Fighting COVID-19 - My personal experience as a mobilised Army Reservist

Today, Wednesday 24 June, is Reserves Day and Army Reservist Neil Bowdler, also the Council's Principle Compliance and Development Officer for StreetCare, had the honour of raising the Armed Forces Day flag.

This is his story, in his words, of the work he has been doing as an Army Reservist in the fight against COVID-19:

"At the start of April 2020 I mobilised for the third time as an Army Reservist. On this occasion it was in support of the fight against COVID19.

"Taking me away from my normal role as Principle Compliance and Development Officer for StreetCare, it saw me working from my duty station at Joint Military Command (North West) based at Preston.

"I joined a small team of Logisticians with the responsibility of providing real life support to any troops working within the area, looking after a wide range of things from contract management to supply of PPE and, like so many businesses in the world, the Army found itself having to adapt to new ways of working as social distancing measures took effect.

"It was reassuring to see how quickly people adapted to remote working or online meetings, something I know we here at Cheshire West have been doing for some time and it was “business as abnormal” in super quick time.

"Ultimately, I was part of a much wider team, not just across the three armed services, but working in support of local resilience forums, private companies, cross government departments and of course the NHS.

"I feel incredibly proud to have been able to do my bit as a Reservist and it was really reassuring to know that I had the full support of my line managers and ultimately Cheshire West and Chester Council as my employer."