Our military personnel are often asked to make huge sacrifices in the service of our country, and as an MP I may be required to make critical decisions that will affect them. Meanwhile, it is the first duty of the state to ensure the protection of its citizens.

Since my election, I have therefore felt a pressing need better to understand what life is like for serving personnel in the Armed Forces, what pressures our military leadership are under and what strategic military decisions currently face our nation. For these reasons, I joined the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme which places MPs in one of the three services. I chose to sign up to the Royal Air Force because of our constituency's historical connection to the Force through RAF Hornchurch, a critical Battle of Britain base.

The Scheme was started in the 1980s by Sir Neil Thorne, and is designed to give MPs access to troops at a working level. 

Each year a two-day introduction to Defence is held at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham where MPs learn about the role of the military in a democracy, the strategic context for defence, and how forces are generated to achieve military strategic objectives.

I have just completed my stint in Shrivenham, learning about the balance the military must always strike between planning for today and planning for the future, and discussing the difficulties surrounding defence procurement in a rapidly changing threat environment.

This week, I formally began my year-long placement with the RAF, travelling to RAF Linton-on-Ouse, where RAF fast jet pilots learn their craft. Unfortunately we were not able to fly as the training aircraft were grounded but we were able to try out the flight simulator and had a fantastic opportunity to speak to the serving personnel as well as engineers who maintain the aircraft.