Acting Sergeant Stuart A Boxall-Hunt

Stuart  joined 4 Coy 10 PARA in January 1986 and passed out from Depot in Cadre 109, August/September of that year. He then attended my Parachute course in January/February of 1987.

Due to attending Keele University he transferred as an Ocdt to Birmingham University OTC, until the summer of 1988, when he returned to London and rejoined the company as an officer cadet, soon to be a Tom again (Stuart did jump into Arnhem with the rank and attended the Officers cocktail party in the Hartenstein Hotel!).

In 1989 the Bn exercised as part of Exercise 'White Rhino' in BAOR. He promoted to LCPL in 1990, after having passed the Pte to LCPL cadre at Annual Camp on Salisbury Plain. Stuart also completed his RMQ3 at Depot.

In the early 1990s he completed a Regimental Signallers course and became the Coy Signaller for 2 years. He also passed the TA Sharpshooter Course (Marksman) and in 1993 SCBC.

In 1993 Stuart, amongst a number of others from the Bn, volunteered for an S Type engagement to 3 and 2 PARA. A selection was run by HDPRCC in Pirbright and in late February 1994 he was posted onto the ORBAT of C Coy, 3 Para. After a beat-up in Aldershot and the joys of Bn life in Montgomery Lines the Bn deployed to Kenya on Ex Grand Prix.

On their return to the UK  Stuart, and the other members of 10 PARA were posted to 2 PARA in Holywood Bks in Belfast. On passing the Acceptance Cadre he was posted to 4 Pln, where he enjoyed the full range of experiences to be enjoyed on Ops.

In March of 1995 he completed his S Type and returned to 4 Coy. Finding that he couldn't settle Stuart, and other members of the Bn, volunteered for a S Type to the 2nd Bn Light Infantry, deploying later that year to the Former Yugoslavia. They arrived in Allan brooke Bks, Paderborn while the Bn was still on Exercise in BATUS, so attended a number of role relevant courses. On the Bns return Stuart was posted to C Coy, 2LI with a few others from the Bn.

The unit spent the summer preparing for the upcoming Op and trying to integrate with the Coy/Bn, which proved difficult due to a marked difference in ethos and leadership between them and the guest unit. We deployed to FY in September of 1995, arriving in Split by air and the deploying by bus to meet up with the Warrior vehicles 'in country'. Their rolement took them via Vitez and Kiseljak, to Christmas on Mt. Igman, patrolling into central Sarajevo and it's outskirts. In December the Dayton Peace Accords had been signed and C Coy deployed north to the previously untouched town of Banja Luka, via the heavily fought over bulge around Mikonijgrad. Stuart had the pleasure of cutting the padlock on the gates of the Metal Factory in BL, which then became their location. At this time they were the Northern most Coy of the Bde. From here Stuart accompanied the OC as his dismount signaller and BG to local Warlord and Local Bde Commander meetings.

From BL they then moved south to Krupa nBas and to a final location from where they oversaw the repatriation of foreign Jihadi fighters to their country of origin. This included many from the UK.

On their return to Germany they accepted the option to take immediate leave and returned to 10 PARA.

After this Stuart served with 4 Coy until the Bn was disbanded at the end of 1999. During that time he passed PSBC and a number of other courses. Stuart deployed to Belize for 8 weeks on exercise and attended a number of Annual Camps. Stuart wasn't selected to remain with the Bn on disbandment and transferred to the HAC. He continued until weekend 3 of the Patrol Selection Cadre, then withdrew due to a clash of personalities.

Stuart re-enlisted in January of 2008 with 10 Coy 4 PARA in White City. As he had been out for over 8 years, Stuart reverted back to Pte and had to CIC in Catterick. His aim was to deploy on FTRS to 2 PARA for their Herrick Tour, but administrative complications prevented this from happening.

Stuart was told about the opportunity to FTRS as a Military Linguist, and passed the MLAT with 89%. Having completed his application Stuart expected to start in September 2009, but Manning & Records lost his application and he had to re-apply. Stuart passed my FTRS course at Chilwell and was posted to DSL Beaconsfield in January 2010 to attend the 15 month Long Language Course in Pashto.

In late January 2011 Stuart became very seriously ill, which delayed his deployment until Spring 2012, on Herrick XVI. He deployed initially as an interpreter for the MSSG at FOB Shawkat, but due to the drawdown and effective lack of jobs Stuart was deployed with the Brigade Afghan Local Police Assessment Team. This involved travelling widely over the AOR and assessing infrastructure, manning and training of the Local Police. 3 months into the tour Stuart fell ill with a virulent viral infection and was Aeromed 'casevaced' to QEH in Birmingham.

On his recovery Stuart saw out the remainder of his FTRS at DSL helping develop more relevant and competent language training.

In early 2013 Stuart returned briefly to the now B Coy 4 PARA, but as all his old friends had now left he transferred to University of London OTC where he stayed until 2017, developing and mentoring potential officers, running the Signals Training and stores, the Medical Training, stores and participating in as much Adventure Training as possible.

Between 2017 and 2019 Stuart worked at Birmingham University OTC.

He was discharged from HM Forces in July 2022, just after his 55th birthday.