There is nothing wrong with the military style of command as long as it is applied in the right way

Dynamite comes in small packages and, despite being capable of a rather loud explosion, so does plastic explosives. The latter I discovered by default thanks to a recent visit to the island of Cyprus where I was privileged enough to spend a few days with soldiers from Britain's Territorial Army, enjoying the thrill, and blood curdling fear, of setting off my own munition MacGyver style, joining patrols on the UN buffer zone and sampling an army meal, which all made for a huge change from the daily London office life of suits, PCs and business cards.

So how did a financial journalist who is supposed to specialise in the volatile world of mortgages, pensions and retail investment products find herself on an island in the Mediterranean surrounded by people dressed in camouflage, learning more about the very intricate art of clearing an area of live unexploded munitions, I hear you ask?

My mission was simple: to meet the commanding officer heading up the 101 Engineer Regiment, the UK's reserve bomb disposal regiment, who at the time was completing his last days in the position. Why? Well, besides the fact that lieutenant colonel Terry Smith had been heading up one of the crucial cogs in Britain's reserve land forces for the past two years he is also one of HSBC's most successful premier regional managers overseeing the management of all the bank's financial advisers operating in the east London region.

An Irishman in bone marrow, accent and, moreover, humour, the colonel is not only responsible for the financial advisers of 14 regions and 85 branches of HSBC, his involvement with the TA has regularly seen him swopping his office civvies for combat kit. In fact, he first became involved with the military at the tender age of 12 as a cadet in school and later going on to join the Officer Training Corps at Dundee University, where he studied towards a PhD. Once he had attained the celebrated title of doctor and finished his studies, he decided to join the TA and 23 years later he is still a loyal member of the force.

Mr Smith's military interest was triggered by his father's involvement in the Royal Navy and his great uncle, who was part of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army which was formed in 1881. The regiment saw service in the South African War, the First World War and the Second World War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968. His great uncle, who as part of the 10th battalion of the regiment was killed on 1 July 1916 in the Battle of Somme, among the largest battles of the First World War.

His ancestral roots and Northern Ireland background instilled in Mr Smith a dedication to the military which has spanned close to 30 years and as he travels the globe, contributing to the training of TA troops and helping to heal previous conflict zones such as Cyprus from its post war scars, such as the vast areas of unexploded munitions. He did,however, admit that it has been his long-standing girlfriend and loyal cat, Sweep, who have suffered most.