Marie Gleeson

And because of that, one of them didn't get selected for promotion.

So like that's the kind of team spirit and camaraderie and esprit de corps that is in the Navy.

Like somebody sacrificed their career for me.

They could have let me at home.

Yeah, massive.

But when I went back to work, like I say this all the time, I looked the same, spoke the same, had the same uniform.

People thought I was the same person, but I wasn't.

And when I, there's a whole other side in the book about the journey to command and taking command of the Alifa.

But a year and a half later, when I went out to Aoife, like I knew I wasn't the same person, but I knew I could be a really good captain and I could be a very good leader.

because I understood emotional intelligence and empathy in a way that I never understood before.

So we could still work to the highest level.

We could be absolutely professional.

But at the same time, you know, I wasn't going to make people's lives any more difficult.

Yeah, well, Ciarán gave me huge bravery.

Like even the day I took command in Waterford, I had my speech written and I knew that's a big day in your career.

Like the VIPs are there, the head honchos, all the crew are there and you get to make your first kind of public speech as a captain.

And I had written what I felt was a strong, you know, address as much as for my crew as for anybody else.

But as I walked out that day, the one person who wasn't in it was Ciarán.

So as I stood at the podium in Waterford,

I remember this moment and just being like, no, I can't deny him.