It’s not because you fail at something once that you shouldn’t persist… and then turn out to be very good at the something in question. In Sam’s case (she prefers Sam to Samantha) it is the British Army where she will take up her rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 31 August. Currently the chief of staff of the Air Safety branch at Joint Helicopter Command, she was rejected the first time she tried to join the Army 17 years ago!

“To get into [the Royal Military Academy] Sandhurst [the British Army’s officers’ training college] there are a number of pre-board aptitude tests that you have to pass prior to going in front of the main board. I failed those initial tests when I applied just after finishing university. That made me even more determined to succeed! I was probably a little immature first time around but as I’d been encouraged to apply again, I packed a back-pack, flew to Thailand and travelled around the world on my own for a year.”

When she returned – and her eyes still sparkle as she tells me some anecdotes about her trip – she successfully re-applied.

Sam has always loved sports and the outdoors. “I did every different sport available, to various degrees of success, from cross-country running to hockey and tennis.” In the Army she’d be earning her living outdoors, practising sports (today she’s on the Army badminton team) and travelling. “Who wouldn’t want to do that?” she says, amused.

She was so eager that she wanted to join as a rank and file soldier at 16 but was encouraged to pursue her studies. She obtained a BSc in International Relations & Politics from the University of Plymouth in 2001. As a student she joined the Officers’ Training Corps of the neighbouring University of Exeter. “This is a pretty important feeder into the army, so they give you a quite light taster of what’s it like and very gently start to introduce you to army life,” Sam explains. 

After her successful second application to Sandhurst, Sam loved her slightly less genteel training. “They shout at you as required,” she chuckles, adding that “of course they have to: they’ve taken civilians and have to not only get them physically fit, but also teach them how to pack a ‘Bergen’ [that’s British Army-speak for a rucksack], about weaponry, health & hygiene and wet/dry drills.” My raised eyebrows encourage Sam to explain. “That’s when you’re soaking wet, scramble into your basha [camping tarp], take your wet clothes off and put dry ones on to sleep and then in the morning put the wet clothes on again.” Her expression leaves no doubt that she finds this as unpleasant as it sounds! “But,” she grins, “it’s a wonderful learning experience. Oh, and you learn to iron too!!”

In the early 2000s the three annual cadet intakes at Sandhurst were big: each about 270 people organised into three companies of three platoons with about 30 people in each platoon. Men and women were segregated: two of the companies were all-male; the third consisted of two all-male platoons and one all-female. There were 33 women in it with Sam but only 21 stuck it out to become commissioned in 2004 (i.e. qualify as officers). Since 2015 all platoons at Sandhurst are mixed.

Sam went to a state school, not a private one (known, confusingly, in the UK as a ‘public school’), nor did she attend a top-rank university. But she believes Sandhurst is “a great leveller.” Cadets come from “very diverse” backgrounds both socially and geographically and all have exactly the same opportunities. The girls were merely mocked “for our shrill battle cries” she smiles.

She joined the 26th Regiment (known as ‘two six’) Royal Artillery (RA) in Gütersloh, Germany where she was the command post officer for the AS90 self-propelled howitzer. “It’s quite a high-pressure job because you have to calculate all the data so that it hits the target,” Sam explains. But it was also an opportunity to go scuba-diving in Belize and take part in the Alpine Challenge in the Bavarian mountains.

Her next post took her to the more arid landscapes of the Middle East as aide-de-camp to Major General Bruce Brealey who was serving as Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps – Iraq. “His task was to mentor Iraqi generals; my job was to make sure it all went smoothly,” she says.

She was then deployed for seven months to Afghanistan. A Captain by then she was the fire support team commander in the 4th Regiment RA. Initially, Sam was the only woman amongst 150 in a compound north of Lashkar Gah. Carrying a rucksack weighing 30+ kgs on a daily basis in heat up to 50 ºC was “very challenging”; slight at the best of times, she returned to the UK weighing only 47kg.

Her fourth job introduced her to remotely piloted air systems (RPAS) when she joined the 47th Regiment (you’ve guessed: known as the ‘four seven) RA which was an integrated unmanned air systems regiment with both mini and tactical RPAS. The Regiment now operates the Watchkeeper RPAS which itself is under the Joint Helicopter Command.

Sam later became second-in-command of 47. “That means running the regiment on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the commanding officer.” Prior to this she coordinated strategic communication from the headquarters of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and then commanded the 150 people in 10 (Assaye) Battery, flying miniature (up to 8kg) drones. “That was pretty special, a real honour,” she remarks.

All this to explain how Sam started out 17 years ago with howitzers and is now with helicopters. She’s clearly found her professional life exhilarating and satisfying. But she concedes that long term relationships can be challenging when you move every two years and partners can find the demands of her job difficult. As a female officer she’s also been wary about protecting her reputation and as a new 2nd Lieutenant, for example, never went into the battery bar unaccompanied.

But things are changing, she says, as more women join the military. “I believe that as an organisation we recognise the competitive edge that having different perspectives and skill sets brings, and we work hard to retain the women that join. With more visible role models in senior positions, including women with a successful career and family, and with a greater understanding of the challenges women can face in this profession, we’re taking important steps towards an environment that works well for everyone.”