Arben Islami was only 14 years old in 1999, when 1000 British soldiers entered Kosovo with the Green Berets.
15 years later he became one of them, to repay Britain for helping liberating his country.
“I watched the British marines as a child and I wanted to become like them. When I arrived here as a refugee, I wanted to be part of the Armed Forces and do something to turn the favor to this country that helped me so much”.
Islami started living with a British family that took acre of the minor refugee. He learned English and finally settled in Birmingham.
He never turned to Kosovo and has no plans to return, because now he is married. With the passing of years he aspired to be a marines and right after he received the British citizenship in 2012, he joined the Royal Infantry Brigade, a military unit with a 350 year old story. After 10 weeks in a training center, in Southern England, Arben Islami, 28, changed plans and became a reservist at the Royal Marines.
“’It is a huge privilege, particularly coming from another country, to join the Royal Marines because they are one of the best forces in the world”, he declared.
After qualification he thinks to keep working in construction, but he wishes that one day he will be able to deploy with 3 Commando Brigade, the UK’s amphibious infantry, in the future.
“You’ve got so many opportunities in England it would be a shame to waste them,’ he added. ‘You can be anything you want.”
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