Phil Bowman has traded life chasing pirates across the high seas to become a student male nurse. Jamie Burton found out more.

 

Phil Bowman was a paratrooper who fought in Iraq and chased pirates across the coast of East Africa.

Now he’s swapped his machine gun for a nurse’s scrubs at Teesside University and says he has never felt more fulfilled.

Mr Bowman has taken up an adult nursing degree at the Middlesbrough university and hopes to work for the Red Cross after graduation.

The 32-year-old, originally from Tyneside but now living by the River Tees, spent the last 18 months working for a private company, called Maritime Asset Security and Training, or MAST. The company is hired by shipping companies to protect ships off the coast of Africa which are threatened by pirates.

His team of four security men would be armed with AK47 and Dragunov and patrol the ship keeping an eye out for pirate boats who pose a threat to their vessel.

Mr Bowman said: “We had one serious encounter off the coast of Yemen near a group of islands which is notorious with pirates. A boat was approaching us so we fired a flare as usual but they opened fire on us.

“After 20 minutes of exchanging fire we forced them to abandon their attack. This came after a month of bad weather and rough seas so I think they must have been really desperate to attack us.”

With a background in the Parachute Regiment, Phil moved into overseas private security at 24, working in Iraq for four years as security for the U.S. Core of Engineers. During his time in Iraq he had periods of being mortared every night and vehicles he was travelling in were hit explosive devises five time.

After his stint in Iraq he left for a life on the high seas where he earned “rock star wages.”

He said: “I managed to see countries that I wouldn’t usually see, like Egypt or Djibouti. Some were very hostile but seeing different hardships in these countries made me appreciate things back home even more. Things like education, for example, which is free in England.

“Kids were fighting to go to school there. They would beg on the streets because they want to go to school whereas it is taken for granted at home.”

His motivation for going into nursing stems came from the admiration he felt for nurses who helped his mother who was diagnosed with dementia from a young age.

He said: “I may help people but I don’t get the immediate satisfaction of seeing the positive impact I made in someone’s life like you do with nursing.”