Ex-service personnel looking for a new career are ideally suited to the care industry, says Marcel Ballinger, a former Royal Marine who recently joined Green Light. He’s no stranger to danger having spent 15 years with various units touring countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone. “People think that ex-military personnel are cold and hard-faced but I’m very passionate and caring. War operations are not just about fighting it’s about winning the hearts and minds of the local communities and finding commonality and building trust.”
Marcel left 30 Commando RM Plymouth in 2012 and was working as a bodyguard for the British Embassy in Baghdad when a chance encounter with a spider saw him return home to Cornwall for good. “I was bitten on the ankle and ended up in the American hospital. It was touch and go for a while as the poison spread through my leg. They threatened to amputate but thankfully I made a full recovery, it made me realise what was important in my life, my son…
Marcel left 30 Commando RM Plymouth in 2012 and was working as a bodyguard for the British Embassy in Baghdad when a chance encounter with a spider saw him return home to Cornwall for good. “I was bitten on the ankle and ended up in the American hospital. It was touch and go for a while as the poison spread through my leg. They threatened to amputate but thankfully I made a full recovery, it made me realise what was important in my life, my son…