His career took him to Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan, where he earned the Military Cross for gallantry while acting as a major and company commander of around two hundred crack paratroopers in Helmand Province — after which he authored his book ‘Company Commander’ detailing his experiences just before leaving the service.

After leaving the military in 2013, though he still holds a position as a reserve army officer with the Grenadier Guards, and completing his book, Russ transitioned into strategy and leadership consultancy work. Down the line he became a board member at the NACFB, after which he moved into the commercial finance sector.

While finding his feet in his new profession, Russ faced obstacles that were unfamiliar during his time in uniform, such as navigating tax payments and knowing what to wear to a business meeting — issues he had never encountered but are often taken for granted in civilian life.

These issues were indicators of further challenges for veterans and the armed forces community as a whole.

As Russ ventured into his consultancy career, he noted that as a one-man band had its advantages in that he only had to organise these elements for himself, but others looking to bring others on-board for their business may struggle.

“If I'd wanted to set up a business and have some employees and associates, I wouldn't have had a clue. I really wouldn't. And nothing from leaving [the regiment] would have prepared me for that. I would have muddled through,” shared Russ.

After speaking with a lance corporal he had served with in Afghanistan, Russ found that despite the ostensible ease of success of his comrade’s self-employed venture, he too had faced issues that the military did not prepare him for.

Russ had reached out to congratulate his ex-colleague to hear more about his journey: “I'd love to know your experiences,” Russ asked the former soldier.

“[I was] thinking he was going to come back with this amazing story, and he did, but it wasn't what I thought,” said Russ.

The lance corporal shared how a lack of understanding about his background made it difficult for him to secure funding, pushing him to self-fund his business, which was propped up by his house.

Russ believes that despite the employability of veterans, they may struggle to find finance to start up their own ventures. According to the ONS, veterans were slightly less likely to be self-employed than non-veterans, with statistics showing a comparison of 7.2% with 9.6%, respectively.

“Employers love sweeping up service leavers because you get a motivated, disciplined individual who can follow clear direction but also can be a creative thinker,” stated Russ.

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While organisations such as Help for Heroes, of which Russ spent a tenure as lead facilitator of its management development programme, provide much needed help to veterans such as financial support, he saw that more needed to be done to bridge the gap between commercial finance and the UK’s military community.

To do this, Russ partnered with Paul Goodman, who had previously been the chair of the NACFB, and is currently chair of the board of directors at Goodman Corporate Finance.

The result of their collaboration was Finance for Forces, an organisation looking to provide commercial finance to the military community.

Finance for Forces aims to help serving members and veterans of the military start their own businesses, as well as support the wider community — such as their families —which can be difficult when they may need to follow loved ones as they fulfil their service.

“Bear in mind that if your other half was serving [in the military], you're getting moved every three years, you're getting posted,” Russ explained, “the commercial world isn't set up that well to support [the movement of addresses].”

Finance for Forces’ broader ambition is to bridge the gap between lenders and veterans.

“What we’re finding is… there are lots of lenders who really want to help the veteran community, but they don't know how to reach [them].”

With Paul’s relationships with lenders, as well as Russ’s first-hand experience with military individuals and his access to the community, Russ believes this has given Finance for Forces its advantage of being in the ‘middle’.

“We are slap bang in the middle of this confused space where you've got [lots of] lenders that want to lend.

“You've got a load of people here who've got brilliant ideas, big and small, for starting their business, growing their business, whatever it might be, and there’s no interface to allow those two to communicate with each other in a way they both understand. We are that interface.”

With his extensive experience in the military, Russ has managed to reach out to those in the forces — firstly with his army comrades, but now with growing connections in the RAF and the Royal Navy.

Having been an officer on some of the nation’s most recent battlegrounds, Russ has taken the lessons he learnt into the commercial finance world.

As a commander directing his troops in the field or elsewhere, he remembers being surrounded by specialists — from radio operators on his shoulder, needed at moment’s notice, to logisticians required for supplying resources in difficult areas, to intelligence personnel providing the vital information needed for profoundly dangerous tasks — all were necessary, all were specialists.

For those who have spent their service surrounded by specialists for their tasks, Russ doesn’t see why finance should be any different. “We want to be the specialists in commercial finance.”

And while those within the military community may come across hurdles that the civilian world takes for granted, Finance For Forces has a message for that community: “Don't worry, we can sort all that for you, we can be your specialists.”