Reserves Day is the time of the year we celebrate the huge contribution made to our UK Armed Forces by those who combine their service with their civilian careers. This year, we spotlight one of our officers: Major Matt Johns, currently Officer Commanding of the Leadership Development Wing at City of Edinburgh UOTC, responsible for developing the leadership potential of those interested in becoming Army Officers.
Matt served for ten years as a regular Royal Signals officer but when he left to set up his own company, he wanted to maintain his links with the Corps and transferred to the Reserve. His work at Edinburgh UOTC now ties in really well with his civilian life at his company, Fieri, provides training and development programmes for organisations such as the Premier League, Domino’s Pizza and Deloitte.
Matt said ‘I like the contrast between my civilian and military roles and they both complement each other. My insight into what is happing in the commercial world of training and consultancy is really useful in helping develop some of the training at my unit, and the experience of managing clients and stakeholders was extremely useful when helping support the COVID-19 response, Op RESCRIPT.’
A few weeks ago, Matt was awarded an MBE on the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his work during Op RESCRIPT where he was primary military lead adviser to the Scottish Government for the vaccine rollout in Scotland. He said, "I feel incredibly privileged and humbled to have been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. I was fortunate enough to work alongside some incredibly capable and hard-working people in all three services, the NHS and the Scottish Government during the response to COVID-19. Whilst I am one of the individuals that has been lucky enough to be singled out for their efforts, I see the honour as recognition of the collective efforts of a team that came together under the most unusual of circumstances and did their best to have a positive impact.”
"I find it extremely rewarding being in the reserves. I love the people, the purpose and the attitude in the Army and the way the Reserve is now integrated into the wider Army means that there are roles to suit most people’s skills, passions and time commitments, I would recommend the reserves to anyone."
