Veteran who cycled 31 miles for job interview shares struggles after leaving the Armed Forces

A 31-year-old veteran cycled 50 kilometres to a job interview

because he couldn't afford a taxi, setting off at about 2.30 in the morning to make his 5.45am appointment

which is incredibly early for a job interview, to be fair. Parachute Regiment veteran Rob Vigga

had submitted dozens of applications after leaving his job as a plastic welder in March

eventually securing an interview for a warehouse operative role. So, when his lift fell through

and the cost of a taxi proved too high, the father of two made the decision to complete

the two-hour, 25-minute journey by bike. And I'm very pleased to say that that man joins me now

It's parachute regiment veteran hero Rob Vigar. Rob, thank you very much for joining us, mate

I mean, God, amazing this. So, right, I do have to ask, sorry, did you get the job

I did, yeah. There's great news to follow as well, so, yeah. Right, well, I'm glad we started the interview

like that actually because that would have been a bit of a downer but anyway so so you decided you

were just going to get on your bike and do it and what motivated you to want to do that mate

uh just to provide for my daughters really and not leave myself with nothing and then move forward

i needed structure and routine to yeah move forward with my life positively and yeah

absolutely incredible and and did you tell them that you'd actually done that was that part of

your job interview process, he said, look, I'm that determined here that I am willing to cycle for 30 kilometres

Yeah, it was made apparent within, yeah, the first couple of minutes of arriving there

So yeah they were very impressed from the get Well I not surprised mate I think anyone would employ you after hearing that alone So full credit to you And yeah just tell us a little bit about how you feel about you know

because obviously we do have a bit of a society at the moment, I think, where people are finding certain excuses not to go to work, right

What would your message to those people be? Just persevere and good things will come your way

And that goes on to what I'm kind of creating at the minute

So I'm kind of creating this platform called Real Reason around R&R, my daughters

So it's to build a community of people like-minded like myself who are a bit misunderstood and, yeah, misguided from a young age who have troubles with drinking drugs and, yeah, just life after service

So I'm trying to create that platform to just show people that, yeah, there is light at the end of the tunnel

And once you're at rock bottom, the only way is up. So, yeah, I just want to get that out there as well

So my aim was never to be, yeah, to go onto social media and create this video

It was just more of a story to tell my daughters at a later stage in their life that, yeah, I did this

And, yeah. Well, I'm sure that they are incredibly proud of you, mate, and they absolutely should be

And would you mind just talking to me a little bit about what life after service can be like

because I speak to quite a few veterans and obviously you go from having quite a bit of routine

and obviously some of the things that you might have to do during your time in service as well can be tricky, can't they

And then you're out then onto Sivvy Street and it can be tough, can't it

Yeah it very daunting and it Yeah the grass is not greener so to speak And it For me personally it was a big change in life because within eight months of leaving the army

I had a lot of complications going on with my partner at the time. We later on found out that she was pregnant with twin girls

And then I just wasn't providing for her the way I should have been because I was misusing drinking drugs

And since then, I've never really understood why I was failing so much

And, yeah, I'm now on to my sixth job since leaving the military

because I just don't fit into the society correctly yet. But with this one, I'm confident because, yeah

I'm into a team leader role after my first shift. So after that cycle, I've done one shift

and now I'm team leader inducting people at 0545. Oh, mate, fantastic

I mean, that is just unbelievable. And I just think there's so many qualities that you can get

from people like yourself who have served this country that if we can find them the right roles

you're absolutely going to go and thrive because you've got so many skills that, frankly

people like me don't have, right, because you've had all of those years of service and everything

Do you think, as a country, we treat our veterans with the respect that they deserve

No, not at all. And that comes back to this platform I'm trying to create

because I want help for veterans. I want help for homeless people

I want help for young kids going through trauma so they don't have to live the life that I lived

and not get the answers early on because, yeah, I'm a strong believer that everyone deserves a second chance

and there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel as long as you persevere and stick with it

So go on then. In a nutshell, there's not enough help for veterans now. Yeah it does seem remarkable to me that we are fully prepared as a society to ask certain people to make the ultimate sacrifice and go to places that again people like me are unwilling or unable to go and don have the bottle for it

And then when you come out there, sometimes it just feels like we're cutting these people loose

or even at times maybe even demonising and stigmatising them as well

I just think that's a real flaw in our society. But look, go on then, just give this platform of yours another plug

Explain to people how they can get on it, how they can use it, what it is that you're trying to do

It's a personal blog that I've been doing since getting sober 25 days ago

So, yeah, I had a change in my life since losing my job

And since that day, I took a dramatic turn saying no more of this is going to happen

We need to restructure and reyse what was going wrong and go forward

So it's real reason. I'm not going to say my daughter's names because of all sorts of reasons

but it's R&R based off of them because they are my real reason. And I believe everyone has a real reason

They just need to establish what it is so they can proceed forward with positivity

Am I right in thinking that you are planning on repeating this cycle journey to work every day until the first day

Yeah, that's why I look a bit tired. I just cycled this morning at 0.200 to do interviews and induct new blokes

Amazing. I'm a bit tired. So, yeah, it's an ongoing thing. I've done it four times now, and I'll be doing it again tomorrow evening as well

Bless you, mate. Well, look, fantastic. Well, I think you're a massive, massive hero, and I wish you all the very best, Rob

And it would be lovely to stay in touch with you as well here and just follow your progress

And if there's anything that we can do to help or promote or anything like that, then, you know, it would be an absolute pleasure

So take care, mate. All the very, very best. And keep going, all right? Thank you very much

That's Rob Bigger there, who is a former parachute regiment veteran and a full-time hero

Thank you very, very much