Former student, Heloise Goodley, swaps designer heels for Army boots

At 27 years old, Heloise Goodley (RS 88-97) swapped her power heels for clumpy military boots when she left her banking job in the City to join the Army.

She joined the commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 2007, and was one of 32 girls to start that winter. After months of hard work, including many hours of toil, punishments, inspections and thorough training, Heloise was commissioned on 14 December 2007.

“Sandhurst was the best and worst experience of my life. So much of what I was taught there seemed irrelevant: the marching, crawling and trench digging. Yet there was other stuff that I learned at Sandhurst: the personal pride and stubborn resolve to keep going, to hold my head high and carry on because I can do it. The standards and morals to make the right decisions.”

Heloise was commissioned into the Army Air Corps and was deployed to the first of two tours of Afghanistan in January 2009. She is now a Captain undertaking the role of adjutant for an Apache helicopter regiment.

Heloise has written about her experiences in her book, An Officer and a Gentlewoman: The Making of a Female British Army Officer, which is available to buy now.