THE decision to join the Officer Training Corps while she was at university led Major Jill Hamlin to a career with the Army that has allowed her to indulge her love of the outdoors.

And Maj Hamlin is currently enjoying a posting in her home town of Colchester, where she is in charge of 18 Education Centre, at Merville Barracks.

Maj Hamlin returned from Afghanistan in October where she had been helping to run two education centres.

She said: “There is one in Kandahar, but then there is also one at Camp Bastion which was opened two weeks before my deployment.

“It was pretty much just a tent so we had a lot of work to do. It was one of my main roles while I was out there to get that up and running.”

As well as the main mission when out in Afghanistan, soldiers can also continue with training courses.

“There are a lot of people out there,” said Maj Hamlin, 37. “Some are in supporting roles and they do have downtime.

“And obviously there is very little else you can do. It is often a good time for studying, because they do not have family commitments there and it is something productive.

“The courses for their careers are predominantly management and defence. We also advise on personal development.

“They can do GCSEs, Open University courses and also basic literacy and numeracy courses.”

But her role in Afghanistan stretched wider than that as the Army also advised the Afghans.

She added: “One of my university officers taught them English. It was very hard work out there, but very rewarding.”

Being in the Army has also allowed Maj Hamlin to travel.

She is soon due to go on a skiing trip and a mountaineering expedition in India is planned for later this year.

“I have been to some amazing places as part of my career. I even went to a training conference in Orlando,” she added.

And the resources at her current place of work are excellent, including a 250 seat lecture theatre, computer rooms and a huge library.

Maj Hamlin, whose mum still lives in Colchester’s Recreation Road, was a pupil at St Helena School, Sheepen Road, and then Colchester Sixth Form College, before going on to study music at Birmingham University.

It was there she took the first steps toward her future career.

“I signed up with the Officer Training Corps and it went from there. But I am sure growing up in a garrison town made me more aware about the Army,” she said.

Having completed a year of officer training at Sandhurst she was commissioned in 1998 and posted to Cyprus where she was an instructor for two and a half years.

After several postings and an MA in Education from Bath University she returned to her home town to take the helm at the newly opened Army Education Centre two years ago.

The centre helps soldiers further their careers but also keep up with basic skills.

There is also a facility for them to take exams such as driving theory tests, and a personnel department, which helps soldiers prepare for life outside the Army.