The day has come for me to say goodbye to the unit. My priorities have shifted, since my daughter arrived and I don’t feel like I’ll be able to dedicate the time that the unit deserves.
I have had an amazing experience in the unit with countless memories that will stay with me forever. My initial plan when joining was to just stick around for BCT for fun and then leave, but 13 years later I’m very glad that it didn’t go to plan. I’ve enjoyed playing the games, but (and I know how cliché it sounds) it really is the people who make the unit what it is and I have met so many amazing people over the years that it’s impossible to list them all and so I’ll be grouping my experiences into the squads I’ve been in instead.
From the 356th TP I met people who stayed with me for many years to come and who I truly had a blast with and I got a great introduction from everyone involved in BCT. When joining AP3S1 as my first squad I was immediately impressed with the leadership and how the squad was run, inspiring me to one day join leadership myself.
When dog company was found, I joined DP2S1 and again met awesome people who I spent so much great time with, both during drills and off, playing CS GO and the like. At this time, I was able to join SLT, where I got to know both amazing mentors as well as great friends and we really helped eachother out to learn and push eachother to do the best we could.
Being able to finally take the step into squad leadership was one of the favourite times in my 29th career and in DP2S1 (which later turned into BP1S1) me and my squad had a the best time together with plenty of friendly banter coupled with great gaming sessions. At the same time we learned to be very focused at drills and worked hard together to become the very best squad we could be, culminating in winning Darkest Hour BOTS two years in a row, proving that all the hard work we had done building the squad up together in the past years had been worth it. I really miss those days and all the great times we had and I bring so much of that time with me still.
Once Baker disbanded when moving away from Darkest Hour, I got to join some of my old friends from the early days of my career on CP2S2 (later CP2S1), which was a great surprise. Here I spent the last couple of years learning the completely different style of tactics and gameplay in Arma. It was also nice to take a step back from leadership after several years of doing that, and revisit being a rifleman in the unit (which to be honest was very similar to my Auto Rifleman role in DH). While I wasn’t able to quite give as much dedication to the unit as I once had and would’ve liked to, it’s still been a lot of fun with amazing people and many great memories from great drills that will also stay with me.
I want to thank everyone I’ve met in these 13 years, I’ve learned so much that has helped me in my life outside of the unit and made me grow so much as a person. I definitely believe it has allowed me get further than I would’ve otherwise and there’s not a day I regret having spent all those years in this amazing unit.
In case anyone has read this far, if there’s one tip I would give from my time in the unit, it’s to take any opportunity that comes your way, be it SLT and leadership, a new AIT or a job in the unit. From my experience, you will learn so much by it and the great people close to you in the unit will do their absolute best to help support you and ensure that you will suceed together.
Never thought I would see the day you leave! Happy to hear you had absolute blast after disbandment of Baker! See around T/4 and drop in to say hi at some point! And good luck!
Take care T/4! What a blast of a run you had! Congratulations for your daughter and please come around again for guesting either Arma or Squad. Enjoy the new step in your life!
