r, the nation is in

the terror threat at eign troublespot boildedicated men and ain’s armed services se to the challenge. full-time soldiers, as I n I met the hidden ine-to-fivers keeping strength. ists come from all – lawyers, builders,

and caretakers. re primed to do he same job as the onals should they be upon to do their duty. e Army a reserve can to be heading for a war any time. y are “high readiness es”, which means they

into combat with just days’ notice, spending time with the Army hed to real units. ery test a professional ing soldier does, a wane reserve has to pass. he Government is on a t-cutting drive to uce the number of instream soldiers by 00 by 2020 – while boostreservists by 30,000. they have never been e important. ptain Oli Fallon, 30, of

Parachute Squadron l Engineers, says: rves bring flexibility. we have a smaller Army UK they give us extra

a higher readiness t we can add when we pond in a hurry. bring us a whole range outlooks we wouldn’t ve you need to be even d as you need to keep on top of your skills ety net of someone else ou.” raig Purvis, 32, from a reservist and full-time n – says thousands of combine weekdays in a h weekends in the Army.

all sorts and that’s what’s brilliant about it. We have civil servants, lawyers, electricians, a caretaker at a university.

“People come from all walks of life and some employers are really good, too – Asda offer more leave to staff who are Army reserves.”

Out on Salisbury Plain I am put through my paces with the Royal Engineers, helping to dismantle a temporary metal bridge that was put together earlier that day.

I can see first-hand the immense level of skill and team work needed to complete even something so basic.

My primary concerns are not looking like a weakling against such strapping chaps and – more importantly – not dropping one of the small hatchbacksized metal sections on my foot. I