Living the dream
Jaen van der Walt is living his dream: to work abroad and to be part of the Kingstroop in London!
Jaen was born and grew up in Middelburg (his family are still in town) where he attended Middelburg Primary School, Steelcrest High School and his last two school years in Hoërskool Kanonkop.
2009 was a break year for him in which he played sports (rugby for Middelburg Rugby Club). In 2010 he went to America where he was the foreman for the attraction, Euro Bungee, where he travelled all over New England (New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts).
He returned to South Africa where he got a job as an IT Technician. A few months later he was offered a posting as an assistant teacher in Computer Application Technology at Steelcrest High School where he worked for a few months.
Always wanting to work abroad, he heard of a posting at a hostel in Inverness, Scotland where he was a manager for a year, only working every second day. On his off days he worked at a local restaurant and pub. In the evenings he did stock control and sorting at a local supermarket named Tesco (like the local supermarkets).
He also made time for training for army recruitment, sometimes having to do 5km runs in the below freezing climate being in the top of the highlands in Scotland. According to Jaen he ran a nine mile route in snow along River Ness “which is the river that feeds the well known ‘Loch Ness monster”.
On 3 December 2012 he was accepted to attend phase one training in Pirbright (west of London) where he spent six months. He then went on to phase two as a Ceremonial Gunner for the Royal Horse Artillery.
He completed phase two in the RA (Royal Artillery) in Lark Hill (where Stonehenge is), “often doing loaded marches and runs 100m or less past Stonehenge which was indeed a beautiful sight.”
He then received his posting in the Kingstroop Royal Horse Artillery which is based in Woolwich London.
His role as a Ceremonial Gunner consists of firing a 13 pound, WW1 artillery gun for state visits (recently the Prime Minister of Ireland), special occasions (most recently the Queen’s birthday where they fired in her private garden at Windsor Castle, her residence) and funerals (most recently Margaret Thatcher) being in F-Sub Section (the black horses).
“We look after the horses and kit ourselves. Often riding three horses at once for exercise down the middle of busy London Central. We are trained and highly skilled riders and take part in jumping competitions and hound hunting for the upper class people.”
daleen@mobserver.co.za
