Army Vet Turned Drag Artist, Twitch Streamer, & Mental Health Advocate. 📍 Exeter, UK
🏍🎸
Exeter
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I joined the Army in 2008 at the age of 18; I hadn’t planned to join - I had zero prospects in life following average school grades, dropping out of college due to boredom, and working part-time at Superdrug. A friend of mine said he was joining and asked me to go to the Recruitment Centre with him for moral support.
As I sat waiting for my friend’s interview to finish, one of the recruiters came to speak to me - at the time I was wearing eyeliner, sporting an emo fringe, and carrying my skateboard (not exactly Army material). He convinced me to have a go at their entry tests (to be honest, looking back, it was a chance for me to do well at something for some much-needed self-assurance). I passed their tests, got an A grade at assessment, and was in Basic Training less than 6 months later. The Army did a lot of damage to my mental health - I was forced to adapt to the military’s mindset, embodied toxic traits, and allowed my insecurities to grow subconsciously; it was that or stay true to myself and continue being bullied by both peers and superiors. After two tours of Afghanistan, 2 years in recruitment (the best two years of my career), undertaking pilot selection, and a fairly severe knee injury I decided enough was enough and handed in my (year-long) notice.
While leaving the Army in 2017 I went through a fairly hard breakup which turned my life upside down. This was the first time I had been called insecure, and I steadily began to wake up to mental health (and the fact mine might not be as flawless as I had thought). I contacted a therapist and went through a few months of Transactional Analysis therapy which is the point my values, beliefs, and behaviour began to change.
I became an IT engineer for an insurance company in the centre of London post-Army; my manager was ex-Navy so on paper we were going to get on great. Unfortunately he hadn’t addressed any military conditioning which resulted in a fairly explosive end to our manager-employee relationship after a year working there (it’s hard to work for someone who takes their bad moods out on their staff, bullies people, and prioritises drinking sessions with their friends over work ethic).
