A blog from Army&You’s autumn 2022 edition by Jared Yorke, age 17
Being the child of a serving soldier can be seen as a challenge or somehow negative. My dad is in the REME and we have moved every three years (or less) my whole life. I’ve said hello and goodbye to more friends than I can count, never started and finished my time in any school or had a bedroom any other colour than magnolia!
But whilst it’s easy to compare my life negatively to that of my civvy friends, as I’ve got older I realise how lucky I am and how some of the experiences I’ve had wouldn’t have been possible if we weren’t a mobile forces family who follow my dad around from posting to posting.
I’ve lived all over the UK and in Germany and Canada. I’ve played rugby and ice hockey in different countries. I’ve spent weeks in the summer travelling around America and Canada with my family on road trips and spent my 13th, 14th and 15th birthdays in Las Vegas! To me these kind of varied experiences are a normal part of army family life, but when I tell new friends about things like this they seem so surprised.
When we arrived here in Scotland I don’t think any of us realised how different things would be to when we lived in England, but we all got stuck in to finding our way around.
One of the first places my mum took us to was the community centre on the patch where we met the Community Development Worker, Gina, who organises activities, and she then introduced us to Nina from Forces Children Scotland.
Since we’ve been here we’ve been lucky to get involved with days out, residentials and even an ice hockey programme which we’re due to go on a residential for soon. Thanks to the support of organisations like these I’m involved in lots of worthwhile activities, I’ve made lots of friends and I’m working towards being a young leader so I can give back to my community and help other children in the same situation as me.
Main photo: Jared (right) with his brother Jensen