Steve Perry – Quality Engineer

I joined the REME at the tender age of 17 in 1993 as a vehicle mechanic (A) and after 20 years’ service, left as an artificer staff sergeant on voluntary redundancy in 2013.

Summarising my Army career, I served with 13 different units, deployed on 9 operational tours (3 Iraq, 3 Afghanistan, a couple of Balkans and a nice 6 month stint in Cyprus looking after a swimming pool under the UN flag). I dug deep, worked hard, moved fast and kept low throughout my military career and once I decided to take the money and leave the forces, I really was “in my own time now”.

Following a short spell as a quality manager for a small manufacturing business I craved employment with a larger company, one that demonstrated a “can do” attitude with a military-esque management structure that I could easily transfer in to. After resettling in the New Forest with my young family and with Sunseeker’s location in the south of England, it was a no brainer to apply for a position with them in order to provide a secure and stable future that I was accustomed to with the Army.

The transferrable skills that are gained through military service are well received at Sunseekers, both the ones on paper and the ones that are gained unknowingly through serving with the Armed Forces, regardless of arm/cap badge. Civilian employers are now realising the potential of employing ex-services with an engineering background due to the high level of training they have received, the constant practical application of that training and the unswerving adaptability to any given situation.

The transition from military to civilian life was daunting but now I have the opportunity for a second career……and also a “double pension” pot.