military.

It's a flex surviving on four hours sleep.

Well fucking more full.

You I'm well done, mate.

Well, yeah.

Um, and I just find that I've never

really had a problem sleeping,

but, but it's the quality.

It's just the quality of sleep.

And I, I can sleep anywhere.

I will, whether I take that or not.

IFI can fall asleep in two minutes.

I could fall asleep in this chair.

Yeah.

In two minutes.

Yeah.

On camera if you told me to.

Um, but the quality of sleep, absolutely.

So that goes with me,

goes with me everywhere.

Um, and it's lit. It literally the

'cause I, I'm a big fan of making

life as easy as possible for yourself.

Yeah.

That tub sits next to my bedside

with a water bottle, so it's there.

I don't need to worry about it.

I don't need to think, oh, I have

to take it before I go upstairs.

It just lives there.

Um, and then clarity, obviously really

new, massively sceptical because how many

adverts have we had for the mushroom teas

and lion's mane and all of that stuff?

And I've always thought,

well, I'll try that.

I'll try that.

But then, yeah, I'm not, I I just thought,

well, I'm, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna.

And then that came out and it

was, Leah said, do you want some?

I was like, freebie.

Sure, no worries.

Bring it on.

And she sent me a tub.

And again, super sceptical

thought I'm gonna give this a go.

I have a pro, should have put

Ashra gander on there as well.

'cause I, I have that at at night.

Um, I have problems concentrating.

I'm not gonna jump on

A-A-D-H-D bandwagon and stuff.

Although anybody who knows

me has said it's, it's there.

My therapist has said it's there.

Everyone.

Like, there's no question.

I have real problems concentrating.

I've been taking that

for the last three weeks.

My productivity is mental.

'cause I take it first thing in

the morning with my breakfast.

And usually what happens is I,

I'm really, I'm really focused.

This is how it's worked for me anyway.

I'm, I can be really focused from

about five o'clock in the morning till

about half off, seven in the morning.

About two and a half hours

is solid work time for me.

And that's, I get up,

I'm straight to work.

Then my son gets up.

We have some time together, the

school run, best part of the day.

I take the dog out on a walk

and then I come home and that,

and then I just procrast shit.

Procrastinate.

Yeah.

Sit on the sofa, whatever it is.

I've started taking that with

my breakfast, so by the time

I get back in off my dog walk,

IJI don't know what it is.

I don't wanna blow smoke

up your ass in that.

I don't know what it is.

I just feel.

Genuinely more focused.

Like, 'cause it's never, it's

never a motivation thing.

It's never a discipline thing.

I know what I should be doing.

Yeah.

Fuck me.

You know, I'm building a business.

Yeah.

I've been an army officer

for that many years.

Yeah.

I know what I should be doing.

It's, it's not motivation,

it's not discipline.

It's just, God, this sounds so cheesy.

It's clarity of thought.

Yeah.

Like, sounds so cheesy.

I I, that was not rehearsed.

Like genuinely, I dunno what it is.

I get back up on the dog

walk and now I'm good.

And it's again, and the, the key

bit in there, like a lot of people

say, oh, it's your lion's man.

It's giving you focus.

It is not like, and that's a really bad

way of saying it, like why we made a

Lion's main product that doesn't give you

focus because that's not what it does.

The Lion's man again, and the key

bit in there is the standardisation.

Standardisation is through the roof.

We spent too long, well

it wasn't too long.

She made a brilliant product.

But we spent forever and a day

sourcing our raw ingredients there.

Like who, what We needed companies to

have to have the licences to bring it

into the UK to find it, make sure it's

obviously safe tested at raw ingredient.

Neville not paying for a

logo on a finished product.

'cause that's not what we're about.

Um, but then it's the Rola, the

key inclusion there is the rodeo.

The Rola is what gives you that

feel good concentration done.

And the lion's vein is there

for that long-term brain health

cognitive function benefit.

And it's put together.

No one's ever done it before.

Um, one because it costs a lot of money to

do, um, is absolutely, we, we've not had

a single piece of bad feedback on that.

Yeah.

It's, it's great.

It's been brilliant.

You know, it takes us forever

and a day, like I said, to, to

bring our product to market.

Uh, we've never ever had something

where it's just gone smoothly to launch.

Even that, we launched it at the

Arnolds and we had our manufacturers

bring in US boxes of 20 as they were

coming off the line on the sat on

the Friday trying to get it to us.

And then we were getting our

pallets sent to us a bit afterwards.

Nothing ever goes to plan, but when you

try and make things that are so good,

they're so hard to do, but it's worth it.

The, the, the legwork we put into

every product we, we produce is, yeah.

It's phenomenal.

And, you know, well, but be like,

before I, before I started taking

Combat Fuel, which was 20, 20 19.

Yeah.

Um, I was on the, my protein bulk

just, well, it's cheap, isn't it?

Yeah.

And, and stupidly.

'cause I didn't know any better stupidly.

It's like, well it's, it's, it's

being sold in the uk therefore it

must be a good quality and it's by

this massive company or whatever.

And it wasn't just my protein.

There's lots of other things.

Um, but then gen, like

it was a game changer.

Like the, the WHE protein when it

started in the old school tubs.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like it was, it was a picture of me.

It was, it was, it was mega.

And it's just, it's gone

from strength to strength.

Yeah.

And to be involved.

To be involved has, has

been, it's been amazing.

Me, like it really wicked to

have you, have you part of it.

At no point did I ever think that I

would be involved with like anything,

let alone, let alone such a cool brat.

Like I was just, that

was never on the cards.

Never on the cards.

Yeah.

And it's, man, you know, we, we

don't expect anything from anyone.

We're just a group of good guys and girls

that like the things that they do and we

try and support each other and I think

NASA's as deep as it gets, you know, it

is probably the worst piece of like, it's

the worst way you should probably run

a business, but it's doing all right.

You know, it's, I think everywhere

I go, any military camp I go to.

Yeah.

And then people like, recognise the brand.

I'm like, wow, this is like done a thing.

Yeah.

Like yeah, it was, you have done a thing

mate, and, and I mad and I hope if you'll

permit me, I hope you recognise it.

Sometimes I hope you just take,

'cause you work so fucking hard.

Yeah.

It's, I hope you just take a moment

sometimes to sit at home with

Rachel and just sit there and go.

Doing, I'm doing a good thing.

Doing right.

I'm doing alright.

Because that's important.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is.

And you know, take, taking

that time back to reflect.

It's, it's, it's hard.

And, and touching on our products

to like put it back to you is, okay,

we're not on my protein, we're not

the cheapest thing in the world.

We're actually pretty competitive on

some of your more generic things that

are still done to a better standard.

Like protein done better

to a higher quality.

Actually the price is not that

different, but it's coaching.

You could go and get a coach for

20, 30 quid a month to sign up

for a thing or they could pay you.

It's not the fact that I wanna go

for them 'cause they're cheaper.

'cause you are too expensive.

It's because of the quality they

get from the coaching from you.

Yeah.

And the same with us is

you are paying for quality.

And I think especially since

COVID Hass happened, people

really care about themselves.

They care about what they're

putting in their, their body.

Absolutely.

And they care about how they're

treating their body and it's,

you know, in a way, dare I say it

been hope it doesn't happen again.

We've been lucky with COVID

because it's, people have woken

up to I care what I'm gonna do.

Yeah.

And it's, um, and that's benefited us.

Are are you really?

I had a conversation with someone who

was, they asked me about supplements

and I said, oh, well actually

I'm affiliated with Combat Fuel.

Um, I use 'em all the time.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't talk about

something unless I actually use it.

Yeah.

Um, and he, he, he said,

oh, it is a bit expensive.

And I said, are you really

worth that little to yourself?

It sounds really pretentious to say.

Right.

I said, but are you really worth that

little to yourself that you're gonna go

for a company that just amino spikes?

Yeah.

That cheapest products.

Just because you think that you are.

Because I said because

it's counterintuitive.

Because, or sorry, counterproductive

because actually what you're doing is you

are spending money that's not working.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, and just to, just to make

yourself feel okay about spending money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it, again, we can inflate

our prices and give like 40%

discounts to people and it's like.

There's no integrity that there's,

there's no integrity in it.

But, but why do that when you can get

a 15% discount with, uh, code Tom cf?

There you go.

It's not as s slick as tags, is it?

It's a But everyone, you know, your code

gets used well, because again, the one

thing we have of absolutely everyone that

works with a brand is they're authentic.

They'll truly authentic to themselves.

We never ask and you'll attest to it.

We never say to anyone, oh,

Tom, can you just push this?

I don't use it.

Yeah.

But you just push it

and you'll never do it.

And we never ask if we ever see

someone pushing or sharing something.

I'm like, you don't use that product.

What are you doing like that?

That's not Yeah.

People see through it.

And people do you see straight

through social media now.

It's when your true, authentic

self sky's the limit.

And people, that's why I don't push the,

uh, the, the, the peanut butter cups.

I can't.

'cause I've eaten too many of them,

and so I can't buy 'em anymore.

They are, they are.

Yeah.

They're bad.

They're so good.

They're bad.

I've got new flavour coming out now.

In fact, I can even say it on here because

this is gonna come out after, um, our

new Dubai cups that are coming out soon.

Oh, I think they're coming out

either this weekend or next weekend.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a good, it's a good place.

'cause it's on camera.

Like, I'd love to, I'd love to try them.

There you go.

Freezer.

Go grab us a packet.

Um, but before we get you to try

something, Tom Yeah, let's, we're

gonna ask you for a piece of advice.

Okay.

Because we always do.

It can be to your younger self, to

anyone else, but a piece of advice.

And I think you're so, so, I I was very,

this is not usually the done thing with

officers, but I was very Oh, lovely.

Oh, yes.

Um, I was very privileged, uh, by my last

commanding officer, Johnny, Johnny Carey.

Incredible bloke.

Um, I was permitted to talk

to, to the mess at a dine out.

Um, we were having a regimental

dinner and I said, could, could I?

And he was like, of course.

Absolutely.

And I came up with four pieces

of four pieces of advice.

Um, and I'll try and keep

'em, try and keep 'em brief.

I've got my phone just to, just

in case I, I, I miss something.

Um, but the first was that.

Whether you're an army officer, a soldier,

or absolutely nothing to do with the

military, always recognise that your

individuality is your greatest asset.

Like if, if you're in a leadership

position, individuality allows people

to get to know you as a person.

And as soon as you can get to

know someone as a person, you

can actually learn to trust them.

It's really easy, particularly to ev

like to the junior officers out there

in particular, from my experience,

it's really easy to succumb to what

is a cynical and sceptical world

where we seem to value the grey man.

How many times have you been told when

you go on a course, make sure you,

you know, you wanna be the grey man?

Fuck being the grey man.

Don't be the grey man.

Be the opposite.

Stand out because you, when you are,

when you give yourself licence to

be an individual, you will pursue

your passion no matter what it is.

It could be collecting Pokemon cards, it

could be running ultra marathons, it could

be bodybuilding, it could be Warhammer.

Like, no matter what it is,

pursue it with a passion.

Because when you pursue it with the

passion, you will find your people.

'cause they're likely

to be the same people.

Which then brings me on to, to

the, uh, to the the second point.

And that is that you need to find

your people, surround yourself

with those who want you to win.

And if they don't fuck them right,

because they're the ones missing out.

And it doesn't matter as a, as a soldier,

as an officer, as no one in the military,

find some people who want you to win.

And for me, I have those people in

my life and I am much richer for it.

And one of them, uh, combat fuel, uh,

athlete Harry lives out in Thailand.

We all know him.

Last year I was having a real hard

time breakup, uh, from a relationship.

Um, had a knock on effect.

Business wasn't going great.

And I was really fucking down.

And I texted him and I just said, I

think I just need to be more Harry.

He saw it as a cry for help, rang me.

I ignored it, rang me again.

I ignored it.

I am not gonna stop calling

you until you answer the phone.

So I answered, oh, an hour and a half

on the phone later, and I've booked

flights to Thailand and I went and

had an amazing time and it reset me.

He's someone who wanted me to win.

So surround yourself with, surround

yourself with, with, with people.

Um.

The third P. The third point

was say yes to right now.

Uh, I got asked by Matt Spruce for, you

know, what, what piece of advice would

I give myself as I started business,

started coaching, and I said to him,

if I'd have known what I was building,

I'd have been too overwhelmed to start.

And it's the same with fitness.

It's the same with your health.

If you look and go, I want to do an

Iron Man, and you have absolutely no

capability of doing that right now,

well, you're not gonna be able to do

an Ironman because it's gonna be too

big, it's gonna be too overwhelming.

Instead focus on the

next training session.

And that starts with

saying yes to opportunity.

I said yes to opportunity

throughout my entire career.

I went all over the world, uh,

because of it, because I said yes.

And that, that everything from the

skiing and, you know, exercises

out in Norway and uh, over in

America are just, just everything.

Amazing opportunities happen

when you say, yes, you're gonna

get some shit, but so what?

And, and it goes deeper than, so

a piece of advice that someone

gave me was, no one's ever gonna

thank you for not going skiing.

Yeah.

And, but it goes deeper than that

because you learn from every single step.

And particularly as a junior officer,

the more experience you get, the

more you can organise stuff, the

more you can help people organise

their own stuff and then they pay it

forward and it just goes on and on.

Um, and then the last piece of advice,

and this is something I genuinely live

by every single day, and it can be really

difficult for people to understand, but

it's something known as Hanlon's Razor.

And that is never at tribute to

malice that which can be explained by

ignorance, incompetence, or oversight.

If you can give someone the benefit

of the doubt and you can act in a

care kind and compassionate way with

positivity, life is so much better.

It sounds very hippie, but a don't get

stressed if someone else, if I feel

someone else has impeded my world in any

way, they probably didn't mean to do so.

That's a much better way of being Yeah.

Rather than just being pissed

off at the world all the time.

Yeah.

And you see the trolls online and

they're all, you know, like taking

the piss outta people and whatever.

Like, what's happened in your

life to make you that way?

Of, of which I wanna touch on it quickly.

I know we're, we're on our advice part

at the end, but you had it when you left.

You made a video of you were in

uniform and you jumped into PE kit

and you had so much abuse on it.

It pushed the algorithm though, didn't it?

It was brilliant.

It got, I, I loved it though.

Like, sit.

Yeah.

Like there's banter and then there's

just like, I'm so unhappy with myself.

I wanna project that on you.

Yeah.

'cause you've gone and done something

that maybe I wanted to do or

something, but I was, it, it was mad.

Um, it's still a pinned post.

Yeah.

This is like two years

on, three years on now.

Yeah.

Uh, a wave of combat fuel flag and stuff.

Right.

It's just a fun bit of, bit of.

Bit of a post.

Um, but actually if you look in the

comments, yes, there's a load of

negative, but there's a fuck load,

load, load of positives as well.

Yeah.

And the negative ones are

usually calling me a lizard.

Uh, fucking officers grow up.

What's that?

What are those trainers?

What's that hat?

And I was just like, what?

What are you doing man?

Yeah.

Like, are you so unhappy with

your lot in life that you need

to take the piss outta someone?

Yeah.

Who is just trying something new.

Yeah, yeah.

You know?

And, and if you don't like

it, go j just block me.

Yeah.

Just, just, just scroll on.

If you don't wanna see

it, don't, don't bother.

Yeah.

It says more about you being that

offended and I mean, I get it.

Like, I love watching.

This is like proper bad now.

I love watching mar at first sight, and

I see, and I think you are infuriating.

I'll just block you this,

I'll be consumed by it.

I'll be consumed by what

a bad person you are.

But yet just block 'em.

Just block someone and

move on with your life.

Like, don't give it the time of day.

If you, you've got so

invested in hating on someone.

Imagine what you could have done with

that time being productive for yourself.

You won't, you won't find, there

is literally not a single, single

moment in my entire, you know,

digital footprint where I've thrown

negativity at another person.

Yeah.

Not a, not a single one.

Yeah.

Its, it's not worth holiday.

It's the point.

What is the point time of day you'd live

your, live your life in a positive way.

Yeah.

And it will come back around to you.

Absolutely.

Tom, thank you for your service.

Oh mate, no, no.

Thank you for coming on our podcast and

thank you for being a part of our family.

Been an absolute pleasure.

And please do tell people where

they can come and find you for

coaching, for a chat for anything.

Yeah.

I mean, so the easiest one is, is

probably, uh, Instagram, uh, coaching tc.

Uh, just look, I mean my feed's

covered in this blue stuff.

Yep.

Right.

With uh, very proud to logo on there.

Um, so yeah, coaching tc uh, is

probably, that is probably the easiest.

Yeah.

Tom, thank you very much mate.

Thank you.

Don't stop.

Eat your cups.

Oh yeah.

I'll eat this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Are we still rolling?

Fraser, this is the first time,

like, 'cause I think you, on the

last content day, you people had

little, little taste, didn't they?

Oh fuck.

They're dangerous.

They're dangerous.

Oh, the text are in there as well.

Well, you have now good.

You have called it the Dubai style

as opposed to just pistachio.

I not know.

Felt really good, bad, good night.