Steve Reynolds, Head of Architecture in our Corporate IT team and Chair of our Armed Forces colleague network Military@SGN, talks about what we’re doing to celebrate Armed Forces Week and why it’s so important to us.
This week is Armed Forces Week, an annual week of events that allows people across the country to celebrate and show their support for the men and women who make up our Armed Forces community – from currently serving personnel (both regular and reservist), to Veterans, Service families and cadets and the Armed Forces Charities that provide vital support to them in times of need. It includes Reserves Day on Wednesday 26 June and culminates in Armed Forces Day on Saturday 29 June.
Showing our support for our Armed Forces community is important. These are people who are willing to put our collective interests ahead of their own to protect our security and liberty and much is asked of them. Many will carry the scars of selfless service, both physical and mental, with them for the rest of their lives. The knowledge that the people of the United Kingdom values and supports them does much to acknowledge that their service is appreciated.
Here at SGN we have a sizeable Armed Forces community of our own. Many of our colleagues are Armed Forces veterans, reservists, cadet instructors or have partners or family members who serve, and we want to show our support to them. That’s why we’ve signed the Armed Forces Covenant and why we’ve set up our Armed Forces colleague network Military@SGN. Over the course of this week we’ll be introducing you to just a few of them in a series of blog posts.
Alongside my civilian career, I was an Army Reservist for many years serving in the Royal Artillery and Army Air Corps and was mobilised on operations in Iraq during my service. Though now retired from my Reservist career. I’m still active in supporting the Armed Forces community through involvement in organisations that support veterans and fundraising for military charities, as well as chairing Military@SGN.
The network demonstrates our active commitment to supporting our Armed Forces community, whether that be Veterans or forces families making the transition from military service into civilian life, or our active members of the Reserves or Cadet organisations. For me personally, having been an Army Reservist I’ve seen first hand the value of a supportive community in the workplace and that’s why I’m passionate about helping SGN be a great place for people from our forces community to work.
