Andrea's Journey

Well here is my story - where should I start? At the beginning I suppose.

I'm Andrea and I'm joining the army! There has only been 2 other members of my family that were in the army. The rest that have been in have been in the Navy. I am the only female in the family to join the army so it's pretty amazing.

I first was introduced to the site while I was with my ex-boyfriend who is in the Royal Signals, while he was in Afghanistan. Bearing in mind, I'm only 17, so it seems like a big thing for a girl my age to stand by her soldier. I had my ups and my downs throughout the tour but luckily I had the Wags to look after me. I made some really good friends through the site.

Dealing with my ex being away was really hard. It takes a strong girl to do it, and all the girls with partners out there are the strongest women I know, they deserve nothing but the best. The support I've had throughout everything, off every one has been phenomenal and I'm so grateful for it. I don't know what I would have done without all the girls on Wags.

I now have a new boyfriend called Chris who is a dog trainer in the Vetenary Corps. He is lovely but, he is leaving the army which is a bit of a bummer but there we go. Such is life!

I have promised Anna that once I go to selection the first thing I do is to get onto the site and tell everyone if I have passed or not. If I have I'm going to write a diary for everyone of all the steps I'm taking before I join and also what I have to do once I'm in so then everyone can have a better understanding of what their guys go through. It will also help understand the army more and what their guys are in the army for something I'm happy to do.

Not a lot of the Wags know everything about me so I'm going tell you all a little about my life.

My parents divorced when I was 13, this was really hard for me, especially as I was also sexually assaulted at 13, which wasn't pleasant but unfortunately I just had to get on with things an move on. My ex Ben helped me a lot with my confidence issues regarding this, and I’m better as a person.

While I was in school I was victim to bullies, luckily they didn't get physical because I was too small to protect myself and was to skinny, at one point you could see my ribs and my spine stuck out as I didn't eat properly. This was because there was no food in the house. Once my mum, sister and I had the house to our selves when dad left, it was like heaven because there was always food in the house, even if it was something I wouldn’t eat because I was fussy.

My mum has recently re-married to my step dad Steve, that's made life happier because he and his family have brought a lot of light into our lives.

Sadly to say I'm not close to my family because of what was going on while I was a kid. I sectioned myself off from everyone hiding my emotions, as I knew they wouldn't understand. Although I am not close to any of my family I try my hardest to be in the same room as them and understand what their trying to tell me no matter how wrong it seems to me or how much it seems like there having a go at me.

When I decided to join the Army it seemed as though the whole world had opened up for me, and there was a way out, a way to have my family be proud of me and a way to tell everyone who put me down and picked on me, - look I'm not that little weedy thing you can pick on I'm a soldier, and I'm good at my job. That's what I'm aiming for.

The challenges of the Army, the people, the fun and most of all to get out an start to live my own life that doesn't involve my past. I'm looking to the future and it's looking bright.

I don't really know what else to say about myself but I do know I want to say thank you to Anna for making this site an to all the girls that have been there for me when I needed cheering up the most.

Love Andrea