Ruddy Nice and DSET are part of the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme

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.

DSET Armed Forces Covenant Richard Varley in Uniform Black and White

DSET Armed Forces Covenant Richard Varley next to Leonardo Sign

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.”