Ant Middleton

A lot of people want to go out there, help people, and save the world. Sadly, half the time they can't even help themselves.

I wanted a challenge, wanted to be self-sufficient, so I thought, 'Go and join the army,' at a young age, and I just happened to be good at what I done and went up the ladder and went up to the top.

When you're in the military, you teeter on the edge of that line of life and death. The reason you feel so alive when you come through is because you know you've cheated death - and that and the adrenaline rush is addictive, no question.

Dad was wiped from our lives. The day after he died, every photo of him disappeared from the house. It was as if he'd never existed. Me and my brothers weren't even allowed to go to his funeral. His death was made absolute.

Some jobs are for women, and some jobs are for men. It has nothing to do with how capable women are.

I don't really miss anything, I'm so focussed on what I have to do - I'm so focussed on my work - that I don't miss any creature comforts.

If you start to pass blame or responsibility on to others, that's when I'm going to start to get really angry.

We have a responsibility as ex-soldiers to realise we're no longer in the military. All this 'once a soldier, always a soldier', that's all well and good, but that attitude doesn't work in society.

I'm from a generation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our battleground was where we learned. It's not like the old generation where they used to train and train and train, and then suddenly an operation would come up, and they'd go on it.