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Career Profile - Army
Career Options
- Royal Engineers
- Royal Signals
- Royal Logistic Corps
- Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers
Capt Adam Kavanagh - Royal Engineers
“Engineering in the Army is about solving problems - and the challenges faced by engineering Officers don’t get much more extreme!”
Former Welbexian, Capt Adam Kavanagh, is a Troop Commander in 39 Engineer Regiment - an operational unit of the Royal Engineers.
“Being an Officer in the Royal Engineers is about so much more than traditional engineering. Our role is very varied and demanding. In a single day, I could lead my troop in a frontline situation, supervise a combat engineering mission and put my troop’s civil engineering skills to the test.
Combat engineering involves applying all the engineering principles I’ve learned to the battlefield; tasks such as bridge building or demolition, fixing water and electricity supplies and undertaking field fortifications. The civil engineering side entails building horizontal and vertical structures such as roads and buildings.
I had a true taste of all this early in my career. Just a couple of weeks after completing my troop commander’s course in 2002, I led my troop to the Middle East just before the invasion of Iraq. We were the only Army unit on the base, supporting the RAF, and it was my job to lead the engineering improvements to the flight line, so more planes could take off and land and have enough space to get the planes ‘bombed up’ (having weapons attached). Not only was this a true test of my training but it was immensely satisfying to be trusted with such great responsibility.
I was later involved in Op TELIC (operations in Iraq) directing the building of explosive storage areas in Qatar, and as we are soldiers first and foremost, I was also charged with supervising the handling of Prisoners of War in Ummqasar, which really put my leadership skills to the test. This was certainly an eye-opener but I feel proud to have been involved.
On a much lighter note, I recently took Concorde to Edinburgh by barge! And how many people get to do that in their jobs?
I’m planning on staying in the Army as long as there are new challenges and I can keep stretching myself. I can look forward to a full career if I wish, but I know that if I do decide to take up a civilian career, the qualifications, skills and experience I have gained at Welbeck, at university, Sandhurst, and during my service as an Officer are invaluable and ultimately very attractive to other potential employers.”
For more advice on ARMY Careers, Call 0845 600 1483 or visit www.army.mod.uk/officer
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