Stansted Army medic Michael Crowhurst selected for promotion from Private to Lance Corporal

An Army medic from Stansted has taken his first step up the armed service’s promotion ladder after being selected to advance from Private to Lance Corporal.

Michael Crowhurst, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles (2 RGR), has started a leadership course to learn all about his new role.

The 25-year-old Acting Lance Corporal, who went to St Mary’s C of E Foundation Primary School in Hampton Road, said: “Doing this course is about stepping up from being one of the team to one of the bosses.

“We’ve been learning how to get the best out of people as a leader and how the chain of command works.

“For me, I look up to leaders who get involved and set an example – doing that gains respect and gets people to follow you.

Just giving orders doesn’t work. You have to get people involved in a task and thinking about how they can work together under your leadership to do something.”

Michael has been in the Army for four years as a Royal Army Medical Services (RAMS) combat medical technician, trained to deploy alongside front-line units to provide care at the point of wounding. Serving with Folkestone-based 2 RGR, he has deployed on exercises in Kenya, Jordan, Oman, Norway, Cyprus and France.

His Lance Corporal training began with classroom-based sessions before the troops went to the Friday Woods Training Area in Colchester to apply what they had learnt during tactical scenarios.