Four teenagers from Carterton Community College have been picked by a national military children’s charity to star on a new podcast about Armed Forces life.

Kieran Everett, 15, Alfie Crabb, 15, Alfie Savage, 14, and Kayleigh Lundy, 14, are four of 15 military teens who appear on SQUAD, a podcast by Little Troopers – the UK’s only charity to supports all children who have parents serving in the British Armed Forces.

Presented by TV and radio broadcast and mental health ambassador, Katie Thistleton, and Leicester Tigers rugby player, Thom Smith – who also grew up in a military family - the eight-episode podcast sees the Carterton teens and other guests share their personal experiences of being a service child and their views on some of the unique challenges that service children face including deployment and separation, schooling, moving home and forming new friendships.

Kieran, Alfie, Kayleigh and Alfie were put forward by their teacher, Hannah Owen, after Kieran and Alfie started their own ‘service club’ in school.

Kieran said: “I think military children all have a special bond as we all share very similar experiences. We understand each other and know how to support each other. Not all young people from forces families are lucky enough to have a service club in school which is why I think the Little Troopers podcast is such an important project and I’ve been so pleased to be involved.

"I hope other military teens take comfort and ease of mind from listening and hearing from other young people who feel the same as they do.”

SQUAD is funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust as part of the ‘Little Troopers at School’ project.

Louise Fetigan, founder of the charity, explained: “We hope that lots of military teens will listen to SQUAD at home and that secondary schools will also find value in bringing their military children together to listen in class and use it to spark further conversation about military life in school.”

Presenter Katie Thistleton, who appears on Radio 1 and CBBC, added: “It’s been fantastic to meet so many inspiring young people who have grown up in an Armed Forces family and to give them a platform where they can share their stories and chat about what life is like from their point of view.

"Thom and I have been the presenters, but SQUAD is all about military teens; it’s their podcast and they have led the conversation in a really fun, honest and relatable way that will resonate with the thousands of other teenagers across the British Armed Forces community who share similar experiences."

The first episode is now available wherever you get your podcasts.