Armed Forces Day, an Interview with Headteacher, Richard Keightley

Saturday was Armed Forces Day, which is an opportunity for us all to show our support and gratitude to all who make up the Armed Forces community.

Since 2020, Polaris has been a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant and we’re proud to show our support and recognise the importance of honouring those who serve.

We asked Richard Keightley, our Headteacher at Apple Orchard School, who previously served in the Armed Forces about his own experiences and what the Armed Forces Covenant means to him.

“I was a serving soldier for 27 years and during that time was deployed all around the world ‘doing my bit’. It was a job I loved and the nature of my role, as bodyguard to British Ambassadors and the highest-ranking British officers, gave me opportunities that most could only dream of. It was a privilege having access to the highest echelons of the armed forces and Foreign and Commonwealth Office. There were some extreme lows, I had friends who did not come home and given the nature of my role I spent a long time away from my family – when I was deployed to Afghanistan my son was only 4 months old. However, as I was the one deployed, I was the one having the exciting time – flying along the River Tigris in the back of a Puma helicopter, doors open, mere feet from the surface, landing on a RN frigate in the middle of the Persian gulf in an American Blackhawk to landing in Helmand Province in a C17 transport plane. Just me, one of my team and the Ambassador walking down the loading ramp through the dust towards the waiting troops looking like a scene from a Micheal Bay film. When I was able to call home, I could only describe days as ‘interesting’ so not to worry Jenny, my wife (also a veteran). I felt I had real purpose and when the time came to leave in 2014, I needed to continue with that sense of purpose, and so, I became a teacher.

The Armed Forces Covenant was introduced in 2000 and it didn’t mean much to me as a serving soldier enjoying himself. I was very fortunate that my new career started in the same year that I left the army but for some veterans this is not the case and many struggle to transition from the life they had to that of a ‘civilian’. The covenant was a way of sending the message that the nation cares and that the experiences felt during service do not need to be contained, do not need to hold you back and can actually set you on new paths. When I was exploring my role within Polaris, I discovered they had ‘signed up’ to the Armed Forces Covenant and for the first time since leaving I felt valued for what I had done – I don’t seek accolades, I loved old my job, but it made me smile both inside and out and I knew at that point that I wanted to join Polaris. As a side note, the first time I spoke to Jo August, she was on her way to Cyprus to visit British servicemen and women who are within our wider community.

I’ve been here with Polaris for two years now, and the values that the Covenant represent ring true every day.”