News
November 20th 2013
A rewarding experience
An Army Cadet Force (ACF) Officer, who is originally from Hucknall, has increased his work life balance by working with Cadet groups.
Adrian Dobb, aged 43 years, is a Detachment Commander at Derbyshire ACF’s A Company who are based in Buxton and helps to lead and organise a variety of cadet activities throughout the year from map reading to signals as well as having more specialist elements of his role such as Public Relations and looking after the county’s website.
After commissioning as an ACF Officer approximately two years ago, Adrian has never looked back. In his day job he works as a Strategic Projects Manager for BT, a job that requires him to think on his feet, lead a range of projects and a team of people to enable tasks to get done on time and to budget.
Adrian explained that he previously had no cadet or military experience but wanted to do something positive with his spare time that would make a difference in the community. He said: “I’m used to organising and planning lots of different things in my day job and enjoy working with people, so I wanted to put these skills to a good use in my own time, which in turn has helped me to gain a greater work life balance. When I’m working for BT I’m fully engrossed in my job but when I’m doing my cadet work I put my all in to this too.
Adult volunteers in the ACF fall in to two broad categories. There are Adult Instructors (AIs) who directly train the cadets, and ACF Officers, who have more of a leadership role and are involved in training and managing AIs as well as cadets.
There is no such thing as a model officer candidate, and current ACF leaders across the East Midlands, including Adrian, come from a broad range of backgrounds and life experiences.
Adrian continued: “I’d recommend being an ACF Officer. The role is really fulfilling as you can see your efforts come to life, as well as increasing your social circle and getting pleasure from pulling together as a team to achieve results. Many of the skills you need can be transferred from everyday life, and there are lots of opportunities to develop in the ACF as far as your time and talents will allow.”
Adrian joined Derbyshire ACF in 2009 and was commissioned as an ACF Officer in October 2011.
To find out more about being an ACF Officer or AI visit armycadets.com for more information
“I’ve never been a cadet and I’ve never had a military career, but being involved in the ACF as an adult and now progressing to be an officer has allowed me to experience lots of things that I under normal circumstances would not get to do. There is a huge sense of job satisfaction too when you have organised and carried out events that cadets have enjoyed and everyone has a smile on their face.”
