Second Lieutenant Emily Smith (2014) is the third female officer in the UK’s largest infantry regiment, The Rifles. Emily said she had wanted to join the Army from childhood. “I can’t even remember the first time that I wanted to be in the Army. My mum has a story of the Army visiting our School and me coming back and saying, ‘I’ve just had the best day of my life’ and my twin sister saying she’d had the worst day of her life.”

Emily credits her time in the CCF at Wells for first inspiring her, and the teachers at the School for encouraging her.

Emily is thought to have been the 10th woman to have gone through the Infantry Battle School in Brecon, Wales. “I am really, really proud even to be in that bracket, breaking the stigma. Once you have had one woman go through, everyone is a little more used to it. My experience at Brecon was great. I didn’t have any issues with being female. I think that shows we are making huge progress in the right direction and it is becoming more of the norm,” she said.