Do you look up or do you look down?
Everyone’s perspective is different, we all look at things in different ways, and there is nothing wrong with that. It encourages debate, and opportunities to understand opposing views. Sometimes there is no right or wrong answer.
Recruitment has provided me with the opportunity to speak to many people over the years. Recruiting into the defence sector has many challenges, but more recently there seems to be an increase in people who are unwilling to consider working in defence due to morality issues. Again, there is nothing wrong with this and I would never try to encourage anyone to carry out a role that they feel uncomfortable with, but these conversations have made me think about how the defence sector is perceived and why.
This brings me back to my initial question; do you look up or do you look down?
Defence in its meaning is described as “action that is taken to protect someone or something against attack”. In a sporting analogy, defenders train to protect their goal from attacks. They may find themselves in the lofty position of occasionally supporting attackers, but fundamentally their job is to protect their team.
The defence sector covers a whole variety of technologies, systems and services that are used by our forces to protect the nation. Be that against threats to the country from other nations and terrorists, the new age of digital and cyber threats to our infrastructure or ensuring safe passage for logistics and supplies. We are an island nation after all, so if supplies aren’t protected, we could find ourselves without the everyday essentials that we take for granted.
The last few years have provided everyone with an insight into what could happen if we aren’t able to defend ourselves. The atrocities taking place in Ukraine and the wider world paint a devastating picture of what the defence sector is involved with daily. We often see the destruction of cities and countries as well as the human impact on the news, scenes that no doubt infuriate us all, and this can paint a picture of what the defence industry is about.
However, like with all good debate, there is another side that often gets overlooked. The side where the technologies, systems and services developed by the defence sector are used for defence, to protect against those who feel it is their right to take what isn’t theirs. Without the defence sector, we wouldn’t have the capability to defend ourselves, we wouldn’t have the deterrents that make people think twice about taking wrong actions, and we wouldn’t be afforded the freedom that we are accustomed to.
There are always certain mitigating factors that mean that some aspects of the defence sector are used offensively, but they are normally only used in extreme circumstances. Nothing in life is 100% fail-proof, but by developing solutions that enable us to protect ourselves, we are providing the opportunity for a future which we can look forward to.
So, do you look down at the destruction that can sometimes be created in the wrong hands, or do you look up at the protection it provides against the never-ending threats that are there, but we never know about due to the defence sector and the value it provides to our safety and way of life?
Date: 9th February 2024
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