TWO HIGH-FLYING former students returned to Bradford College last week to inspire and motivate those on the Public Service course.

On 9 March, Jason Devaney, Firefighter at RAF Odiham, and Niall Biddiscombe, Air and Space Operations Specialist, gave a talk to Level 1 Public Services students about their roles in the Royal Air Force.

Jason told the group how, before joining the RAF, he had been studying Public Service at the college, but was not sure of the next step on his career journey.

“At that point I had no interest in joining the military. There came a point when I thought to myself, ‘you’ve got to do something with your life’”, he said.

After finding out about military careers online, Jason decided to apply for a role before embarking on a tough - but rewarding - training programme.

He was posted to RAF Odiham in Hampshire, where he also discovered a host of opportunities to participate in sport: “I’m a big ice hockey player, and in my first two years with the RAF, I spent about six months out of the country doing sport - the best thing I ever did was join the military.”

Jason was joined by Niall, who studied Uniformed Public Services at Bradford College, before joining the RAF in 2010.

He undertook his initial training programme at RAF Halton, in Buckinghamshire, and became a soldier before going through specialist training.

The students also heard from their RAF colleague Danny Smith, who sent a video message from New Zealand.

Having served as a Royal Military Policeman and Close Protection Operator for five years, Danny was deployed to Afghanistan twice as a bodyguard and driver.

In the UK and Germany, Danny carried out policing duties on military garrisons which included taking statements, conducting interviews, making arrests, joint patrols with civilian police and helping out big search jobs.

As a Royal Air Force Weapons Technician, he was on deployments to Norway, Germany and Cyprus building bombs, servicing aircraft guns, ejection seats, missile launchers and equipping fast jets with required weapons for training or bombing flights.

The students heard how the military life could be stressful, with Niall saying: “When you’re coming from civilian life into military life, all of a sudden you are being screamed at at 5am to get out of bed. But you don’t think ‘why am I doing this?’ the benefits outweigh the negatives.”

Robert Pennington, Lecturer in Public Services at Bradford College, said: “On behalf of the College, I would like to thank Jason and Niall for taking their time to give such an inspirational talk, which opened the students' eyes to the opportunities available through careers in the RAF. They perfectly demonstrated what this course is about, passing on their real-life experience and guidance to people who want a rewarding career protecting and supporting the public."