Ruth Rest easy Brodie... truly the bravest of the brave

THERE has been no shortage of news in the past week. Every bulletin has been crammed with coronavirus updates, testimony from the Alex Salmond trial and analysis of one of the most remarkable Budgets delivered by a Chancellor of the Exchequer in my adult lifetime.

However, nestled between discussion of hand-washing, axed sporting events, school closures and stock market fluctuations was news that deserved more attention. Demands it, in fact.

We learned, late on Wednesday night, that a British soldier – along with two American service personnel – had been killed in Iraq. On Thursday, Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon was named. She was 26.

Lance Corporal Gillon, from Ayr, died when around 30 rockets were fired on the Taji training base, just north of Baghdad.

She is the first Briton to be killed by enemy fire since the UK started operations against Islamic State in 2014.

Back then, Brodie Gillon’s thoughts were a million miles from Iraq. She was studying to be a physiotherapist and deciding to put her newly acquired skills to use with her local Army Reserve regiment – the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry’s A Squadron.

Joining up in 2015, she raced through her combat and professional trade training to become a Class 1 Combat Medical Technician within three years.

The speed of such advancement requires real commitment – evenings, weekends and sustained weeks of training, built around a full-time job.

Once qualified and working as a self-employed sports physio, Lance Corporal Gillon would have had all of the admin responsibilities running your own business entails, on top of treating clients, staying fit and passing combat and army trade tests.

No wonder her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Leek described her as ‘a larger than life soldier who was determined to help others, develop herself and gain practical experience... she had already achieved a great deal in her relatively short time with us and it was abundantly clear she was destined for great things in her civilian and military careers.’

By all accounts, Lance Corporal Gillon was determined to push herself and serve her county in uniform in every way she could, volunteering to be part of the Royal Guard in Ballater last year, before applying for deployment overseas as part of the UK’s 400-strong training force in Iraq, tasked with training local fighting forces.

The first female reservist to reach the rank of Major General, Celia Harvey, Deputy Commander Field Army, described Lance Corporal Gillon as ‘a soldier who showed fantastic commitment and determination, combined with a fun-loving personality’.

SHE added: ‘She had been fulfilling a longterm ambition to serve her country on an operational tour. As a combat medical technician, she was carrying out an essential role as part of a closely-knit team, helping to bring stability to Iraq. She made the ultimate sacrifice.’

We ask a lot of our men and women in uniform. And, while public discussion over military capabilities usually centres on how many ships or fighter jets or submarines are operational at any one time, the resource that keeps us safest is our people.

That includes the 35,000 men and women whose military service, as reservists, is in addition to their civilian jobs and responsibilities. Changes to the Army, Navy and Air Force mean that by this year, military planners want a full 30 per cent of all the UK’s troops to be reservists.

That means a greater proportion of people like Brodie Gillon serving alongside their regular counterparts on training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, on naval vessels disrupting drug and piracy routes in the Caribbean and off the Horn of Africa, and supporting no-fly zones in some of the grittiest conflicts around the globe. It also means employers understanding that when major disasters happen, a member of their staff could be called up to rescue cut-off survivors, deliver food aid to the starving or help build accommodation for those displaced.

In Lance Corporal Gillon’s case, it was to volunteer to serve in Iraq – to teach others how to keep their country secure and to save lives. No matter how much is going on in the world, her service and her sacrifice deserves to be remembered. Her name was Brodie Gillon. Rest easy, soldier.