Private Callum Stretton
17, Leeds
Callum loved playing video games and started out studying plumbing, but found it wasn’t for him. Before he joined the army, he worked at McDonalds.

Tell us a bit about life before you joined the British Army, what were you doing?

Before training I was at college studying plumbing. Then over the summer, I took a part time job at McDonald’s. I was on summer leave from college and realised that I didn’t like the nine to five lifestyle. So I thought I’d sign up and give this a go. It was a pretty big shock when I joined, but I don’t regret it. It’s a good career choice.

Why did you want to join the army

I didn’t want to do the same thing every day. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy plumbing but it was just repetitive. You’d go to a place and lay a pipe or fix a toilet.

Would you say training was what you expected?

Training was a big shock. You had all these different people from different age groups and backgrounds all starting off at the same level. It’s quite a different environment to what you’re used to. You don’t usually go into jobs where everyone is at the exact same level. Usually there are people that have been in the job longer so it was quite different to what I expected. It was a fresh start. There was no one really that judged you because you’re all starting off as the same rank.

It’s quite rare for a soldier to have their experience documented, how does that feel?

It was good in the sense that not everyone gets the opportunity to look back on training, there was definitely some stuff I would have forgotten about if it wasn’t documented, like some of the little interactions with the platoon staff or some of the other recruits that I got along with quite well and became close friends with.

You do sort of think, why would I want to watch the documentary back when I lived it, but there are those little moments that you forget about, like my experience firing the rifle for the first time or my first time on the obstacle course. It’s quite nice to be able to look back on that.

Could you describe the transformation you undergo in the documentary?

Obviously, for everyone, it’s different. I feel like I personally matured a little and stopped rushing things. I have learnt to step back and evaluate things a lot more before I take action. For me, being quite young it’s like you go through school and you’re told where to go, what to wear and what to do and stuff. Whereas here you are expected to think for yourself and take initiative on things like taking cover, deciding where to place yourself in an attack or that it might be easier to fire from beneath.

What did your family make of the journey you went through?

I think my mum is still nervous about it all, but that’s just her not wanting me to do anything dangerous. I think she sees it as a lot more dangerous than it actually is. My sister thinks what I’m doing is quite cool. I think it’s nice for her to have her older brother doing something a little more exciting than an office job.

Do you think they saw a massive transformation as well?

I think my mum did but, for me, it’s like, I didn’t really notice something because I was the one going through it. Whereas I’d been away for so many weeks that when I’d go home, my mum would see a bigger difference. My younger sister is quite small, so I don’t think she noticed that much.

What were some of the greatest challenges you faced in the training?

Taking the initiative was something that I found quite challenging, especially being younger. You realise actually I should be doing this, this and this, and set priorities. Someone else that’s a bit older will have a different sort of challenges, but for me, it was just kind of looking after myself and making sure I’m doing the right thing at the right time.

Is there anything that still sticks in your mind as something that was quite tough for you?

I’m not one for telling people what to do, because I don’t want to be taken the wrong way. So when I was second in command in Section Attack and had to get out there and tell people what to do, it was all quite unusual for me. Taking authority and being in command wasn’t really a situation I’d been used to.

What were your favourite moments?

I think one of my favourites was the defence exercise. That’s usually an unusual one, but for me it was an opportunity for my section to come together. We’d change sections and I didn’t really know any of the other lads too well, so it was quite an interesting experience. I got to know them better and sleep deprivation is very funny, especially watching everyone try and stay awake.

There are some very funny moments in the documentary. You cook pizza on an iron, are there any other funny moments you can tell us about?

Yes, I cooked a pizza on an iron but that’s just me as a person not liking my pizza cold. With not being allowed microwaves in the rooms, we had to get a bit creative.

One thing that was quite funny was some of the phrases said by quite a few of the lads. I’m not entirely sure if they’ve been caught on camera but Sergeant McIntosh said some very funny things and I’m quite looking forward to reliving some of his catchphrases.

In terms of the recruits or the trainers, who did you bond with the most?

Private Roberts, he was in my bed space for the first 12 weeks, he was always there to give some advice and show me how to do things. It was quite nice to have a friend to chat to in the evening.

The documentary shows females training to be front line soldiers, what was it like having female recruits in the platoon?

It’s quite an interesting thing as it’s not something that happens as often. There’s not too many women in the infantry. There’s a lot of mixed opinions but It goes to show that anyone can do it, regardless of gender or anything like that. Anyone can join the infantry as long as they work hard.

Are there any misconceptions about training in the army or things that you think people will be surprised to see?

That not everyone’s going to finish. You can go in being one of the strongest or the smartest but that doesn’t mean that you’re gonna finish through training. There were a couple of people that were quite ill, but applied their mindset to get through it.

Are there other things that you would really like viewers to take away from the show when they watch it?

If you want to join the army, go for it. It’s worth a go. Whether you finish training or not, you’ll go away with something.