Phil Preece is the General Manager of Waste to Energy (W2E) Plant Operations and Maintenance in the Solihull U.K. office. He joined MWH in July and recounts his experience in the Armed Forces .
I was born in a very rural part of Shropshire, deep in the farming community, in a small village called Much Wenlock. I was educated at the William ‘Penny’ Brookes’ school, which if you ‘google’ it was the inspiration for the modern Olympics!
I joined the Royal Navy straight from school as an engineering apprentice, as I had a passion engineering, taking everything apart, occasionally putting them back together and on 
a rare occasion they still worked. Also I loved sailing, which is odd being the farthest point, in all directions from the sea – so the Royal Navy was right up my street!
I served with the RN for sixteen years, becoming a Charge Chief (Warrant Officer 2 as it’s now known), having served all across the globe, including;- two tours in the Gulf, 6 months in the Falkland Islands, 2 years in the Caribbean as a Police Inspector in the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force carrying our anti-drug smuggling duties, 9 months in Cambodia as a United Nations Naval Officer helping the Cambodian Government during the first, free election since before the Khmer Rouge days of Pol Pot.
I also served on a number of ships including the Flag ship of the time, the 1990’s, Invincible, which was an aircraft carrier powered by four Rolls Royce gas turbine engines, the same type as Concorde had fitted, these were my responsibility, or in Naval terminology ‘part of ship’ to keep operational.
I left the Navy just before the millennium (1999) to seek fame and fortune in the ‘real world’. Joking aside I wanted to spend less time away from home and more time with my wife and three young boys – who were a handful but great fun!
Initially, the first thought was that civilian life would be less regimented, more diverse and more easy going – how wrong could I have been. It was just like being in the service, without the ID card and less organized. In fact the lack of structure and organizational skills amazed me – I thought how do civilians know what they’re doing. However the service and civilian life all easily fell into place once I realized that ‘civvies’ tended to be highly skilled but in less diverse roles, therefore needing less direction.
Having a military background has provided me with a wide range of skills and confidence, that has allowed me to have a go at anything and find solutions rather than problems to daily tasks and issues at work. It also teaches you how to work together and find the best in people, whilst keeping a sense of humour during those ‘challenging moments’.
I was looking for the challenge of setting up and running the new W2E operations and maintenance division in the Treatment sector which is what brought me to MWH. Joining MWH was a breath of fresh air, the support from the office staff, HR and IT personnel was an inspiration during the first few weeks where everything is new, especially the procedures and processes which are well known to the ‘office veterans’ were alien and confusing. The friendliness and openness of all staff, made being in the office a delight whilst wrestling with new and confusing systems. Being outside of the controls and constraints of the military organization and being able to fully use all of my skills and experience is an enlightening feeling. It’s extremely exciting and a challenge that will test me and everyone in the W2E business to the limits – how more exciting could any work place be!
Some might have misconceptions on veterans - that they do what they’re told. Having started as an apprentice and progressed to a General Manager position, I can safely say with confidence, that military personnel have a high motivation level, excellent can-do attitude and without doubt, a huge, if not slightly ‘warped’ sense of humor! which helps in bringing individuals together to form successful teams and having some fun whilst doing it.
If I could offer advice to returning service members or veterans it would be to not hold back – sometimes civilian jobs can seem a little dull compared to the globe-trotting, fast paced, adrenaline filled lives we have led at times – but civilian jobs can have these attractions too – choose engineering and you stand a good chance of finding an as interesting and fulfilling career as the one in the forces – but it’s up to you to find it and make it what you want it to be, your dream job won’t come looking for you!
Read more stories of fellow Veterans working at MWH
