Ruddy Nice has signed the Armed Forces Covenant and has been awarded a Silver Award.

This means Ruddy Nice aligns its values with the covenant, is committed to supporting serving personnel, military spouses and partners, service leavers and actively seeks to employ veterans.  We make a continued effort to place service leavers and veterans in employment by utilising their network in the Defence industry and DSET community.

Our organisation values the armed forces and understands how essential it is to welcome veterans to our community and utilise their knowledge and skills within the Defence industry to continue to support them as service leavers so they can continue to provide value, find their place in civilian life.

Many members of the armed forces have attended or been invited to speak at DSET, and made valuable contacts through the event and the community engagement throughout the year plus worked with DSET and then gone on to find roles within the industry as soon as they have left the armed forces.

Richard Varley, Leonardo on building his network and leaving the armed forces:

“In my final Regular role in the Army, I was the desk officer for Training and Simulation, which meant that I had a responsibility across the portfolio of Army’s incoming training and simulation projects and programmes. I was responsible for setting milestones for our delivery partner, Defence Equipment and Support, for cost, time and performance, as well as acting as a ‘fixer’ between AHQ, DE&S and industry partners.

It was during this time that I first became aware of the Defence Simulation, Education and Training conference and the wider work that Ruddy Nice are involved with. I visited DSET at Ashton Gate in both 2021 and 2022, along with meeting Tess, Louise, Mark and the team at I/ITSEC and IT2EC. Always a pleasure to catch up, my visits to DSET also coincided with my efforts to broaden my network in the field in anticipation of leaving the Army. At all times I found the community to be a friendly and inviting one, and could count on the Ruddy Nice team to make introductions as they seem to know everyone!

When it came to leaving the Army, many of the contacts I had made at DSET were only too willing to give me time and the benefit of their experience which made the whole process far less daunting than it could otherwise have been. I chose to join Leonardo because I’m excited to join a company that is making real strides in the Land Training environment and has huge plans for the future.

I count DSET as one of the main events on the Training and Simulation event calendar, and plan to return annually. Its selling point as a conference is unique and encourages more networking than other trade shows. Undoubtedly without attending I would not have had anywhere near as extensive a contact list and enjoy the fact that it is Industry, DE&S, Army and academia. Additionally, as I will remain an Army Reservist, it is also hugely important to know what the latest trends are in the training field and I can rely on DSET to assist with that.”

More on the Armed Forces Covenant

“The Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.”

“The Covenant supports serving personnel, service leavers, veterans, and their families, and is fulfilled by the different groups that have committed to making a difference.”

Defence Employer Recognition Scheme

About – Armed Forces Covenant

European Training and Simulation Association 

ETSA is a not-for-profit members association which provides a non-partisan environment for Networking with Government bodies, academia, end-users, and training solution providers. Our aim is to facilitate and support Events, collaboration and information exchange with individuals involved in Education, Modelling, Training or Simulation across Europe.  

Why ETSA 

Whilst ETSA is partnered with many of the leading Modelling, Simulation and Training (MS&T) news-media and event providers across the World, our non-partisan approach means we can embrace and support the widest possible breath and diversity of membership across all Civilian and Military training domains. 

ETSA actively promotes its members products and interests. We support and organise webinars, events, and other interest group activities. Our members portal provides a unique place for ETSA members to connect online, post blogs and access interesting discussions and informative information relating solely to our industry and members MS&T interests. 

ETSA provides a weekly newsfeed and monthly newsletter which helps keep its members up to date with the very latest information and developments in MS&T technology. 

Individual and Organisational Membership is open to anyone involved with or who has an active interest in MS&T within Europe. Membership is free to Government bodies, members of the armed forces, academia and first responders.  

Image credit – Thales

ETSA’s work 

“As a micro-SME in an industry flooded with large corporations, associations can play a key role.  The European Training & Simulation Association have provided a platform for Cobra Simulation to network and distribute content that would typically require a marketing team and large budgets. For Cobra this has been an extremely valuable asset over the years. We look forward to seeing the organisation continue its growth.” 

Alexander Bradley, Managing Director, Cobra Simulation 

Why ETSA is partnering with DSET 

As one of the premiere Defence Simulation and Training (S&T) events this year, ETSA is proud to be partnering with the Ruddy Nice team on their DSET 2022 exhibition and conferences. We are delighted to be helping them bring together S&T Industries, Academia and key Armed forces leaders, and support raising awareness of the current and future defence training technologies trends, as well as sharing the latest news, opportunities and promoting networking amongst leading Defence S&T professionals. 

For nearly two years ETSA’s networking activities has been severely constrained by the Covid-19 pandemic. For DSET 2022 we are looking forward to meeting our members, strategic partners, and new faces to the Defence

Ian Mccrudden – ETSA Chief Executive Officer  

If you are interested in the benefits of becoming an ETSA member get in touch by emailing  [email protected] 

Find out more about ETSA here www.etsa.eu 

Image credit – Thales

The AFA Expedition 

The AFA are an all-female team of five: Georgina Gilbert, Rebecca Rowe, Nikki Upton, Emily Butler and Rebecca Hinchley.

They are training to ski coast-to-coast across Antarctica in November 2023 with the specific agenda to empower women and tackle the stigma around mental health.

The ‘Antarctic Fire Angels’ is a team of 5 female firefighters based out of London, South Wales and Derbyshire. In November 2023 we will be setting out on a 1,900km expedition to cross Antarctica via the South Pole.

The Fire Angels’ Mission and Goals

We have a three-part aim to the expedition; 

Firstly, as firefighters, we are often portrayed as strong individuals who are resistant to tragedy, able to cope and continue at any cost. This isn’t true. We want to tackle the stigma around mental health, not just amongst emergency service workers, but everyone who has these assumptions. We aim to do this by talking about our own battles with mental health to show that it’s ok to not be ok.

Secondly, we want to challenge the gender stereotypes that are placed upon us all. Stereotyping is something we all see every day; its the reason behind the stigma attached to a man being a midwife, and it’s the reason women aren’t aware of their capabilities.

We want to prove what women are capable of and eradicate gender stereotypes that can stop young women from entering male dominated industries. We aim to do this by being the women we all needed when we were growing up – the ones who challenge the stereotype and carve a path for incredible women to fulfil their true potential.

Thirdly, we will be raising vital funds for our two key charities; The Firefighters Charity and The Harlequins Foundation, who both do incredible work in the community and align superbly with our message.

The Firefighters Charity support firefighters and their families with both physical and mental recovery, and The Harlequins Foundation use the power of sport to encourage wellbeing and inclusion. In addition to our aims, we intend to undertake our training and expedition in a manner that minimises our impact on the environment, whilst highlighting the beauty of the frozen continent and bringing its need to be protected into the conversation.

Read their story and meet the angels here https://antarcticfireangels.co.uk/about-us/

Who AFA are helping

To make this incredible expedition happen, they need to raise £500,000 to support with training, equipment, nutrition, technology and specialist technical support.

Once the funds for the expedition have been reached, we will divide further funds raised between two key charities;

• The Firefighters Charity
• The Harlequins Foundation

Your help will enable us to make our vision a reality and assist people in emergency services that are living with trauma and injury. 

It is so important to us that we inspire the next generation; Ameesha is someone we’ve helped along the way:

Ameesha came to us for advice and support to help her through her application to the LFB…

“I’m so grateful to the Antarctic Fire Angels for helping me through the recruitment process with some great advice. They kindly invited me to meet them as they were doing a photoshoot, which of course I had to go to! The whole team were so lovely and super supportive! I started my training for the LFB in February 2021 and I was really excited, especially knowing I had the support of these awesome ladies. I can’t thank them enough for everything!”

The Latest AFA training in Norway

The angels have recently been in training in Norway undertaking a practical course to teach them valuable skills in polar survival, whilst practicing the vital elements that will be prominent in Antarctica, such as Nordic skiing & dragging their supply pulks.

About Blesma – The Limbless Veterans Charity 

Blesma has been invited to DSET as part of our wider commitment to providing value and continued support to the military and veteran community. The charity does important work with veterans. Here is more about what they do.

Blesma, the Limbless Veterans aims to ensure that all serving or ex-service men and women who have lost sight, limbs or the use of limbs can lead independent and fulfilling lives.   The early formations of Blesma began in 1918 and Blesma became a national charity in 1932.

Following World War I, 40,000 British Service men came back from the Western Front having suffered life-changing injuries. In a time in which employers would often discriminate against the disabled, and when there was no support from the state, limbless veterans came together as local groups to share knowledge, support each other, and lobby the Government for better opportunities for the war injured.

Medical practices and opportunities for those who are disabled have come a long way since the early days. However, there is still a great need to support those who experience daily, the physical and mental impact of life-changing injury.    

Just as we are still caring for our surviving World War II veterans, Blesma has adapted to the times, including looking after, and looking out for, a new generation of amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, who will need our specialised support as they face the long journey ahead. 

“Blesma was there for me right from the start, a Member came to see me in hospital and said: ‘Don’t worry – I’m one of you!’ and lifted his trousers to show me his two missing legs. The great thing with Blesma is that they know exactly what to do. Early in my recovery, they took me skiing and rafting in Colorado, which opened my eyes to a whole new world.” – Lionel 

“[After my injury] I was soon contacted by Blesma, who asked if they could do anything for me. From then on I felt a real feeling of reassurance, it was not only the reassurance that someone would be there to aid with benefits and welfare etc., but also a real sense of Camaraderie because all of us were in the situation. ” – Roy Haywood

Blesma on joining the DSET 2022 community

Attending DSET is a great opportunity for us to be in the same arena as businesses who have a strong link to the Armed Forces and may not know about Blesma. Being at the conference gives us the chance to raise our profile with the businesses who are attending the conference, we are always looking at increasing our profile to businesses and attending DSET gives us this opportunity.  

Find our more about Blesma’s work here https://blesma.org/