‘I take the risks very seriously and am aware of my security’

I ’ve just qualified as a consultant general surgeon. I took a bit of an odd route to the Reserves. I was in the Sea Cadets in school and really enjoyed that, but I left to go to university. It was when I became a surgical registrar that I realised I could have access to training and skills in the Army that I wouldn’t have in the health service, mostly surrounding trauma.

I joined the Navy Reserves in 2010 and then moved to the Army Reserves in 2013.

As a reservist you give 27 days a year to the Army, but the health service does release you to go and train — you don’t have much spare time as a doctor. I loved the evening training, too — it’s a bit of stress relief from your day job.

They call it military tourism because you do travel to places like Cyprus, but you’re not sitting on the beach with a cocktail. It was difficult to fit in around a training rota, but it was worth it.

There is a risk of joining the Army in Northern Ireland, but I felt as a doctor it would be unlikely that I was targeted — that would be bad form.

But it’s a risk I take seriously — I’m very aware of security.

I haven’t deployed yet. I was too junior during Afghanistan and I volunteered for Sierra Leone, but they didn’t need me. I would like to deploy at some stage though.

I can leave whenever I like but I think I’m a lifer — as long as I’m enjoying it and getting something out of it. There is a camaraderie you get with your unit in the Army that you won’t find anywhere else.

I spend a week a year in officer training with the Royal Marines. We’ll be freezing cold in a field, knackered and starving, but we all come away saying we had the best time.

I’ve never had a problem being a woman in the Army. The only distinction between a man and a woman is during the fitness test when you have to run a mile and a half.

Men get slightly less time than women, but that changes as you get older, too.

We do a combat fitness test — you carry all your kit and a rifle and everyone carries the same weight over a six-mile run in a set time and that time is the same for everyone.

Women aren’t in the infantry so it’s unlikely I’ll end up on my elbows with a gun in the undergrowth. I don’t mind that at all because I’m a surgeon — I understand the reasons the same as I understand there aren’t women on submarines. Mind you, if people want to do it that’s great.

My husband is in the Naval Reserves so he understands what I do — he supports me and I support him. The annoying thing is that we train on different nights so we have limited time together.

He’ll probably advance through the ranks faster than me as he’ll be in a command position. It might get to the stage where I will step back to preserve our family life — I know if the roles were reversed he would do the same for me.

You get a lot out of joining the Reserves.

It doesn’t matter what job you do during the day, the military will give you confidence and great people skills. There are skills I do in my day job that I learned in the military.”