As part of Armed Forces Week 2023, we spoke to a number of our Armed Forces personnel across Morgan Sindall Construction. In this interview we spoke to Gavin Bolger, site manager in Plymouth.
Gavin is a site manager for our team in the South West, Gavin is an ex-Royal Marine Commando and served as part of the 42 Commando Royal Marines. This is Gavin’s story:
I joined the Army in 1998 and completed four years’ service, I then left when my Mum had cancer and I cared for her until she was in remission. For me it was my duty to look after her as she had done for me, and although she did pass some years later, it was during this time I was caring for her I also met my wife.
In 2006, at aged-28 I joined the Marines, I had goals that I wanted to get to the top! I was deployed to Afghanistan and unfortunately an event that took place in 2011 prompted the abrupt end of my military career, approximately a month before I was due to come home for leave.
My unit were sent into a compound area in Helmond Province and following intensive fighting were caught in an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) strike on the side of road. There were eight of us, one person lost their leg, one suffered brain damage and the rest of our unit suffered over 60 significant impact and life-changing injuries. My injuries required the reconstruction of bones and muscle tissue, I also had lung damage and the lasting mental impact of the event with memory loss and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
From Helmond Province the unit were air lifted via Chinook to Camp Bastion, I received emergency treatment and was operated on at Camp Bastion until I was transferred to Birmingham Hospital for six weeks of further operations and treatment. From Birmingham I was then transferred to Headley Court, an Armed Forces Medical Rehabilitation Centre and then to another recovery facility in the dockyard area of Plymouth.
All in all, my recovery took about three years, and some of my memories of that time are still a little vague. The PTSD I suffered meant that I was experiencing flashbacks and recollections of the event that I just couldn’t accept. A lot of them were around my feelings of being helpless to the unit during the event itself, but the severity of my injuries, like those also in the unit, meant that we just couldn’t physically move to get to each other.
At the time of this happening my wife was pregnant with our second child and my oldest son was very young, as I was being transferred from Birmingham to the rehabilitation centre, my daughter was born. I was unable to be alone with my children during my recovery, but my family is what got me though. I don’t think I’d be here if it wasn’t for them. My worst enemy is me, I like to be going at 100 miles an hour and kids help with that! If I was left to my own devices, I would end up pottering about the house and stressing about DIY jobs, if a door fits etc…
My second career in the construction industry
During my resettlement, I was approached by a local Construction company, who offered me a placement for year. This allowed me to get out of the house and have some structure back in my life.
I was reluctant at first, I wondered what I had to offer a multi-million-pound construction project and at best I might be helpful at sweeping up – but as I went to work each day I started to see the positive side of getting into the workplace, the processes and the structure it offers and could see it was helping me to get better and I was regaining confidence.
I undertook construction management training and then met a project manager at Morgan Sindall who offered me a site manager role. I’ve been at Morgan Sindall Construction for five years and have been working mostly on projects for the University of Exeter.
Soon, I will be moving to a project which is near to where I spent some of my rehabilitation, building accommodation for those returning from overseas tours. The project is hugely personal to me given my own experience, so it will be nice to feel I am giving back to the people who looked after me and providing them with some nice new facilities and creating nice spaces for people to recover. Like others in the business, those who have had a career in the military are often earmarked for some of our defence projects, as you understand the lingo, the processes, and the camaraderie of the people.
I’ve been involved in mentoring others who are leaving the Armed Forces by supporting work placements and events and it’s something I see myself doing more of, for me, if I can get to where I am given the state I was in, then anyone can. If I could just help one person that would be amazing. I’ve had first-hand experience of how the motivation of being in work and having a structure can change your future.
There are a lot of transferrable skills and scenarios between the military and construction – reading building drawings is like reading a map, a risk assessment a set of orders. People management and communication are similar too – as you’re managing big groups of people, all with one common task to complete.
You find that those who have a military background don’t ‘flap’ or give in before something has started. That’s just seeing yourself off really, isn’t it? Why get worried about something that hasn’t happened yet. I’m happy just to get stuck in, learn as much as a I can as I go and see where it takes me next. I’m confident in the skills I have, I know what I’m good at and what I’m bad at – I’ve come into the industry later than others but I’m ready to tackle anything that’s thrown at me.
Civilian employment can come with its challenges at time, there aren’t always people who are willing to help – but this is something you come across in all walks of life. Those who are leaving the military have been trained and moulded a certain way and it just takes someone to offer an opportunity for them to see that they have useful and transferrable skills and can have a great second career. Through my mentoring I want to spend time with people and explain the similarities and differences between the roles. That time really helps someone understand and progress quickly. I’m thankful for the opportunity I was given during my resettlement and the rest was up to me.
I appreciate things a lot more now, I have mad conversations and can often blurt things out – but having a family and getting older means that I’m enjoying where we are now. We live near to the beach; we have a nice house – it’s about as chilled out as it gets when you have three kids - it’s a long way from the life I had. All my kids have known for a long time was me being unwell but being in work and having projects around an hour from home means that I can be with them and we can do more – they’re just used to having me around now which is nice.
As part of Time To Talk Day, 1st February 2024, Gavin spoke to BuildForce about his experience.
Find out more about Armed Forces careers
Gavin's interview and others can be found in our Armed Forces booklet. Which also includes some of the advice compiled from our team for Armed Forces personnel seeking roles in the Construction industry.