On Bobby’s arm is his story. Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Gulf – the conflicts, uniforms and guns are etched on his flesh. “Sometimes I regret the tattoos,” he said, “they’re a reminder. But then I’m not likely to forget any time soon, am I?”
Bobby left the army in 1997 but, like an estimated one in five men and women serving in the armed forces, his experiences have left him with serious mental health problems which have damaged his ability to cope with civilian life, broken up his marriage, ruined friendships and eaten away at his physical health.
“I’d give my legs if my head would be OK. If I could just have a night’s sleep. It’s like I’m in a time warp, stuck in that time, going over and over things. I’m like a squirrel locked in a squirrel cage. After I came back from the Gulf, my mother said I was a different person. The anger, the dreams.”
In Bobby’s time, the response to soldiers suffering from trauma-related stress was too often “give yourself a shake, you’re a soldier,” said Heather Budge-Reid, chief executive of the charity Gardening Leave.
The Guardian: The garden of peace: helping veterans heal the mental scars of war
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