: Like a lot of the young kids nowadays who are called into service, I didn't really wish to serve. I was away in Chile at the time and my mother (Beverly) informed me and sent in the documentation stating I was abroad. I guess I really didn't avoid it but while I was in school I thought it best that I concentrate more on school, especially at Bermuda College and away at university.

But when I came back I went in and did my services as one should do.

To an extent, yes. But I was very fortunate to have a few friends who all came back from university at the same time, whereas I was 25. A lot of times you feel out of place because a lot of the other kids are starting at 18 but there were quite a few mature recruits at that point and it made things a lot more easier.

A couple of guys who I was very close with helped us out through that process and so it wasn't that bad and once I got through recruit camp ? which is probably the hardest thing you do during your service ? it was pretty easy for me because I knew I didn't want to be a private for the rest of my life. I kept challenging myself by joining up for the junior NCOs (non-commissioned officers) cadre and on to the officers' or commissioning course at Sandhurst before I got my commission.

No. In the early days my thoughts were to complete my three years and get out. As the days went and I got to learn more about the Regiment my aspirations were not to be ADC. My aspirations were not to be the grunt for three years with somebody telling you what to do and giving orders.

That's not my personality. I've always been more of a leader than a follower and that's why I took the junior NCO cadre and after that the challenge was trying to decide whether to go senior NCOs' Warrant Officers' Mess or the Officers' Mess. And I decided the Officers' Mess suited me better and started to go for that. And the job of ADC sort of fell into place. It wasn't something that I had aspired to reach. It just happened to fall into my path and I took advantage of it.

It was pretty intensive training for three weeks. I was lucky to have two other Regiment members who went up and did the course at the same time. It didn't really make things a lot easier but it was good to have familiar faces out there because they are sort of hard on you and the conditions are a lot different from what you would experience here. It's intense but very rewarding and I wouldn't say that I regret going because I really enjoyed the experience.

No. Pride got in the way of that and there's absolutely no way I would've quit. I would've had to fail the course or they would've had to throw me out. I would never quit. A lot of it was physically demanding because they push you to your limits physically and then test your mental capacity. When you're dog tired that's when they begin asking you a lot of questions. So you have to think when you're tired and think on your feet. And for me I enjoy any challenge. It was more focused on the job of a platoon commander. So a lot of emphasis was placed on section attacks, platoon attacks and you learn each position in a company and what it entails from a rifleman right up to the company commander.

What you would see over the course of that is you would have the job of a signaller, a rifleman, platoon commander and what they do is test your knowledge at each position ? and not only your knowledge as a leader but someone who is a team player and a follower as well. So basically, it determines how you work as a team and how your organisational skills are and ability to lead.

It was a bit of a surprise because it came about pretty fast. It wasn't something that I was thinking was coming up at the end of the previous ADC (Capt. Marc Telemaque) tenure I'm going for it. It happened sort of fast.

I heard about it through the Regiment that the ADC was finishing his tenure and asked if would I be interested. You go through a process of sending in a letter of interest in the position and from the letters that the Colonel receives he then puts forward names to the Governor who feels is appropriate for the position and out of those names the Governor chooses who he would like to be his ADC.

It did come as a surprise to me because I wasn't expecting it but it was a very welcoming and pleasant surprise.

My wife and I were abroad because one of my best friends was getting married and we all flew up to Montreal. When we came back on a Sunday we were at Elbow Beach and we ran into His Excellency (Sir John) and Lady Vereker and he basically congratulated me on the position not knowing. Because I was away I hadn't yet received his letter congratulating me on the new position. So that's when I found out.

I was very nervous. But fortunately for my predecessor Marc (Telemaque) and myself he had the position he's in now come about and needed to get to that position very quickly and so the hand-over, take-over period which would normally happen between an outgoing ADC and someone coming in to replace them was a bit shorter, added to the fact that it was budget time and we were putting in our first submissions for the budget and that is one of my responsibilities as accountant officer for the Governor's House.

So it was bit nerve-racking getting thrown in at the deep end but basically that's what you're picked to do and you must take those sorts of challenges and run with them and get used to the new people you are dealing with because you are dealing with people on a whole new level.

You see people who are high-ranking in the community and you deal with them on a personal basis sometimes so it was a daunting challenge but something that I accepted and looked forward to.

The biggest thing I've learned is that what everybody fails to realise about high-ranking people in the community is that they are human. So once you get to see them on a personal level you realise that, yes, they do hold a very important position and a lot of responsibilities ? but they are human as well.

And I've found a lot of those people in high-ranking positions are very approachable, very personable and it has helped me out. Some of these people who you may have a bit of fear about dealing with are very relaxing and make my job a lot easier.

My job title, regimental-wise, is a personal staff officer to His Excellency the Governor. And what my duties include is not only am I in charge of protocol issues to do with His Excellency but I accompany him to any event and assist him in finding out who is actually going to be there, what the topic of the discussions is, if there's any discussions and things like that and making sure he knows what the dress is and attire and certain things like that.

Also, it's all to do with parades, making sure he knows about each parade he's attending; brief him before on all of his roles. But then another side which is not sort of the side which everyone can see, I am more of a house manager and so I am in charge of all staff at Government House and the grounds . . . basically, in charge of all repairs that happen at Government House and grounds and supervise all the staff and I am also the accountant officer which includes all the finances and budgets for Government House.

And then also I work very closely with the Bermuda Police Service to ensure the Governor's safety. It's a varied role and I tell a lot of people who ask me that the part that they see is probably only 15 per cent of my job going to parades and dinners. The other 85 per cent is actually what is done behind the scenes.

It can be and it is seasonal as well. There are very busy periods and we are now in a very busy period. I guess from October to Christmas is a very busy period and then it falls off a bit in January and then it picks up again from March until May and funnily enough summer-time is not really a busy time because the Governor tends to travel.

But when it's busy, it's quite busy and me and my wife can attest to that. It's become more pronounced to me now that I have a son and want to spend more time with him and my wife. If he goes to sleep at 7.30 p.m. and you're not going to be home from work until 8.30 p.m. or sometimes midnight and I haven't seen him that day, then I won't see him until the next morning. So you come to value your free time and the time you spend with your family at home.

Usually from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. is a normal working day if nothing else is going on. I do have a room that I can use if needed at Government House.I feel a lot for the bad press the Regiment has recently received over soldiers that don't show up for duty and have been punished. The Colonel (Eddie Lamb) and the rest of the permanent staff have been fighting a hard battle trying to keep all these people who are avoiding their service ? and it is a duty to your country.

But for all those out there, it is beneficial not only do they teach young people discipline and things like that but it's the only organisation where you will get all walks of life and in recruit camp it doesn't matter if you're black or white, from town or country.

It doesn't matter you all work together and the lasting friendships and people who I have retained since I began my service are invaluable. Also, me in particular, I wouldn't be in the place I am if it were not for the Regiment. I got my previous job (assistant marketing manager at BGA) through recruit camp.

During recruit camp I was sitting next to the president and CEO of BGA who was asking me questions and we got talking about what my qualifications were and when I told him marketing that led to my involvement at BGA.

So the benefits of the Regiment are wide-searching and it's just a lot of people have this fear because they don't know. If you're not there you don't know what the benefits are and the only way to find out is to do your service.

I think conscription is probably the right way to go. I'm not sure if we would have the man-power to do what we need to do if we dropped conscription right now and that's shown in just the numbers that turn up.

But unfortunately it takes someone to come into the Regiment before they begin to understand their role and even begin to like it. Even among the permanent staff now the current RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) and Commanding Officer would tell you just as well as anyone else that they fought skin and teeth when they came in because they didn't want to come ? but look where they've gone.

Everybody has a different appreciation of it but right now I think we are going in the right direction and one of our main priorities was demonstrated during Hurricane Fabian. Basically, one of our main goals is to assist in disaster relief and we did it well. So when you see how quickly the island got back to normal and then take the Regiment out of that, where would we be? People have to look at exactly what we do and our main two main roles would be disaster relief and dealing with any internal disturbances and to assist the police.

I think it's natural to progress and would only serve to benefit us more locally and even the Police Service if the Regiment was capable of search and rescue. Then we would have more bodies and people in that area and that would only help.

There are many others to expand depending on what we want to do and I think we are going to have to expand and become a bit more flexible as time goes on.

It's a lot of fun and a joy because you have someone who really cares that much about what's he's doing and it reflects upon everyone else ? it's contagious.

The Colonel has a lot of respect in the Regiment because basically he's held every position there is rank -wise. He went straight up from the senior NCOs' Warrant Officers' Mess, became a warrant officer and then went down to a second lieutenant and now he's as high as one could go in the Regiment. And I think that has given and earned him the respect of everyone in the Regiment because he's been there and done that. And he is very charismatic and leads by example and I think it works and it works exactly for him.

It's something that I am presently dealing with because I've talked to my wife and we're trying to decide on where we want to go as a family based on the future, whether serving in the Regiment in another full-time position is going to benefit us as a family or is it something that I may have to look elsewhere.

It's not something I can say I want to be Colonel because I have other people to think about right now. And we will have to weigh our options before any decisions are made. It's not just about my future but ours.