A teenager from Braintree has fulfilled a lifelong ambition - by joining the Royal Signals.
Polly-Anna Copeman, of Bradford Street, is joining the Army in May to become an apprentice telecommunications technician - one of the few women to join that branch of the service.
The 17-year-old said: "I will be taught how to use signal equipment, radars and scanners which is very exciting.
"The Royal Signals play an important role because it's they who locate enemy planes, submarines and so on.
"We are often told the next global war will be a communications war so I'm entering the fray at a critical time."
Polly-Anna has already demonstrated her potential. In four years with the Essex Cadet Force she earned many plaudits and was named the highest ranked female in the county.
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