Private Vishnu Srirangan is a 27-year-old chef in the Army Reserve 167 Catering Support Regiment. He has used his time in the Army Reserve to develop his skills as a chef and travel the world, including deployments to America, Sierra Leone, Canada, Gibraltar, and Jordan. Srirangan plays football for his regimental team and was selected for the Army Reserve national football team. He has also participated in adventurous training activities like mountain biking and sailing through annual training exercises. Srirangan credits the Army Reserve for improving his confidence in dealing with people and working in high-pressure situations through public presentations. He is looking forward to an upcoming football tour to Cyprus with three matches against

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PRIVATEVISHNUSRIRANGAN,27,IS
ACHEFINTHEARMYRESERVE167
CATERINGSUPPORTREGIMENT.
THEARMYRESERVEHASGIVENHIM
THEOPPORTUNITYTODEVELOP
HISSKILLSANDSEETHEWORLD.
40 sport-magazine.co.uk | March 13 2015 41
“ICAN’TTHINKOFANYTHING
YOUCAN DOPART-TIMETHAT
ISAS PHYSICALLY AND
MENTALLYCHALLENGING”
THECATERINGSUPPORTREGIMENTPROVIDES
CHEFSAROUNDTHEWORLD
“Wherever the Army goes – the regular Army and the Reserve – they
need to be fed. So the chefs go with them. My regiment provide
chefs all over the world. This year, we will have or have had chefs
travel to America, Sierra Leone, Canada, Gibraltar, Jordan as well as
mainland Europe. I’ve recently completed my chefs course, which I
did last September. I’m hoping to be deployed abroad this year.”
YOUPLAYALOTOFFOOTBALLINTHERESERVE
“I’m part of our regimental football team, and Catering Support are
part of the Royal Logistic Corps, so I’m part of the Corps team as well.
I was also selected for the Army Reserve national team in November.
My regimental team were in the Army Reserve Challenge Cup, which
is kind of like the FA Cup for the different regiments. There are 32
teams involved with that. We also have friendly fixtures throughout
the year with the regiment, the Corps and for the Army Reserve
national team.“
I’VEBEENONMOUNTAINBIKESANDSAILBOATS
“The Annual Deployment Exercise [ADE] includes a mixture of
adventurous training. So, it was a day of mountain biking, sailing,
climbing, walking – that kind of stuff. You also do a bit of trade
training – movement and logistics – and weapons training. As well
as doing the green stuff – the field exercises.”
THEARMYRESERVEENCOURAGESSPORT
“As well as doing our adventurous training on our ADE, we were split
into three groups – each group was responsible for organising a
sports evening each night. We did 5-a-side football, volleyball and all
kinds of physical activities. A lot of the time you meet people in other
units who you’ve never met before. Sport is one of those things that
brings people together. Especially when it’s organised by a unit. It
helps build relationships, and obviously you might be working with
those people later on.”
ICAN’TTHINKOFANYTHINGYOUCANDO
PART-TIMETHATWILLBEASCHALLENGING
“Both physically and mentally. People think when you join the Army
Reserve, you are doing a lot of physical stuff. And there is, but there is
a lot to take in mentally, in terms of your training. Thetrainingis really
professional. It’s delivered really well. Anything you want to do - if
you want to be a skiing instructor, or if you wanted to do an extended
first aid course, there’s opportunities for you to do it all.”
Withacommitmentofaslittleas19daysperyearintheArmyReserve,
there’s more than one way to be the best. Search ‘Army Reserve’
STARTYOURAPPLICATION:SEARCH‘ARMYRESERVE’
HOWFARWILLTHEARMY
RESERVETAKEYOU?
PrivateVishnuSriRanganonbuildinghis
confidenceandbroadeninghishorizons:
HowhastheArmyReservebenefittedyou
professionally?
“MyArmyReservetraininghasgivenme
confidencedealingwithdifferentpeopleand
WhatareyoulookingforwardtointheArmy
Reservethisyear?
“WehaveatourtoCypruswiththefootball
team.Wehavethreefixtures.Thefirstis
againstaregimentalteam,oraunitteam.The
secondisagainstanArmyteam.Andthethird
iswhattheycalltri-services.So,Army,Navy
andRAF–thebestteamtheyhaveoutthere.”
Whatadvicewouldyougivetosomeone
thinkingofjoiningtheArmyReserve?
“Don’tbethatpersonwholooksbackandsays:
‘IwishIdidthat.’There’ssomuchflexibilityin
whatyoucando:sport,adventuroustraining,
qualifications,driving...I’vemetpeoplefromall
overtheCommonwealth.It’savastnetwork
youdevelop,aswellasyourskills.”
high-pressuresituations.Presentingtoa
mixedaudience–everyonefrommylevelupto
therankofcolonel–hasgivenmegreater
confidencetodothat.Idon’tworkincatering
awayfromtheArmyReserve,butIdoubt
regularchefshavethesamechanceto
developandseetheworldthatIdo.”