Sometimes life truly does imitate art. That is the story of 17-year-old Debra Bell – a young military student from Durham, who is on her way to becoming an army medic after drawing inspiration from the TV show ‘Our Girl’.

While becoming a part of the military is a childhood dream, Debra had originally begun working toward taking up the path of a system communication engineer. However, the pandemic came about and caused a shift in her priorities. When she saw the exceedingly active role being played by the military, she decided she wanted to join the medical corps.

Her 14-week basic Army training commences in September, after which she will spend 22 weeks at the Royal Army Medical School, at DMS Whittington.

Debra, like Michelle Keegan’s character Georgie Lane in the BBC One show, wants to assume an active role in helping save lives around the world. And it won’t be long since her training to help at the frontlines has already begun.

She is enrolled at Catterick Military Preparation College – one of 35 across England and Wales. While at the college, alongside rigorous physical conditioning, she has also taken up the role of the College Ambassador, helping her iron out her leadership skills.

Military Preparation Colleges allow 16–19-year-olds to find new avenues toward skills and careers that they can use both as civilians and members of the military, should they choose to go that route. They are enriching because the instructors are former members of the British Armed Forces, who use their real-life experiences and background to teach what they know.

Debra speaks of the course extremely enthusiastically. “This has been the perfect course for me because it’s given me the best possible preparation for a military career,” she said.

She explained that she has big plans in life and taking up an MPC allows her to follow through with them.

“I always knew I didn’t want to go to university, get a job, get married and settle down. I want to travel the world and I want to help people – to save their lives if I can – and I can’t wait to join up in the autumn,” she said.

One of her instructors, Lawrence Corbett, explained that Debra was a focussed, purposeful person, and has made genuinely effective use of her training.

“A can-do attitude is embedded in us, as former military personnel ourselves and in our role training our young learners,” he said.

He also went onto explain that while not all students end up choosing to go toward a military career, it is a direction that is well suited for Debra.

“Not all our students progress to military careers by any means, but Miss Bell has had her sights set on the Army for a long time. She knows what she wants, and we have helped her get to the point where she can have it. She will be an asset to the armed forces, and we are all very proud of her,” he said.

Here’s hoping Debra does Georgie Lane proud. We’re waiting to see the incredible things she achieves.