Age: 24
Place of Birth: Pretoria, South Africa
Phase 1 Training: ATR Winchester Completed July 2006
Phase 2 Training: Armour Centre Bovington Completed October 2006
Recent Deployments: Operation Telic 13, Iraq
Job Status:

• Challenger 2 Gunner
• Challenger 2 Driver (B+E,H License)
• Fuchs Operator Class 1/2 

I joined the 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) in October 2006 after completing my phase 1 and 2 training which took approximately 6 months.

Having been with the regiment for only 4 days I volunteered for the Nordic Ski Camp which was to take place in Sweden for 6 weeks, and depending on my progress potentially become part of the 1 RTR Nordic Ski Team.

I started the season well, competing in the RAC (Royal Armoured Corps), AAC (Army Air Corps) and RA (Royal Artillery) competitions in Hochfilzen, Austria where I won 'best overall novice' and an individual bronze medal in the overall RAC 5km freestyle race.

The UK Land Division Championships followed in Serre-Chevalier, France, and I finished the competition as second overall novice. The team also qualified for the UK/Army National Ski Championships to be held in Ruhpolding, Germany.

After the successful conclusion of the ski season - travelling across Europe for 3 months - I rejoined A Squadron in Warminster. In April 2007 the regiment took part in the RAC Hodson's Horse Sports Competition, where I represented the regiment in Rugby 7's and Rugby League.

I received an invitation to train with the Gauntlets, the RAC Rugby Team for the upcoming League season. I eventually played myself into the Starting 13, which took some blood and guts - I only weighed in at 65kg - and a ferocious fitness regime to mix it up with the giants of Army Rugby.

I made my Gauntlets Debut at fullback against the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps), winning 68-6. I then became a regular face in the Team, and we eventually played our way into the Army Cup Final against the 13 year reigning champions, the Royal Engineers. A 42-28 defeat meant we finished the season as runner's up. 

Winter 2007 I exchanged my rugby boots for my ski boots again, determined to melt some snow. The season started off well with 1 RTR winning the Overall RAC, AAC and RA competition in Austria, where I finished 4th individual overall in the RAC's.

The team took second place overall in the UK Land Competition in France, which have never been done before by 1 RTR, and 5th overall in the Army/UK National Competitions in Austria and Germany, another first for the team. I finished the season in 12th place overall in the UK. My future plans with the Regiment include deploying to Iraq and I recently volunteered for Afghanistan October 2009.