Rachel Webster served all over the world with the RMP (Royal Military Police), including deployments in Northern Ireland during The Conflicts and in Afghanistan during the 2001 allied invasion. After completing an apprenticeship in welding she wanted to join the Royal Engineers, but she was laughed out of the recruiting office for being a “girl”. After some consideration, she decided to join the RMP instead. She completed her basic training with the WRAC (Women's Royal Army Corps), and did further training with the RMP before being deployed to Germany. In her interview she discusses the challenges of being a female within the military and the challenges of trying to keep up with the frontline military units she was supporting. She talks about her experience of integrating herself into a very male dominated space, and how she became someone who the men could confide in during difficult times. Rachel talks about being deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo with the Green Howards, remembering it as her toughest deployment. The atrocities she witnessed over there are something that she has never forgotten, needing counselling when she returned home to help her emotionally come to terms about what she witnessed over there. One of her proudest moments was deploying to Iraq in 2003, where she helped build a local girls' school, impressing the Iraqi men with her welding skills and forming strong relationships with the locals. After being put up for commission, she supported 1st Battalion, The Rifles in Afghanistan as a regimental admin officer, the highlight of her career. After 24 years, she left the military for a new challenge.

Gilbert Beck’s journey into military music began humbly in rural Oxfordshire, where his father brought home a grand piano from a local market, sparking a lifelong passion. Raised in a musical family, Gilbert sang in the church choir and played organ before joining the Army in 1948 as a band boy with the Royal Artillery. Trained at Woolwich and later Kneller Hall, Gilbert played double bass, tuba, and bass trombone, eventually joining the North Staffordshire Regiment. His musical service took him across Europe and into the Korean War, where he played a vital role in maintaining morale. From conducting services with a portable organ to performing for multinational troops, including Canadians and Americans, his music helped bridge cultural divides in a devastated landscape. In Korea, Gilbert played at the dedication of a tented village for displaced civilians and led hymns at makeshift services in Gloucester Valley. His experience highlighted the humanising power of music amid the harshness of war. Later selected for the demanding bandmaster course at Kneller Hall, Gilbert's talent earned him great respect, even as he ultimately chose family life over a full military career. Music remained central to Gilbert’s life, both in and out of uniform - a true servant of harmony in service and in peace.