Being bored is never an option...

It was May 1972; East Pakistan became Bangladesh; children’s TV programme, Rainbow aired for the very first time; and a young Ian Clark joined NAAFI as a student on temporary summer employment. It would be the start of a career that would be life-changing in many ways.

It was actually by chance that Ian started his career with NAAFI, as he explains: “The summer I started at NAAFI, I had a summer job lined up as a chauffeur at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. However, I contracted jaundice and was off ill for six weeks so I was unable to start on time and the position was offered to someone else. When I recovered I found out that NAAFI required a barman at Cultybraggan Camp near Comrie in Perthsire and so I commenced working for them instead.

“I returned to Cultybraggan Camp the following summer and was appointed acting manager after a few weeks, at the same time I decided that college wasn’t for me and NAAFI suggested I go to London to be interviewed for a permanent position. Following this I underwent commercial training based at NAAFI HQ in Kennington and was later appointed to the role of trainee district accountant in Scotland.”

In the 37 years Ian has been involved with NAAFI he has not only been posted to Scotland but London, Germany, Malaysia and Cyprus too. He has also undertaken short term duties in Singapore, Brunei, Kenya and Sardinia as well as Expeditionary Force Institutes (EFI) service in Norway, Turkey and Germany. He has held a variety of roles including District Auditor, Regional Auditor, Management Accountant Continental Europe, Finance and IT Manager Cyprus, and Change Programme Manager, before being seconded to his current role as Head of Business Compliance in Germany.

Ian said: “I’ve had many different jobs in many different places and each one has had its moments - being bored has never been an option.

“Each stage of my career has brought its own highlights and dramatic moments, including sleeping in rough shelters during survival training with Royal Marines in the wastes of Arctic Norway at temperatures below -40°, and in 1980 whilst in Germany I ran an exercise under canvas for 7,000 troops over a two month period.”

Although Ian’s career with the NAAFI has been very varied, it has also led to other life-changing events, like meeting his wife of 32 years, as he explains: “Five weeks before I was due to end my tour in Northern Ireland in August 1978, I met my wife. Karen was home from Australia where she had been living for several years and was due to return to Sydney at the same time as I was due to be posted to Germany. We decided that we had to either give it a go, or go our separate ways. And so after five weeks we decided to marry.

“32 years later we have three children. Two were born in Hannover at the British Military Hospital in July 1979 and January 1981. Seven weeks after my daughter was born, we all flew out to Malaysia where I took up my next posting with NAAFI as District Auditor Penang and it was there that my youngest son was born in May 1982.

“For 37 years, NAAFI has provided me with a way of life as well as a means of earning a living. I met my wife and raised my children while serving with NAAFI in various countries. The lives of my family have become intertwined with NAAFI to the extent that my two sons have served with EFI on active service in numerous theatres and are presently working as managers with NAAFI in Germany and my daughter has also served in various NAAFI roles at times as well. Over the years only my wife has held out by consistently working elsewhere to keep some variety in the family!”