Veterans celebrated at Rugeley Amazon centre as part of Armed Forces Day

The team Rugeley is celebrating Armed Forces Day on Saturday(24)7 by paying tribute to the veterans and reservists from the services community who work at Amazon across the UK.

These include Duanne Collins, who works in Rugeley as an engineering area manager, joined the company eight years ago after a career in the military and who has been talking about his experience of leaving the military and joining Amazon ahead of Armed Forces Day.

Duanne, who lives in Stafford, joined the RAF at the age of 17 as an electrical engineering technician.

Speaking on the highlights of his military career, he said: “A big highlight for me was getting to travel to so many interesting places.

"Of all my deployments, Bahrain was the one I felt sad to leave. It was such a welcoming place, and I really enjoyed my time there.”

After leaving the armed forces in the summer of 2014, Duanne spent some time working as a contractor for a rolling stock manufacturing company and after an eight-week stint at a prominent UK car manufacturer, he said he felt he wasn’t being challenged enough.

Upon receiving a call from a recruiter, he went for an interview for an engineering technician role at Amazon and said he liked at the interview the sound of what would be expected of him and the challenge this role would bring.

Duanne said: “Amazon affords so many opportunities to progress that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

"I joined as a technician and within 10 months, I was a senior technician. After three years, I became an area manager.

"My skills have been put to good use and I feel valued as part of my team.”

Duanne is co-ambassador of the Warriors at Amazon affinity group at the Rugeley site, along with another ex-military colleague, Laurent.

Warriors provides members with a professional network, organises community outreach programs, and assists veterans during their transition into civilian life at Amazon.

Many members of the military community join Amazon through the Amazon Military Programme, which offers members of the military community the opportunity to pursue a wide range of exciting new career paths.

Last year, more than 350 veterans, reservist and military spouses joined in more than 35 different job roles including health and safety specialists, engineers and team leaders.

Emma Morgan, programme manager, global military affairs at Amazon, said: “We believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn and develop and we are passionate about extending these opportunities to veterans, military spouses and reservists.

"People from the military community add tremendous value to our workforce and it’s fantastic to celebrate them during this year’s Armed Forces Day events.”