I am Zashawn Phillips from the community of Richland Park SVG. I attended the Richland Park Government School then the St Martins Secondary School in Kingstown and then The St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College.
My love for the military-led me to apply in 2018 to the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. My application was successful and I began training in January 2019 and graduated on 27th July 2019.
After serving over 4 years in the Police Service with my last station being at SSU, I applied to the British Army, and to my surprise, the application was accepted.
I later resigned and migrated and began training on the 6th of November 2023 and passed out on the 22nd of February 2024. I received the award for ‘Best Recruit’ out of a platoon of 38 males.
Training in the cold snowy weather along with the language and accent barrier were some of the obstacles I encountered on my journey. However, interacting with my platoon allowed me to improve my language barrier, and wearing the right combination of clothing was quickly learned. Working in groups to accomplish tasks given forced us to understand each other reasonably well and the more we spoke the clearer it became and we understood each other and conquered the accent barrier a great deal .
Therefore, I would encourage anyone who is hoping to join the British Army must be willing to work hard. It is not meant to be easy but the fitter you are the easier it will become. So get in shape now. Always give 100% at everything you do to overcome every challenge presented to you and never give up no matter how difficult it may seem.
It may be best to learn some mental resilience techniques so that you will not think of quitting.
Always put God first in your life praise him when things are good and when they are not good hold to God even more. For he is always there with you if you call upon him.