Chris Whitbread
27-year-old Chris Whitbread works as a mechanical engineer. He was a cadet for six years and has been an Adult Instructor for eight years.
Which activities do you enjoy most?
I always enjoy taking part in adventurous training. I'm currently training to do my Mountain Leaders' Proficiency Certificate through the Army Cadets.
How do you balance volunteering with work and your social life?
It's no problem with work at all and I've gained a large number of friends through being a volunteer. If I'm not seeing friends for work or anything else, I'll see friends from volunteering through the cadets so I never miss out on socialising.
Do any skills you've acquired from being a volunteer transfer to your job?
It's actually helped me get my recent job. There were a lot of candidates with the same things on their CVs, same degree, same kind of experience, but I managed to speak for 15 minutes of the interview purely about what I do in the ACF. Because the person I was being interviewed by had no idea what the ACF was all about, it gave me something extra to work with. Also the leadership and the responsibility side of things have helped me move forward and made me more suitable for the senior role I was applying for.
What do you get out of being an adult volunteer?
One of my senior cadets came to the Cadet Training Centre Frimley Park to take part in the Champion Cadet Competition involving the top 20 cadets in the country. He came fifth. That's fifth out of 46,000 for a cadet that I instructed and taight. It feels amazing to know you've contributed to how they are and how they're going to go forward. I can see that this guy is going to go miles.
“I’ve taught cadets how to canoe, abseil and rock climb, it feels amazing to know you've contributed to them going forward."
