Key Takeaways:
- Sarah Cartwright-Styles, also known as Commander Styles, is a 54-year-old primary school headmistress who also serves as a Royal Navy reservist.
- She is one of 22 female commanders in the navy reserve and the only one to hold a high-ranking position in the navy while also being a primary school headmistress.
- Cartwright-Styles has been fitted for the first made-to-measure military uniform for a non-royal woman at Gieves & Hawkes’s military department.
- She has juggled both roles for nearly three decades and believes that time-management and being strict with her diary are key to managing two careers.
- Cartwright-Styles is passionate about inspiring young people to join the military and believes that it can be a rewarding and fulfilling career.
Introduction to Commander Styles
Sarah Cartwright-Styles, a 54-year-old primary school headmistress, leads a double life. By day, she is known as Mrs. CS to her pupils at North Bridge House independent school in Hampstead, north London, where she teaches children aged two to seven. However, away from the school gates, she becomes Commander Styles, a Royal Navy reservist. With a no-nonsense attitude and a self-described "authoritative style," Cartwright-Styles has juggled both roles for nearly three decades. As military chiefs warn of the looming threat of war with Russia, she is prepared to fight for her country, stating, "I wear the King’s commission. I should be ready to do whatever is asked, and that is an expectation of anyone serving in the forces."
A Career in the Navy Reserve
Cartwright-Styles is one of 22 female commanders in the navy reserve out of 107 commanders overall. She is the only one, however, to manage a high-ranking position in the navy while also being a primary school headmistress. To mark her promotion to commander, she has been fitted for the first made-to-measure military uniform for a non-royal woman at Gieves & Hawkes’s military department. The Savile Row outfitter, which was founded in 1771, made the uniform worn by Prince William on his wedding day. Cartwright-Styles’s father, whose own uniform was from Gieves & Hawkes, had wanted to buy her first uniform when she was first commissioned, but the store did not make female uniforms at the time.
Managing Two Careers
For Cartwright-Styles, managing two careers is about time-management. "What the reserves is really good at doing is understanding that you do have two careers," she says. "At weekends [you] get yourself out of bed, get motivated and do something rather than procrastinating. You might want to stay in and watch a movie but [you] go out, do something different, push your boundaries." She believes that being strict with her diary and ring-fencing certain weekends for training is essential to balancing her two roles. Her school is "very amenable" if she has to dedicate time for military exercises, as long as she gets her "day job done." Cartwright-Styles’s personal motto, which she conveys to the children in the school assembly, is: "I will try everything once and I will either not like it, love it, or decide it’s not for me."
Inspiring Young People
Cartwright-Styles joined the Wrens — the Women’s Royal Naval Service, which has since been fully integrated into the navy — in 1991 when she was 19, inspired by her father, who was an X-craft midget submarine commanding officer during the Second World War. She signed up to the regular navy as a rating but decided she wanted to be a teacher. She trained for her new career in 1997 but decided by the following year to join the reserves so she could carry out both roles. Cartwright-Styles is now in charge of initial naval training and believes that the military can be a rewarding and fulfilling career. She has brought her medals into school to tell the children about life in the military, which she believes helps to bring a human touch to the subject.
Bridging the Divide
Al Carns, the armed forces minister and a Royal Marine reservist, has stated that the division between the military and the public is "bigger than it’s ever been." Cartwright-Styles believes that by sharing her experiences with her pupils, she can help to bridge this divide. "They enjoy that because it brings the human touch," she says. "I think sometimes as a child you might see the military as a soldier on parade outside Buckingham Palace … [if] you actually know someone in the military I think makes it more real for the children." By inspiring young people to join the military and sharing her own experiences, Cartwright-Styles is helping to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the armed forces.
