The teams at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Sutton and Kegworth are celebrating Armed Forces Day (24^th June) by paying tribute to the veterans and reservists from the services community who work at Amazon across the UK.

Mark Leek, of Kirkby, and David Beeton, who works at Amazon in Sutton, have been talking about their experience of leaving the military and joining Amazon ahead of this year’s Armed Forces Day celebrations.

Mark , waste co-ordinator at Amazon in Kegworth, joined the company two years ago.

Born and bred in the Armed Forces, in many ways it was the most natural step for him to join too when he was able. He joined the Territorial Army to get a feel for the culture, where he dealt with explosives and protected Salisbury Plain.

He then transferred to a new role in Hastings as a gunner. However, he felt after a year that it wasn’t for him and so he left, transferring to Germany to take up a civilian role with the British Armed Forces.

After he returned to the UK in 2010, Mark had several roles in security and spent some time in Canada driving rigs until 2021, when he was made redundant. A friend’s son worked at Amazon and told him of a Christmas sign-on bonus that was being offered and it piqued his interest.

Speaking on his experience of joining Amazon, Mark said: “Honestly, I just thought it would be a job to see me through Christmas, but Amazon changed my mind – I’m still here.”

Mark added that his favourite thing about working at Amazon is the comradery between each department. He explained that even though each department has a different part to play, there is a level of mutual respect across the board because everyone wants the same thing: to give their very best to the customer. He said, “Our drive and commitment is to give that Amazon smile. That is what unites us all.”

Speaking about how the skills that his military experience taught him help him in his Amazon role, he said: “I gained the self-confidence and communication skills to talk to anyone and get a full picture of what is going on. The military work ethic prepares you to get the job done at Amazon, as best as possible. Also, it helps to have that sense of humour that the army affords you.”

David Beeton (above) is a workplace health and safety technician at Amazon’s Sutton fulfilment centre. David joined the Amazon team two years ago after an eight-year career in the Royal Navy.

After watching his uncle’s Navy career unfold, and hearing his father speak of his time in the Army during conscription, David’s career path was clear to him. In 1975 he left school, completed his training and joined the Navy as a radio weapons engineering mechanic.

The first ship David served on led him to a promotion that sent him back to the training establishment to complete his next qualification for the leading rates – a step up. After this training, David served on HMS Coventry, which took him to the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War.

Unfortunately, on 25th May 1982, the ship received a two-prong attack and was hit by three 500lb bombs. The ship turned over in 20 minutes and sank shortly after.

David was thankfully rescued from a life raft and taken by a helicopter back to the Falkland Islands. David said: “It was out of the frying pan and into the fire really, as we were still being attacked.” Here, the injured and displaced were gathered and sailed to South Georgia to be repatriated back to the UK.

David then spent 12 days on the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), which he described as “somewhat of a relief, but still difficult because we had lost friends and close colleagues. Those days on the QE2 started the healing process for a lot of us.”

From there, David returned home to Southampton and had a few weeks of rest before being reassigned to an establishment just north of London. There he continued his career for 18 months before deciding to leave the Navy.

After taking a role in electronic maintenance, David decided he liked the idea of a career in IT. He returned to Nottingham and worked for several IT companies for the next 35 years.

Sadly, COVID-19 caused the loss of many IT contracts and David needed to take the next step in his career. He said: “I was kind of left to sit on my hands for 12 months. When my wife went back to work as a teaching assistant, I saw positions advertised at a new Amazon fulfilment centre and thought I would just go for it.”

David joined the Sutton team two weeks after the Amazon fulfilment centre opened and enjoyed the challenge it brought. During his time in IT, David had completed a National General Certificate in occupational safety and health and hoped that he could use it in Amazon. After a year, he joined the health and safety team as a proxy for four months and was invited to stay. He has been there now for the past 18 months and is now studying for his National Diploma in safety organised through Amazon.

David explained that Amazon felt like a good fit because the work ethic, discipline and leadership that you develop naturally in the Forces seemed to transfer well to the role. “There’s so much familiarity in the role with Amazon as an ex-serviceman,” he said. “You feel like you are coming home, in a way. There’s so much support within the company for people who used to serve in the forces. For example, we have the Amazon Warriors, an affinity group for ex-military employees. It’s a group of people who understand where you have been and are there to support each other.”

Many members of the military community join Amazon through the company’s military programme. The Amazon Military Programme offers members of the military community the opportunity to pursue a wide range of exciting new career paths. Last year over 350 veterans, reservist and military spouses joined in more than 35 different job roles including health and safety specialists, engineers and team leaders. These new employees joined more than 2,500 already employed at Amazon since it commenced its military programme in 2011.