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Leeds multi-tasker earns PM's praise
BY day she is a desk-based banker, but at weekends Jane Moon is a fully trained soldier.
When not puzzling over figures with Leeds's online bank first direct, the 43-year-old is serving with the 150 Yorkshire Transport Regiment.
Jane, who lives at Churchill Barracks in Leeds, signed up to the Army in 1983 and is today a reservist with the Territorial Army mixing civvie and military life.
Since joining the TA she has driven army supplies around Bosnia at the wheel of a 15-tonne Drops truck in 1999; kept the army well fed as a chef during a six month stint in Iraq in 2003; and returned for a second tour in 2007 as a watch keeper based at Basra Airport.
Jane said about her two tours in Iraq: "In 2003 people were driving around – military personnel were in four wheel drives.
"The second time around we were driving around in armed vehicles.
"It was the hardest tour because we were coming under attack every day for four months.
"We were a sitting target and didn't know when the next rocket would be launched.
"When I came home and there was a loud noise I would practically fall to the ground and carry out my military drills.
"This time I brought something back with me."
She added: "I was with the Army on a full-time basis for six years. Now I get the best of both worlds working during the week and training at the weekend.
"It's an amazing opportunity to do many things that you have never done."
Last Friday Jane met the Prime Minister Gordon Brown who had invited her to a reception at Number 10 in celebration of reservists and their supportive employers.
He said: "We don't thank people enough and therefore today we do want to thank you personally and individually as employers for what you do and also to thank all the brave and courageous reservists who have most recently had periods of service in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, in Iraq and Afghanistan."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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