Army First As Officer Presents Daughter With Graduation Honour

Lieutenant Colonel Heakin is the first British Army officer to present his daughter with the Ammunition Technician (Class 2) badge. (Picture: Crown Copyright).

A British Army explosives expert made history when he presented his daughter with her Ammunition Technician badge after she graduated.

The presentation came as a surprise 19-year-old Private Blythe Heakin, who knew her father, Lieutenant Colonel Eamon Heakin, was attending the ceremony, but not that he would be there as the Presenting Officer.

Private Heakin said: “It was a major shock, I didn’t think it was going to happen at all; a couple of people have made jokes about it and I’d actually bet the course and now it’s going to cost me a bit that my dad would not be the presenting officer – but I was thrilled to find out that he was.

“I’ve never heard of a father being the Presenting Officer before, so it was an honour to be welcomed into the trade by my dad.”

Following her graduation, Private Heakin will now move to Deepcut where she will learn to drive and then to Shrivenham to complete her training before being posted to her new unit and being promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

A proud Lt Col Heakin, who is the recipient of two Queen’s Gallantry Medals for operational tours of Northern Ireland and Iraq, said: “Having spent the last 30 years in trade as an AT and later an AT Officer I could never have imagined being in the honoured position to be presenting an AT badge to the AT Course which included my only daughter Blythe."  

He continued: “She has accompanied me on every tour, always there on deployment and then on post-operational tour leave, sharing many special leaving and returning moments in the family of Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Operations.

“Blythe has spent her childhood in the shadows of a well-respected trade watching the various challenges which the MoD has met, and now she has transitioned into that trade herself.  

“I cannot believe that she is now part of a very special trade and extended family within Defence”.

The graduation ceremony was held at Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment (DEMS Training Regiment) in Kineton, Warwickshire.