Lt Brett Wild joined the Royal Navy in 2012 and has enjoyed a colourful career since, from Submariner, to Paralympic Ski Guide, to Officer.
Lt Wild started his Royal Naval career as a Steward Submariner in 2012 and could not believe his luck when he was asked to represent the Royal Navy Skiing team at Inter-Services.
‘I grew up skiing as my Father managed Glasgow Ski Centre, I began skiing at 3 years old and started racing for Glasgow Ski Club aged 10. I believed my skiing career was over when I joined the Navy so couldn’t believe my luck when I got to go skiing for 5 weeks in January 2014.’
Brett won the Slalom event at the Inter-Service competition and was selected for the Combined Services team to compete at the British Championships in France later that year.
In 2016, Brett was invited by his old coach to attend a trial period with a visually impaired Ski Racer. ‘The trial was in Austria and as my submarine was at sea and I was off watch, I was granted the time off to go.’
It was here that Brett was introduced to Millie Knight, a visually impaired alpine ski racer. Millie made her Paralympic debut at Sochi 2014, and at aged 15 become Paralympics GB’s youngest ever competitor at any Winter Paralympics.
Millie has 3% vision and requires a sighted ski guide to ski in front of her wearing a bright orange coloured jacket. Millie and Brett are attached via a bluetooth headset which allows them to communicate. It is Brett’s job to remain within 3 metres of Millie whilst giving her as much information over the headset as possible. Millie skies behind Brett at speeds of up to 70mph.
‘Millie and I got on very well during the trial and the team asked if I could have a further 2 weeks with Millie over in Aspen, USA competing in the World Cup Finals. Millie and I won 3 gold medals during our first races which was unheard of from such a new partnership.’
On completion of this, the GB Team contacted the Royal Navy and requested Brett was released as Millie’s full-time guide.
Brett was released by the Navy on the Elite Athlete programme and went on to race alongside Millie for the next 6 years. Brett said, ‘I never expected that to happen and already thought I was incredibly lucky to be getting up to 5 weeks a year to ski race.’
Being Millie’s ski guide meant that Brett was treated as an athlete in his own right, required to not only ski faster than Millie, but continually look behind whilst focussing on what lay ahead. ‘On top of this I had to constantly communicate throughout the skiing to pass information to Millie.’
Millie and Brett’s partnership went from strength to strength, winning the 2017 World Cup Globe in the giant slalom, Super-G and Downhill. ‘Our greatest results however came at the Tarvisio, Italy World Championships when we became GB’s first ever Snowsport World Champions in 2017.’
In 2018, the pair competed at their first Paralympics together. ‘It was a fantastic experience for me. It was my dream as a child to compete at the Olympics, so this really felt like a dream come true. The Olympic village was amazing. From the food courts with all the different foods of the world, to the relaxation areas and crowds of spectators. I will never forget the moment we won GB’s first Winter Paralympic Medal in 2018.’
At the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games Millie and Brett won silver medals in downhill and super-G as well as a bronze medal in the slalom on the final day of action.
The pair went on to claim gold in the super combined race at the delayed 2021 World Championships which took place in Lillehammer, Norway in January 2022, replicating their results from Tarvisio in 2017.
Following the World Championships, Millie and Brett raced at the World Cup finals in Sweden, where they won Super-G gold and were awarded the 2021⁄22 season Super-G Crystal Globe.
At the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, Millie and Brett claimed downhill bronze on the first day of competition on the slopes of Yanqing. The pair narrowly missed out on adding to their medal collection finishing fourth in both the women’s Super-G and Super Combined vision impaired events.
‘After the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Games I returned to Naval service beginning my Officer career and commissioned in December 2022. I have now completed my Logistics Officer Training and I work in HMNB Clyde as SO3 Coord working for Capt Elaine Boyd RN.’
Brett is still the Navy Ski Team Male Captain, and hopes to get back to ski racing for the Navy again this winter. ‘I hope to get onto the committee when I retire from racing myself and give something back to Royal Navy Snowsports. My next job in the Navy will be returning to submarines as a Logistics Officer and I am really looking forward to this challenging role.’
Joining the Royal Navy as a Submariner, a 6 year career as an Elite Athlete on the Paralympic programme, and back to the Navy to commission as an officer. Lt Wild has lived up to his name with a wild ride so far, with undoubtably many more achievements to come in his career.
You never know where a career in the Royal Navy will take you.
