In my free time, I like to work out. It’s for sure one of my favorite hobbies. One of my normal routines is to work out at the gym at least 4 days/week. I also run, ride bike and do stand-up paddle board.
In 2018, I also started running “OCR RUN’s” (obstacle course racing), which is like military obstacle course racing. This type of sport in Portugal is increasing a lot! Of course, since COVID, everything is stopped.
During spring and summer, I enjoy stand-up paddle boarding, taking walks with my girlfriend or just relaxing at the beach or swimming pool and catching some sun.
I like everything that involves nature: hiking, visiting new places, and exploring.
When I was a child, I was not interested in the military life. I wanted to become a policeman or a firefighter. One of my favorite hobbies at that time was to build wood cabins next to my home. My father was in the Portuguese Navy and, when I reached the age of 17, my mindset changed and I became very interested in the Navy.
So, after some time thinking about that new idea, after I turned 18 years-old, I applied to join the Portuguese Navy and I am still here! This year, I will complete 16 years of service! Over the years, I have learned a lot and I did some deployments on Portuguese Navy Ships (N.R.P. Antonio Enes and N.R.P. Joao Roby) for a total of four and a half years.
During my time on Portuguese Navy Ships, I had the most demanding tasks of my career, but they were also the most memorable times, especially during visits to the Portuguese Islands Azores and Madeira, to the south of Spain and to Canada.
It has been amazing to work in NATO/STRIKFORNATO. Here we have opportunities to learn with people from several countries and to learn about their culture. With COVID, it is a little bit different because we can’t socialize as much, but I hope I can return to our “normal life” as soon as possible. Here in STRIKFORNATO, we used to have some morale/social events that are great for motivation and I believe that it is important to build teamwork.
If I had not joined the Navy, I would probably be working in something related with sports or nature, because those are my big interests.
Another thing that is important to me, and it is connected to nature, is the Environmental sustainability, some small things that we all should do to “Save Planet Earth”. We all should help in this enormous task because we all live on planet Earth and only we can save it. We all can help by recycling, saving water, and walking or biking instead of using cars. If I could do something that would really make a difference in the world, it would be for sure some measures to help “Save Planet Earth”.
