About the author.

Shaun Parkes is a retired business manager, a former European Operations Manager, and a retired Chartered Manager / Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, working in the computer networking logistics and defence equipment sectors, latterly as a Contracts Manager for a company supplying military equipment, weapons systems, ammunition and explosives, and plant and machinery, also acting as an advisor on Special Forces weapons and specialist equipment.

He came out of early, medical grounds retirement in 2020 to join the DHSC  Freight Team as part of its COVID Emergency Reponse, bringing in and distributing the Personal Protective Equipment needed by the NHS medics fighting the pandemic. Starting on the Emergency Freight Desk responding to NHS facilities that were running out of PPE,  working remotely. he volunteered to work permanent nights so the rest of the team could work days only. He assumed wider responsibilities, becoming the Operational Freight Finance Controller, carrying out complex financial modelling to ascertain the most financially sensible solutions to operational situations, and ensuring that the DHSC was being billed correctly by the freight companies and airlines, saving the public purse over £5 million. 

From an RAF family, he originally intended to be a commissioned officer in Her Majesty's Royal Marines, but was thwarted by repetitive stress fractures over a number of years. As a former Air Cadet he was a Warrant Officer (adult instructor) in the AIr Training Corps for 12 years before commissioning as an Officer in the Training Branch of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, serving 22 years before retiring as a Squadron Leader in 2018. His last unit command was 78 (Wembley) Squadron ATC, where he took over a demotivated and underperforming unit, motivating and directing the staff team and transforming the unit so much that it won the Marshall Trophy for the Most Improved Squadron in the country for the period 2006-2009.

He was a Senior Instructor on a specialist Small Arms Training Team as a Weapons Instructor Trainer and Coaching Instructor, was a course-qualified Combat Marksmanship Coach, training other instructors in the safe handling of firearms, how to teach weapons safety and operating drills, and how to coach shooters to obtain better results. He was also a First Aid Trainer Assessor, a Regional First Aid Training Officer with six training teams under his command, and a member of the ATC First Aid National Traning Team and FIrst Aid Panel. 

In his retirement, he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, tracing his family history, and in all genres of photography.