Michael Musgrove joined Kier as a lifting operations supervisor within our Natural Resources, Nuclear & Networks business in 2022. Here, he talks about his very personal story about his experience in the forces, his mental health struggles and how he came to join Kier.
“There’s a saying in the regiment which is ‘once a fusilier, always a fusilier’ which was true for me; I was basically born into the regiment and joined the military at 17. I actually had the pleasure of serving in the same regiment that both my grandfather and father had served in as well as serving alongside my brother for four years too.
“Growing up with that lineage, I felt destined to join the military, and especially as I joined the army cadets when I was 12, I consider myself to have been a part of the regiment my whole life. It was a lot of responsibility, especially at such a young age, it was quite daunting. I’d barely been away from my hometown before, and I’d never even been on a plane! By the time I was 19, I was deployed on operations in Bosnia (formerly Yugoslavia) and by the time I was 21, I had a son who was born in Germany. I had to grow up quickly.
“I missed my family and friends like crazy when I joined. We were such a tight knit community back at home. That to me was the ups and downs of the career - getting to do exciting things and having big adventures but being away from your loved ones. However, I felt like I was bonding with a new family; we did community events and I played for the Battalion Rugby team and the football team a couple of times. I made friends for life.
“During my time, I spent ten years in my regiment, and I had a good, diverse career. I went on to train as a combat infantry medic, a reconnaissance soldier and as a regimental police officer. Eventually, I sustained an injury which meant I couldn’t be a frontline soldier and it precluded me from being a Commander on operations. It was a really difficult time; I didn’t join the army to sit back and watch whilst my friends and colleagues were out there, so I decided to leave. It was the biggest, hardest decision I had to make at that point in my life and I didn’t take it lightly.
“I took some time to get fit and healthy again and then went on to work for the UK Foreign Office in security. That role took me all over the world and I spent weeks and weeks at a time away from my partner and child. It was hard on us all. At one point, my son was coming up to 19 years old and I realised I had only seen him three times since I left the forces, as in my experience, the military were very accommodating and generous with their leave, so I was able to see my son often. I spent years in that role, and ten months before I moved onto my first ‘proper’ civilian job, I had an incredibly traumatic experience whilst on duty which led to me leaving.
“This new role as an operations manager for a security company was leaps and bounds away from what I knew. I was struggling to settle into the new role and combined with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and finding out my father had terminal cancer, it culminated into a severe emotional and nervous breakdown.
“My wife was my rock, and she was able to get me the support I needed, I cannot thank her enough. She signposted me to organisations that were able to provide some deep cognitive and behavioural therapies with some psychotherapy. I was supported by some fantastic charities including Walking With The Wounded and The Royal British Legion, which have got me to where I want to be today.”
“An old friend mentioned a company called BuildForce, who support veterans into the construction industry after they have served. I got in touch with their programme director and volunteered to go to an insight day down in London in March 2022, and it was here I had my first interaction with Kier.
“I was nervous about attending but wanted to learn more about what the industry had to offer. I met Mark Starling, senior SHE manager, who told me all about Kier and how they were investing in supporting ex-service personnel and will soon be holding some focussed recruitment days. I followed their LinkedIn page and came across a video from someone in the business, who was hosting a live Q&A. I asked her about the training opportunities and support they can offer, and she sent back an amazing response and later messaged me and encouraged me to come along to one of the recruitment days.
“I decided to attend and spoke to a senior recruiter at Kier who phoned me only an hour after I had left to offer me a role. It was amazing, I was worried about putting myself out there, but to walk away with a job that day made it all worth it.
“It’s clear to me that the construction industry is hugely supportive of veterans and service leavers. There’s a place for us here and the transferable skills are never ending.
“Since joining Kier, I’ve settled in well and I was given the time and support I needed to flourish and actually my line manager recently nominated me for his employee of the month for the team which means a lot.
“I am a part of Kier’s Armed Forces Inclusion Network, something that has not existed at any other companies I’ve worked for even though many have been supportive of military recruitment. I think it’s a phenomenal initiative, especially if I am struggling with my mental health, it’s nice to know that I can approach the network and reach out for support, although thankfully those days are getting less and less.”
Interested in finding out more about how Kier support our Armed Forces? Take a look here.
