A part-time soldier with the Royal Armoured Corps, enjoyed his previous careers in the British Army so much, that he has signed up for the third time.
Trooper David Yoshida joined the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, the nation’s only Armoured Reserve Regiment in 2022 - almost a quarter of a century since his first enlistment as a 16-year-old at the Army Training Regiment Winchester.
He had previously served for four years, as a regular with The Queen’s Royal Hussars, but left in 2002 to study War, at Swansea University. Whilst studying in Wales, he joined the now amalgamated 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh, Reservist unit, as an armoured infantry soldier.
“I really missed the camaraderie,” said Trooper Yoshida of his earlier military service. “I had such a positive experience that I wanted to give something back.
It’s about personal development; developing new skills and honing old ones but in these uncertain times, expanding skills developed in civilian life for the benefit of the country.
“It’s about personal development; developing new skills and honing old ones but in these uncertain times, expanding skills developed in civilian life for the benefit of the country.”
Debunking a few myths around the Army Reserves, the 41-year-old father of two who lives in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, said “there had been no limitations” to his job within the Armed Forces.
“The benefits of being a reservist, is that you can bend it around your ‘other’ life,” explained David, who is known as Yoshi to his family and colleagues.
“You can make it how you need to suit your personal situation, and for me that means condensing my courses and fitting them all in during my visits to the UK. With my lengthy commute, the benefit is that a lot of the training is online - for me, the only issue is the time difference.”
Completing his basic training again, at the age of 40, he said: “Being mature wasn’t a problem, I really like fitness and enjoyed the new physical fitness standards. There was more dead lifting, strengthening, and conditioning since the last time I did it, and of course cardio but it’s still hard work.
But what has amazed me is how well the Army Reserves are now regarded by their Regular counterparts.
“I was surprised that I wasn’t the oldest which was fantastic, three of us were the ‘grand dads’ of the platoon. It was good to pass on my advice to the new recruits, clearly some of that is now outdated but it still came in handy.
“But what has amazed me is how well the Army Reserves are now regarded by their Regular counterparts.”
Yoshi’s main goal is to deploy to Estonia next year and is currently undergoing a gunnery course which will see him re-role from the driver position on the Yeomanry’s Challenger 2 main battle tank.
Rejoining has given Yoshi the opportunity to deploy overseas and reignited his enthusiasm in all things military, especially his much-loved piece of military hardware, with a “renewed passion and pride to succeed.”
The owner of a family run property developers’ business, who speaks Japanese has represented the British Army and the Royal Armoured Corps at Jiu Jitsu: “I try to live my life according to a Japanese proverb - ichi-go; ichi-e – literally translated as, one go, one encounter or give your all at any given moment, as it will never happen again.
“This may be my third military career, but it is a new experience, a new encounter, a new opportunity that has arisen to make my military career, better than it was before.”
The British Army is recruiting right now to fill 10,000 jobs across the UK with more than 200 roles to choose from, covering everything from frontline combat and cyber security to helicopter pilots, chefs, and support roles. If you're aged 16 to 50, and if you want to find out more about a career in the Army, click here: British Army.