My name is Michael Nothnagel. I am 18 years of age and I’ve lived in Newport for the majority of my life. However, I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and I was in the process of applying for British Citizenship when I joined the Military Preparation College in Raglan Barracks, Newport, after leaving school.

As long as I can remember I have wanted to join the Royal Marines and to prepare for this I have been attending MPCT Newport for almost 2 years. This has both improved my physical and mental capabilities and for example my confidence and general public speaking have improved drastically. Last year I was privileged to be asked to give my testimonial to a group of MPs at the Houses of Parliament in London. This is something I would not have even dreamt of being able to do before attending the college. My fitness has gone from doing barely nothing to getting a high B grade on my recent Potential Royal Marines Course in Lympstone, Devon, and I am very proud of that.

Unfortunately my joining the Royal Marines was dependent on me having UK Citizenship and a British passport which has a total cost of over £1200. Though my parents were supportive, I was having difficulty in finding the funds. I was told that I may be able to ask for assistance from the MLT charity and I was encouraged to submit a bid.

The Motivation and Learning Trust has been instrumental in helping me to achieve my dream of joining the Royal Marines. By arranging an interest free loan to be repaid once I am earning enough money, it has allowed me to submit a passport application and I now have a start date for me to commence recruit training on the 4th of June 2018.

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me to achieve my dream, both in the college and the MLT. I aim to do the MLT and MPCT proud in my career with the Royal Marines.

Afternote: At time of writing, Michael is over halfway through his training and is repaying his loan in monthly installments from his Military Salary. Good luck Michael; well done!