Afghanistan call up for JustGoodCars.com Commercial Director

Colin Mathieson, Commercial Director at JustGoodCars.com, will be spending the next nine months working for the British Forces as a Liaison Officer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

As an RAF Reservist Colin spends many weekends and a 15 day continuous training period each year fulfilling his role as a Medical Support Officer with the Royal Air Forces Aeromedical Evacuation Specialists. His Units role is to fly injured personnel from their initial point of injury on the front line, often delivering life saving care while in the air, to the nearest medical facility within Afghanistan - or once a casualty has been treated, to then deliver the medical care they need while flying them home to the UK.

This will be his 3rd Operational Tour of Duty during a 25 year career in the Reserves having also deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1991 for the first Gulf War and then again in 2003 for Gulf War II – but what is the appeal of Reserve Military Service and what will happen to JustGoodCars.com while he is away?

“As well as 25 years in the Reserves I’ve also enjoyed an almost identical period in publishing – initially in print and for the past 6 years online, firstly with fish4cars and for the past two years running

JustGoodCars.com” explains Colin. “The two careers complement each other in many ways – both involve managing and leading teams to achieve set goals and targets, each benefit from the experiences and training that the other offers. I’m certain that I wouldn’t have achieved the Commercial success I have without my life in the Forces or that I would have been promoted to my current Rank and been selected for the job I’m going to do in Afghanistan without my industry experience and understanding.”

“We are a relatively small team at JustGoodCars.com and we have very quickly identified the positives and addressed the negatives of me being away for 9 months – we will continue to grow the quality and quantity of our user base and improve the functionality, look and feel of the site by reinvesting my costs. All existing clients will continue to receive the levels of customer service and increased response they have come to expect and that we have all worked so hard to achieve over the past two years – we’ve appointed an interim Customer Services Manager to take care of that side of the business to ensure there is no disruption to the service we deliver”

For the next few months Colin Mathieson will be a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force reporting for Duty towards the end of August and returning to his role as Commercial Director with JustGoodCars.com in the spring of 2011 – an incredible change in role and circumstance for a man in our industry.