AN INCOME analyst from Borehamwood has returned from Afghanistan after swapping his city suit for desert combats.
Leading Hand (equivalent of a corporal) Jonathan Davies, 34, was deployed to Kabul as a database administrator where his team helped with intelligence for US commander, General David Petraeus, to make operational decisions.
Mr Davies who works for Pictet & Cie Asset and Wealth Management Bank in Moorgate, London, has been a Royal Naval Reservist for ten years and this was the first time he had been deployed as part of Operation Herrick.
He said: “Basically my job was to keep the general informed at a strategic level of everything that was going on around us – for example we would have included things like the floods in Pakistan.
“As well as gathering the information for the database my job was to organise the briefings for people each day so there was a lot of responsibility.
“It was useful because I could also use some of the skills from my day job – so things like spreadsheets and putting together a coherent database – I felt as though I could make an important contribution.
“I was based in the headquarters in Kabul which is where the main operations are run from, so it is extremely busy and you meet people from all different nationalities and from across the three services. It was a great experience."
There are approximately 476 Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel deployed on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan.
Mr Davies was trained at the Royal Navy Pre-deployment Training and Mounting Centre, at Portsmouth Naval Base.
People trained there mainly take on roles in logistics, intelligence, administrative and operations areas.
Mr Davies added: “It was the first time I’ve been to Afghanistan – I was keen to go and had moved branches within the RNR to one where there were more opportunities.
“It’s definitely not the sort of thing that a normal bank worker gets to do.”
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