Senior Aircraftman Wayne Ince – Gunner

“I did national service in South Africa, so I knew a bit about the military already. Now I live in the UK, I wanted to serve here, to give something back to my adopted country.”

My role

What’s great about the RAF Reserves is you get treated as a full member of the force from day one. I trained as an RAF Regiment Gunner in the infantry wing alongside full-time airmen, gaining combat-ready skills in everything from weaponry to fieldcraft.

My experiences

I’ve done a tour of duty in Afghanistan, where my job involved patrolling air bases to prevent attacks and keep the flight pathways clear. The work we did really made a difference, whether that was stopping rocket attacks or going out to talk to local people.

My life

I’ve had lots of personal support from the Reserves. I was a house-husband when I joined and the RAF provided a full-time nanny to take over childcare for the whole year while I was away.

My Reserves experience helped me gain the confidence and skills to get back into employment. I now work with an ambulance crew and some of the skills I developed on operations are very useful – like being able to handle pressure and respond calmly and quickly in emergency situations.

I spend one weekend a month with the Reserves and two weeks training once a year, so it fits in well with my job and my family. I’ve made great friends and look forward to my monthly weekend training to catch up with them and share experiences.