Land, Sea & Air - Stories from the Armed Forces

Afghanistan: James Glancy, Royal Marines - Very few people got to actually understand the Afghan people, the real structure of how the tribes work and who they were.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

James Glancy is “of the 9/11 era. There is a big difference in the experience of Serving in the Royal Marines or the military in the 90s to the post 2001 era…I was in Afghanistan within two months of passing out…I did three Troop Commands on combat operations on the ground. It was an amazing 10 years.”

When he left “I missed the intensity of operations so much, it’s without doubt one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life and I just loved being at war, it sounds a strange thing to say but I loved it. I loved being with the lads, I loved just doing something that I felt at the time was the right thing to do and working with the best possible people.” War is “...way less complex…It’s just the sense of purpose, everything is really black and white…everything’s done for you in the military…”

James eventually found some upsides to Civvy Street “Being independent of a military mindset, thinking for yourself, taking your own opportunities…your own risks…an incredibly important thing in life. I’m out the other side of that transition but there were 3 to 4 years that were…more challenging than you could ever realise, especially after those Afghan years.”

James finally returned as a film-maker feeling there was a story to be told “Very few people got to actually understand the Afghan people, the real structure of how the tribes work and who they were…” He provides insight into Afghanistan witnessed at a very particular moment in history, “Even though the full withdrawal hadn’t been announced…the Doha Agreement by Trump made it very clear…My view was, we don’t have forever to make a film where we can travel freely around the country because I think the Taliban will very quickly start taking over…I obviously didn’t predict how quickly it would fall.”

Watch the trailer of Afganistan on YouTube

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Or you could phone the Combat Stress Helpline on: 0800 138 1619

Company of Makers exists to support veterans and their families who are struggling on civvy street no matter how long ago they left the armed forces.

We do this by running a programme of Podcasts | Talks | Workshops.

Company of Makers are trying to reach, and better understand, all members of the armed forces community who are also gamers. We’re especially interested in those that have served in Afganistan & Iraq.

To find out more contact us.

Afghanistan: Sir Laurie Bristow, UK Ambassador to Afghanistan - There were moments where we didn’t know if we would get out alive.

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Sir Laurie Bristow was central to the military withdrawal in 2021, there’s nobody better placed to give us the inside story than the last British ambassador in Afghanistan. He takes us through the days and hours counting down, “15th August we started the day with President Ghani behind his desk broadcasting to the nation…roughly 2.30pm” He’s “left the country…a few hours later you’ve got the Taliban behind that desk…taking their selfies.”

Laurie shares his views on the Doha Agreement and tries to make sense of what happened and why, “How was it that we invested so many lives, so much money, so much political capital and the results were so lamentable?”

He describes the evacuation “…panic doesn’t even begin to cover it…I struggle to find the words…Miles…of desperate people…” Among them “there are certainly Taliban…extreme violence going on…children, old people trampled in the crush…dead children being pulled out of those crowds…extreme heat…a Covid wave…Somehow…you’ve got to find, identify, pull out the people who qualify for evacuation.”

“We train these young men and women for combat, this is harder…By the 15th there were not enough soldiers to control the airport…It all becomes suddenly very very real, the government has collapsed, the Taliban are back in charge…The next thing you see is people falling off the plane…There were moments where we didn’t know if we would get out alive.”

Sir Laurie recognises the “incredible job that the military…the civilians working alongside them did; and the fact that we got out over 15,000 people…What I saw of the performance of our soldiers and our civilians was really quite humbling…The youngest of our ‘sunburnt young soldiers’ were just 18 years old.”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: Oliver Lee, Royal Marines - Moral Courage, above all, it’s about doing the right thing

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Oliver Lee resigned over the Marine A controversy and epitomises moral courage. He took over command of 45 Commando in 2009 as it came back from Afghanistan. Knowing they’d return in 2011 and to fulfil his vision of “Less violence, more engagement with people and culture… It’s about Afghans before anybody else” he ensured that the entire unit “all played a part in the production of the plan…What I was trying to do was to persuade young hard charging Royal Marines, whose last experience was Sangin, to operate in an extremely different way.”

The unit distilled their operational design into 10 principles such as “Always: Treat Afghans with dignity, use the minimum possible force, think clearly even when angry and afraid, always place Afghans first…”

During the tour these values “were lived by every day…What was achieved was remarkable…an 86% reduction in violence…That led to mission success which was a transfer to Afghan lead security authority 12-18 months ahead of the plan…There was not a single piece of collateral damage inflicted by us. There was not a single civilian casualty caused by us and we brought everybody home alive” something “I never thought even possible. In bandit country we did 7600 patrols over that six months and everybody came home alive…It was a remarkable tour.”

However, for the last three weeks, Oliver's command increased to include that of Marine A’s unit “Very sadly, it was during that three weeks that Marine A committed his battlefield atrocity so it was during the period of my command, which I therefore felt I had to carry some responsibility for even though I didn’t know him, I didn’t know that unit, I hadn’t prepared them, I hadn’t led them for the vast majority of the tour. Leadership is about carrying responsibility.” Oliver shares his unique perspective on this as well as the action he took next.

“Moral Courage…Above all, it’s about doing the right thing.”

Oliver Lee delivering a speech on a beach to 45 Commando's before their deployment to Afghanistan and Oliver talking to Channel 4 News about Marine A.

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

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Afghanistan: Bronwyn Royce, Mother - If We Can Reach One Person Who Needed to Hear this Story, That’s What it’s All About, To Give Somebody Hope.

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Cayle Royce was severely injured in action. His difficult yet inspirational story is told from his mother, Bronwyn’s perspective. Cayle lost both legs above the knee and part of his hand as well as further blast injuries after stepping on an IED.

“It is a very challenging story, but lots of positives to be taken…From where we were…To where we are now. The hospital, to adventures across the world. My child has come a long way…18 months after injury, Cayle rowed the Atlantic for the first time.” That was just the start, Cayle and his adventures have since gone from strength-to-strength and he has been awarded an MBE for his Service and achievements after recovery.

If anyone feels in need of hope after facing similar experiences, this story is for you, “If we can reach one person who needed to hear this story, that’s what it’s all about, to just give somebody hope. There is hope post-injury.”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: Frank Ledwidge, Civilian Advisor - In Order to Put Things Right, You Have to Understand Where You Went Wrong.

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Frank Ledwidge is angry. His hard-hitting, bleak and perhaps controversial perspective is born out of his work in Afghanistan and personal investigation, “I wanted to know what the human cost was…The image we had of ourselves was, we are here to help” but “We were seen as…invaders…That came as something of a shock to me.”

Frank’s background was as a lawyer and a Reservist, “I joined one of the more discrete units of the Navy, a Joint-Service unit with the Army and Air Force…Got called up to Bosnia, then Iraq as a Military Intelligence Officer on the ground and ended up as Head of Branch and retired after 15 years…In real life, I worked in international organisations and for the British government in Security and Justice…in the former Soviet Union…Balkans, Afghanistan, Libya” more recently “in Ukraine during the war there.”

Frank does not hold back with his views “...after Iraq, where I felt we’d been… lied to, my job in Iraq…was literally to look for weapons of mass destruction…that pretext was entirely false; I went into Afghanistan, sincerely believing that it was ‘the good war’...enemy…‘evil’...our side…essentially ‘good’ and we were going to defeat the enemy and replace them and sort that country out...and I think very many of us went into that…on that basis…It was very clear that by 2010, things were critical…The question had to be asked, ‘So what are those costs, how many people have been killed or injured, not just in physical terms, but also psychological…?’...Nothing was achieved. The evacuation was a chaotic disaster…I’ll just be blunt and truthful…There’s no sugar-coating this.”

He also explores lessons learned for the future, “In order to put things right, you have to understand where you went wrong.” Frank closes with empathy for fellow veterans, “There’s a small minority who aren’t fine, so if you know anyone like that, just say hello and be their friends…Bare them in mind, the war’s over but they’re still here.”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: James Malone, Royal Marines - The Only Thing You Have For Company Is Those Experiences and They’re All Horrific.

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

James Malone remembers leaving Lympstone, “In every fibre of being, I felt like I could do anything…You just wanna get stuck in.”

His tour was “Something that definitely changed the course of my life. War does that…to everyone who experiences combat…the first major casualty…was sobering…we had fairly regular contact, gunfights, rocket attacks, IED strikes…I was a Point Man, barma-ing, trying to stop people standing on IEDs…first into most situations, whether clearing a compound to set-up for overwatch, or a firefight or…a Shura with Elders, you’re first in there, first through any doorway, you don’t know what’s on the other side...”

James talks about an incident that he has not shared before outside his most trusted circle, “...What was difficult to deal with was I no longer had control…When you’ve got something going on in your head…it’s like being in solitary confinement and the only thing you have for company is those experiences and they’re all horrific…I kind of dealt with it by pulling the pin and being a bit of a social hand grenade…I felt like I was going down in flames. It got to a point where I was contemplating filling my pockets up with stones and walking into the sea.”

“It is hard to talk about…but I think it’s important…There’s going to be someone else…who had a very similar experience…So I need them to know that there are other people out there too and they understand…Afghan definitely corroded that feeling I had of being able to do anything.” Now through working with Afghan veterans as a full-time photographer and film-maker, “I’ve been able to rediscover a little bit of that again.”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: Tom Corrigan, Army Air Corps - Have You Got Your Big Boy Pants On? It’s All Kicking Off!

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Tom Corrigan wanted to be an Apache pilot... “I thought, ‘Yeah Apache, that looks pretty awesome, up for a bit of that’. It’s something I’d wanted to do since I was a pretty young lad, I just thought, ‘that looks pretty epic.’”

Tom’s first tour was in 2009, “You were just chomping at the bit to get out there really…We all thought it was going to be fairly quiet…we’re here as a peace-keeping force…It was not like that, it was full on…intense...We were up 10 minutes and…‘Troops in contact requesting Apache’. So my front seater was like ‘Right, have you got your big boy pants on? It’s all kicking off.’ It’s literally my first airborne in Afghanistan and it’s firing on targets straight away…I certainly wasn’t prepared for how quickly it was going to go from, you’ve literally arrived in theatre to off you go it’s all happening now. There’s no build-up, it's…0 to 60 like bang.”

Tom returned in 2011 as a front seat Gunner Commander. We hear about the technicalities of flying, finding targets, tactics and engaging. Also about the impact on Tom, “It was a rollercoaster…We had certain days where we had big mass casualties, multiple British Servicemen, either with horrendous injuries or being killed and it was really hard because you felt you’re doing everything you can…You have to do what you think is making a difference at the time and I hope what we did out there did have positive impacts on some people. It’s quite mixed emotions.”

Forward to today, he plays guitar in a rock band, “It started off as a bit of fun and it’s all got quite serious now… Music is such an amazing creative force…this really positive aspect in my life…even some negative emotions that you’ve had it’s been, ‘Well let’s do something with this, let’s write it…and put it into a song…That real freedom to be an exaggerated version of yourself…When I’m on stage it’s not me, it’s a stage version of me. It’s really liberating…jumping around and pretending to be a rockstar. I can’t recommend it enough!”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: Nick Denning, Royal Anglian Regiment - You want to feel worn-in and seasoned and up-to-speed as quickly as you can

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Nick Denning gives us an insight into his life and responsibilities as a very new Platoon Commander in Helmand Province.

“It was all a very rapid, flash-to-bang experience getting there…You want to feel worn-in and seasoned and up-to-speed as quickly as you can…You wait for your first patrol, your first contact with the enemy, your first engagement with the local nationals…There was just this huge sense of ‘This is it’…I knew from the start I had a very strong command team…We spent the first third of the tour in Nauzad…the latter 2/3 in Sangin…We did patrol and counter-insurgency. We also took part in a number of Company level, Battle Group level and Brigade level operations, where a concerted, deliberate offensive was mounted.”

We hear about the impact of sustaining fatalities and surreal realities of war, “The most bizarre thing, it started raining… We were just sat there in the middle of the desert, and I just remember feeling absolutely empty… And then the show has to go on.”

Nick also describes his respect for his soldiers, “They just got on with these tasks…the exertion was incredible…I think 53 was the highest temperature we experienced…and just the quiet grit they had will stay with me forever.”

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Afghanistan: Liz McConaghy, Royal Air Force - There at the Beginning of Op Herrick and There Until the Very End

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Liz McConaghy “amassed 10 Op Herricks”, deployed three months at a time as part of the Chinook Force...

“We were there at the beginning of Op Herrick…when Camp Bastion didn’t even exist… and we were there, pretty much at the end, when we turned the lights off and walked away. Because of that, we saw the whole campaign grow and develop. Lots of mixed emotions throughout the entire journey.”

Liz joined the military to, “...have a purpose and do a job and it’s fair to say, Afghanistan gave me that in bucket loads. Every single day…we were making a difference to someone.”

Finally in 2020, PTSD, “Caught up with me in spectacular fashion…so much that I ended up taking a huge overdose to end my life.”

Liz is a real ‘overcomer’. She’s written a book about her journey and it’s from the heart, told with real honesty and absolutely tons of humour.

“It was my life, it wasn’t even a job to me.”

Read Liz's book Chinook Crew 'Chick'.

Did you serve in Afghanistan or Iraq?

In order to better understand the wellbeing of Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans with which we work, we're asking you to answer a few short questions.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Battle of the Atlantic: Sailing in Convoys through 'No Man's Land'

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Ken Benbow Served in the 7th Escort Group in the Atlantic convoys. With no torpedoes, just guns and depth charges to protect Allied merchant ships from U-Boats, they sailed back and forth through ‘No Man’s Land’, 1,500 miles of ocean with no air cover, being “attacked every hour by the Germans”. Age 17, Ken went from working on a farm to Serving in the Royal Navy and his story is at the very heart of The Battle of The Atlantic.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Battle of the Atlantic: Hurricanes Launched by Catapults and Rockets

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Catapult-Armed Merchant “CAM” ship pilots flew highly secretive one-way missions. David Wright was one of only a handful and their stories are little known.

Using rockets and catapults mounted on merchant ships, Hurricane fighter planes were launched to shoot down German planes. With no flight deck to land on, pilots had to bail out seconds before the planes sank into the Atlantic.

We’ll hear two war time stories, Norma Wright’s, who joined the National Fire Service; and David’s, her late husband.

You can also read David's book, Airborne by Rocket

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Worst Journey in the World

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Atlantic and Arctic Convoy Veteran, Ron Syson, gives us a gritty account of life as a Merchant Seaman. Very early on, he sailed to Iceland, Greenland and New York, and was alongside when the Normandy caught fire and capsized. He was only 15.

As well as transporting vital supplies across the Atlantic to Britain, Ron braved the Arctic seas in what Churchill described as, “the worst journey in the world.” Added to the Nazi threat were sub-zero temperatures, weeks of constant darkness in winter; snow, ice and for anyone overboard, little chance of rescue.

Ron’s experiences left him with what the doctors back then diagnosed as ‘severe nervous disability’. Thousands of men were lost, and for many who lived, the consequences lasted a lifetime.

Read the Battle of the Atlantic 80th Anniversary Book

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Battle of the Atlantic: The U-Boat Peril

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Winston Churchill once wrote, “... the only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-Boat peril”. If The Allies had lost, Britain would have been starved into surrender.

99-year-old John Roberts gives us a fantastic insight into The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest running campaign of WWII.

John left the Royal Navy as a Rear Admiral, having joined-up aged 17 in 1938. When he first went to sea in 1941, The Allies were suffering terrible losses. John explains how the campaign evolved, tactics improved, escorts increased, equipment developed and The Allies gained a greater understanding of how to defeat the enemy.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: And Then The Nightmare Began

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0100

Paula’s story is about the loss of her husband, Paul Harding, who Served in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets. He joined-up at 18 and was killed in action aged 47, in Basra 2007.

We hear about being under attack, fatality and bereavement. If you feel that you might be sensitive to this, you may prefer not to listen.

This emotional, difficult story “shows the tenacity and bravery of my two sons, and how we've recovered from the loss of their wonderful father.”

“Paul told me ‘...this is going to be the toughest of the tours of Op Telic…’ he really wanted to be there…for his men.” When they said goodbye, Paula felt, “...absolutely horrific...he hugged me and said it would be the last one…”

Paul called from Iraq “...He sounded absolutely exhausted. They'd been under siege for three days…” Having secured the site against insurgents “...the militia were trying to stop the handover to the Iraqi army…As a convoy was coming in bringing supplies, they came under attack…Paul…was trying to spot the snipers and get the vehicles in…They started to fire rocket propelled grenades…a blast came through the opening where Paul was looking out so he could give the orders and he was killed instantly.”

Paula was woken at 2am “... I could see the black car and just knew why they were there…and then the nightmare began…When people talk about a broken heart, this is what it really is.”

Paula’s written a book with her friend, about her experiences, “It was cathartic but painful.”

“...Remember, freedom comes at a cost….and not to forget the people who have to carry on with their lives every day who carry the mortgage of everyone's freedom.”

This is a story of courage and resilience. A Love Story.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: The First Casualties

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Tip Cullen, former Royal Marines Commando tells us about losing 8 of his friends in the very first operation of Op Telic 1.

He’s telling this story “...to keep their memory alive” and “...for the families that had to deal with the consequences…” also for “...people to empathise with their sacrifice, or their will to protect what we call freedom…Those people were legends…”

“We deployed as a Brigade Recce Force...mostly Royal Marines Commandos, main disciplines Mountain Leaders or specialists in reconnaissance and snipers…”

“A couple of days before the invasion, everything racks up. We were rehearsing for an aviation assault…The helicopter that I was rehearsing on, and I was ordered to invade with, was a helicopter that would eventually crash.”

Orders were given ready for the invasion. “Everyone was chomping at the bit, this is what we're here for, to do our job as professionally as we can.” At the last minute, Tip was ordered to board a different helicopter and to this day, doesn't know why. He said goodbye to his mates, “Big hugs…See you all when we link up again…”

From Tip’s helicopter, he saw his friends,

“...dive in a straight line, completely vertical towards the ground and then gone in an instant blast…massive fireball…then we got ‘mission abort’.”

“I lost such close friends and in a very short space of time, from chatting to them, to holding their hands, to giving them hugs…to disintegrating underneath you and forever that will never leave my memory…that will always leave me unsettled for the rest of my days.”

Many thought Tip had been on that helicopter.

This was the start of the invasion and these were our first casualties.

“We were very lucky to have such quality people… to pick ourselves up and do all those guys who died justice.”

Follow Tip on Instagram

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: The Real Sinister Element Reared its Head

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Kirk Bowett Served in The Cheshire Regiment and his deployment to the Middle East began during Op Telic 4, 2004.

We hear about his personal experiences of the realities of war, which includes details of injury and loss of limb. If you feel that you might find this challenging, you may prefer not to listen.

“I was part of the recce element…in Basra City…the infrastructure had failed, no sanitation…We were initially met with open arms…”

They tried to help “...hearts and minds…” But there were problems “...everything had stopped…police had disappeared…”

“We were doing house assaults to try to capture the terrorists. Militias were beginning to form because of this power vacuum…organised…good weapons…planting precision IEDs.”

Rumours, press and social media, “...created an anger and hatred towards us…a nationwide attack on coalition forces…All hell broke loose…it made me realise… it’s not a peace-keeping thing…it’s a start-stop war…”

Another tour, “...Al Qaeda had started to rear their ugly head…” After that, Afghanistan, “I lost 12 friends in a 3 month period…burnout of post 9/11 wars had started to really hit the combat troops….Having buried 6 or 7 of my friends…putting them in the ground, that for me was closure enough on my time as an infantry soldier.”

Kirk returned to Iraq as a bodyguard, “...things started to take a turn for the worse. ISIS.” His vehicle was blown-up. He lost his arm and suffered brain trauma.

Life on Civvy Street unravelled, drinking, family separation, homelessness and considering ending his life.

Blesma helped with overcoming challenges. Kirk now draws upon his experiences as a survival instructor with the RAF, in his acting career and as a published author. Although he experiences loneliness, he’s found his sense of purpose, “My children are my anchor…they keep me going…they’re my reason for being.”

Follow Kirk on Instagram and Twitter

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: From 'Ops Junky' to 'Combat Intelligence'

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Piers Stacey, aged 17, joined The Corps, “…six days after the Twin Towers were hit…”

Joining 42 Commando late 2002, “...we all went into pre-deployment training for the build-up..it was pretty intense, pretty rapid for a fresh faced 18 year old…”

In Kuwait, “...we landed in the desert…nothing there…over time, defences went up, sandbag walls…” and acclimatisation training, “...we kept our phys up and exercised out in the heat so we could condition ourselves to be able to fight in that way…”

“As we went in…jumping out of the Sea King…I remember just hearing the crack and thump…All of us were getting shot at and that was the start of it…”

We hear how intense operations became, “...I was a real ‘ops junky’, as terrifying as it was…” and how after Op Telic, Piers became a combat intelligence specialist working with the Special Boat Service.

After 19 years, Piers planned his exit from the Armed Forces,

“...the one thing I did not consider was that sense of belonging and that sense of being part of something bigger…It was not an easy transition…I didn’t know what to say or who to say it to.”

Piers’ mental health deteriorated and he considered driving into a head-on collision.

This was the turning point for seeking therapy which helped, leading to today having set up ‘Hollow Heart’ where supporters wear a pin to let others know you're open to talking about mental health.

“…Even to this day, if you asked me, ‘Piers, what are you?’ There will be a massive part of me that would just want to say, ‘I'm a Royal Marine, or I'm an intelligence officer….’ I think it's going to be really difficult to shake that part of me in terms of what my identity is.”

Please support Hollow Heart and The Royal Marines Charity

Follow Piers on Instagram

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: The Heat Smacked You In The Face

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Neville Johnson left South Africa and joined the British Army in 2003.

After basic training, he joined the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers on a cease-fire tour in Belfast, “Those first couple of weeks were a big eye opener for me, definitely paved the way for future operations…”

Neville deployed to Basra in 2005 and 2006, duties including night and daytime patrols, working with special forces units or the parachute regiment during raids, apprehending personnel of interest, long hours in the heat with threats of “...indirect fire on our base…it was the start of the roadside bombs.”

He then deployed to Afghanistan, “Afghan was different. It was full-on war fighting.”

“We got attacked every day…numerous times, all at the same time from different directions, small arms fire, sniper fire, RBG mortar rounds. We knew it was going to be hot, flying-in it was full-on.”

“You're always on alert. You're never fully relaxed. The feeling of knowing someone is there to attack you. The incoming rounds. The sound. The feeling is difficult to explain. The fear, it's horrible…Everyone trained together. We went through it together.”

It wasn't until many years later that Neville felt the impact on his mental health. He doesn’t usually talk about his deployments, even with family, but he found a way through writing poems and putting them out on social media, “...for the world to see, to dissect, was way out of my comfort zone….but getting that release, it's amazing.”

Soldiers from the Commonwealth play a vital role in the British Armed Forces and Neville is testament to this. His poems have now been published and despite being shy, he reads some of them out to us which is incredibly moving and powerful.

Follow Neville on Instagram

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: You Don't Know How Good Your Unit Is Until You Go To War

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

We meet Sarah Davis, Army Air Corps Ground Crew, one of the pioneering women deployed to the frontline during Op Telic 1.

Having joined-up in 1999, a time when the Armed Forces was going through changes - evolving in terms of equality and a time that would mark the start of several years of military campaigns.

We hear about getting ready to go, “I was kind of craving…doing my bit for Queen and Country…”

As well as operational duties in a combat zone, refuelling and rearming attack helicopters and underslung loads, “You don’t know how good or bad your unit is until you actually go to war.”

We also hear about the impact on loved ones back home, “I promised on this call, ‘Mum, I promise I’m never going to do this to you again.’”

To top it all, Sarah spins a few cracking dits highlighting the critical role of morale, listen out for the Union Flag pants.

Sarah is now involved with several military charities to help Veterans who are struggling, “we don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

Follow Sarah on Instagram

Links to organisations mentioned in this episode:

BFBS
Homes for Veterans
Military Wives Choir
The Rawthey Project
Soldiers Arts Academy

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: Flying at 100 Feet, 120 Miles an Hour Across the Desert

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0000

This is Pat Patterson’s story. A Royal Marine Aircrewman with 845 Naval Air Squadron flying Sea King helicopters aka ‘Junglies’, and his wife also served during the war.

Having looked back through his helicopter logbook, he shares with us his experiences of Op Telic 1, as well as his subsequent tours.

We hear about the scale of the operation as well as operational complexities specific to helicopter crews that fly into particularly challenging environments,

“It was a bit more dangerous going the second or third time to Iraq…”

Being an incidence response team, the crew were involved in insurgency situations as well as casualty evacuation.

They encountered the hazards of flying at night, ‘brown outs’ flying in desert conditions and the helicopters became ‘bullet magnets’ for small arms, RPG rocket launchers and surface to air missiles.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Op Telic: The Closer We Got To The Gulf, The More Real It All Got

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0000

We hear from Andy Merry, 40 Commando, who Served during Op Telic and whose mum marched in the anti-war protests.

Andy was first in to the Al-Faw Peninsula with the US Navy SEALs to capture strategic targets.

This is his personal account of his experiences and he talks about the realities of war, which includes details of injury and death.

If you feel that you might find this challenging, you may prefer not to listen.

We also hear about Andy’s life after war. He’s now a ‘Beefeater’ at the Tower of London and has Multiple Sclerosis.

Andy embraces the spirit of The Corps, acceptance of challenge and positivity in the face of adversity.

Watch this short film to see how the RMA – The Royal Marines Charity were able to support Andy.

Please support the MS Trust and The Royal Marines Charity

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: My House was Searched at Gun Point

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 13:00:00 +0100

“They…took my husband through our house at gunpoint searching for 'the enemy', as they called them.” Falkland Islander, Carol Phillips, had 3 small children in 1982, “My first thought was…'Are they going to…machine gun us all down?’” The task force had 8,000 miles to sail, “Perhaps we would all be dead by the time they got here?…My Dad…kept saying, 'Don't let them see you're scared…The British Bulldogs are on their way.'”

Fighting started, “…to lose all those young men…it really was a nightmare.” But locals were courageous, “…we made a list of places around us…named them after…places in Britain like Cardiff, Liverpool…put our little antenna onto my broomstick and set up the CB…we were threatened we'd be imprisoned if we used radios…if we saw Argentine helicopters…we’d poke the broom out the window and say, 'Visitors at Liverpool.’”

Liberation was bitter-sweet, “We were relieved…lost too many people for celebrations” and danger remained, “…ammunition…no water, electricity…On the radio, ‘…Argentines left upturned cups on top of saucers…call the EOD some have hand grenades under, some human excrement…'”

255 British Servicemen and 3 female Falkland Islanders died, “That's what I can't forgive. Never will…I feel so guilty for all the people who died for us…We'll be forever grateful for what they’ve done…I just cannot thank them enough.”

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Supported by SAMA (82) in collaboration with TheVeteran.UK

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: A Dull Thud, Extreme Heat, a Flash, a Fireball

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0100

“'I'm not going to lose my life…here'…I could just see a picture of my wife and my two boys in my mind thinking, 'No, I'm gonna get out.' That was my motivation.”

Chris Howe was deep down inside HMS Coventry, D118, “…a dull thud…followed by extreme heat…a flash and a fireball whipping around the Operations Room…we'd been hit…next thing I knew…I'm coming round…my right arm was on fire…water was coming in…fires all around…thick black smoke…I…managed to get up…very badly burned…in a lot of pain…”

Eventually struggling to the upper deck, “…I remember looking out and seeing this…flotilla of orange life rafts…I slid down the ship's side and into the cold, salty South Atlantic water…picked a life raft and swam…”

Chris was finally rescued, “…the winch was coming down…finally managed to pull me in to the Sea King…I still hadn't had any pain relief…I remember laying there in this stretcher…thinking, 'What are they going to do with me now?'”

Chris suffered 27% burns, “…nothing compared to others that sadly lost their lives...there's not a day goes by I don't think about what happened 40 years ago, on 25th of May…about 19 shipmates, that didn't make it. Why didn't they make it? Why did I make it?…that's a sad thing…very sad thing.”

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Supported by SAMA (82) in collaboration with TheVeteran.UK

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: None of Us Believed it Would Really Happen

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 08:00:00 +0100

“I would happily go to sea with them all over again, cracking bunch of guys, led by a cracking man.” We hear from Mick Dilucia, of HMS Coventry Flight, Coventry’s helicopter team. “The mood was fairly relaxed heading south… none of us believed it was ever going to happen…then Sandy Woodward briefed us… 'Look around amongst us because we might not all go home together…'”

Mick was on the flightdeck on that fateful day, 25 May 1982, “…the order was given to turn to starboard...and that's when it happened, the bombs came in…they exploded, it was just like we'd been hit by a big wave...but after that…smoke billowing out of the side…the ship started to list almost immediately…I had to climb up the deck and over the guard rails and just slide down the side of the ship into the water and swim to a life raft…that ship was almost turned turtle in 15 minutes…some of the guys, down from the bowels of the ship, got people out that would have gone down with the ship.”

“From that day onwards, I thought to myself, if I wake up tomorrow morning and I've got another day ahead of me, then it's a bonus because it could so easily have been taken away.”

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: The Silent Service

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0100

What was a submarine doing in a war to retake The Falkland Islands? “...the ability to land and recover Special Forces…SAS and SBS, was key.” We hear the fascinating and poignant story of HMS Onyx, the only diesel-electric boat that Served during the war. Submariner, Steve Hussey, was there and shares his unique insight, from beneath the waves, “None of this is done in daylight…surveillance takes place beforehand…if all the conditions are right…getting…as close as you can get these guys and surface them, then it's very quick…open up the submarine and get these guys off…then dive again.” So, discreet and covert operations. How were they recovered? “…getting in contact is the first positive thing because then you know they're actually there…”

In stark contrast, towards the end of the war, “…we had the unenviable task of having to sink The Sir Galahad…she had been hit by Argentinian aircraft bombs…and was extremely damaged…with quite a lot of loss of life…and the decision…was to…leave it in The Falklands as a War Grave... Normally, there's…noise in the control room as you're setting-up for an attack…this was nothing like that. This was extremely sombre, very quiet as the orders were given…the CO was on the periscope, so he was the only person who could actually witness it…When the torpedoes were fired, there was just complete silence…”

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: You Really Wanted to Do Your Bit

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0100

“I was in a pub in Aldershot…a couple of the guys came in with the paper…and the general feeling was that we needed to get over there…and start kicking some arse.” This is the story of 2 Para, told through the eyes of Gary Steele, who Served in the battalion during The Falklands War.

“We needed to do something, and Goose Green was the something that we did. We set off at night, we left rucksacks behind, everyone was just loaded-up with as much ammunition as they could take…”

Amidst the danger, British humour and stoicism played its part, “It’s a funny thing, being mortared…initially it’s just sheer terror…you’re lying face-down…you can hear shrapnel flying over you, you can hear the explosion; but after a minute or two, it gets a bit boring ‘cos there’s not really a lot you can do…so I got my little stove out, brewed-up some hot water, had a coffee, while we were being mortared.”

The battle was brutal, “…The CO was dead, The Adjutant was dead…some of the best soldiers in the battalion had been killed. There were loads of people wounded. It was a pretty shocking situation…you really wanted to do your bit…you really wanted to get stuck-in and help” and that’s exactly what 2 Para did.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: It's a Strange Thing is War

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 18:00:00 +0100

“You’ve got the battles, then you’ve got the humanitarian side…It’s a strange thing is war…” This is the astonishing story of how a North Sea passenger ferry and her civilian crew, became a troop carrier, rescue ship and prisoner of war ship; in the thick of the firing, bombs and air attacks of The Falklands War.

The entire operation would have been impossible without the merchant ships taken up from trade and requisitioned. But, how did they come to play critical roles in a war 8,000 miles away? We hear from Keith Thompson of MV Norland, who’s crew all volunteered to support the task force.

However, they could not have foreseen just how dangerous it would get. The night before landing 2 Para on The Falklands, “…we had a message that Norland would go through first…the SAS had found mines…they decided to take the old ships through first…so Norland headed through, followed by HMS Plymouth, HMS Intrepid and HMS Fearless…we were the first few ships through the minefield.”

That was just the start. Norland finally got back to Hull on 1st February 1983, after 282 days at sea, “We were proud of what we did…we’d certainly do it again…but only on Norland.”

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: The Dockyard is a Worker of Miracles

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 19:00:00 +0100

“The First Sea Lord… decreed that HMS Hermes was under just 72 hours’ notice to sail…” It’s the day after the Argentinians invaded The Falklands and Margaret Thatcher announces that Britain would send a task force. Just a few days later, the task force was ready for war. This is the story of the dockyard workers who rose to that challenge, many of whom had just received redundancy notice.

Flagship HMS Hermes was in a state of disrepair, “…an assisted maintenance period in Portsmouth Royal Dockyard. From the top of her main mast right down to her flightdeck, she was covered in scaffolding, much of her main machinery was ashore in the civilian workshops when the call came…”

We hear accounts from two former Portsmouth dockyard workers who worked round the clock to achieve this enormous task, Clifford Ball and Mike Huitson. These are voices not usually heard but without whom, the task force could not have sailed.

We also hear from Andrew Cave, who Served on HMS Hermes. He’s now working to ensure that the thousands of dockyard workers from across the UK and Gibraltar, are commemorated for their herculean effort in readying the warships, troop carriers and supply vessels to sail 8,000 miles and fight a war with no land-based air support, in just a matter of days.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Falklands War: British Sovereign Territory Has Been Invaded by a Foreign Power

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0100

“For the last 40 years, (we’ve been) trying to get the truth told about what happened on the day that it all kicked off, 2nd April 1982.” This is that true story.

“…We didn’t just surrender as the popular story goes.” Ray Bloye was part of Naval Party 8901, the small detachment of Royal Marines on the Falklands at the time of the invasion.

The portrayal of NP8901 by the British press led to 40 years of hurt, “The Daily Mail headline, ‘Shamed’…The Sun, ‘Surrender’. Ray hopes that the record will finally be set straight, “What I want, is an acknowledgement from the MOD and the government that we did our job.”

Ray takes us through a blow-by-blow account of the first few hours of the invasion, including the attack on their barracks in the middle of the night, “3 o'clock… it was a very still, calm night and we could hear the choppers coming in… shortly after this, all hell seems to break loose…”

The Royal Marines, massively outnumbered and under attack by land, sea and air, defended the Islands without suffering casualties. Finally, Rex Hunt, Governor of the Falklands, ordered them to stop fighting and lay down their weapons as a truce had been declared.

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Supported by SAMA (82) in collaboration with TheVeteran.UK

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Toby Harnden, Author of First Casualty

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“…what has become my specialism, I think is… gritty, granular detail of the reality of war set in the broader context of important national events…”

Having joined the Royal Navy in 1985, Toby managed to pack-in trips round the West Indies, Australia, Hong Kong and Europe during his 10 years of Service.

His thirst for adventure remaining unquenched, he began a successful career as a journalist, becoming a foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph specialising in terrorism and war, “… as a journalist, generally speaking, you're sort of against authority, you're trying to find out things you shouldn't know, print things people don't want you to print, upset people and you're sort of on the side of the every man or every person...”

Toby’s tenacity and talent for investigation has also led him to write three non-fiction books, the latest ‘First Casualty’, tells the gripping and incredible true story of the six-day battle that began the War in Afghanistan with the response to 9/11, where Toby gained unprecedented access to the CIA, SBS and US Special Forces.

Listen on; and if you like what you hear, tune in our live online event where Toby will talk more about his experiences and he’ll answer as many of your burning questions as we can squeeze in!

Get tickets for Toby's live talk about First Casualty on 4th May 2022 at 1800 GMT

Hosted by Steve Bomford and Mike Davis-Marks.

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This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Ian Cumming MBE, RAF Veteran & CEO Erskine

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“I joined the RAF during the Cold War in 1986… around the time of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the threat of… thermo-nuclear war.”

After going down the pilot route, it became apparent where Ian was more suited, “…the RAF Regiment who seemed larger than life… I met their Commanding Officer who had an unusual approach to dealing with banter in the bar, which normally involved throwing pilots out of windows and I was just kind of smitten… (laughs)”

So, about that banter, “The RAF Regiment gets a lot of ribbing from the Army and the Marines, but they really have made a profession of force protection… in that day it was ground defence, air defence, nuclear, biological, chemical defences and they were very good at it…”

Ian gives us the low down on working hard and playing hard in the Caribbean, “…that was a boys’ own adventure… crashing hangovers on a Saturday morning when the troops expected you to take them out on their compulsory R&R, lots of bouncing around on speed boats, swearing you would never drink again and then 10 minutes of lying on the sand in the sun, beads of sweat coming out, "I could murder a pina colada..."

Working with the RAF Police was followed by tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, “…it was complex, my air responsibility was about 650 square kilometres… it was challenging.”

Having left the RAF after 27 years and getting through the difficulties of transition, Ian’s civilian career began and he’s now the CEO of Erskine, “…one of Scotland's oldest, probably biggest and most iconic Veterans' charities… formed in 1916 as a… hospital for limbless sailors and soldiers… physically and mentally shattered from industrial scale warfare in the Naval and trench battles of WWI.”

As part of their recovery, “…we were helping them find new jobs, teaching them skills, carpentry, boot-making... making new prosthetic limbs for their brothers in arms who were returning… a holistic approach.”

Today, with over a hundred years’ experience, Erskine’s holistic and innovative approach continue to make Erskine a leading light in Veterans’ care and Ian will tell you all about it. All that’s left for us to say is, with Ian’s exciting ideas and new projects underway, wouldn’t it be great to see Erskine south of the border too – perhaps we’ll put it to him.

Hosted by Steve Bomford and Mike Davis-Marks.

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If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Peter Kelly, Royal Marine & CEO at imployable

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“I lost my purpose at that point… I had no mission and I really started contemplating what I'd done wrong. I couldn't go back…”

A far cry from Entrepreneur of the Year, Peter’s transition from the Royal Marines to the business world was challenging, “I joined a company... my first foray into civilian world… it was a really toxic, horrible environment… probably the worst experience I could've had.”

Months of being unemployed followed leading Peter joined the Reserves, “I kept my rank. I went straight in… and they put me on the Royal Navy officer training team.… and I was basically just thrashing these Navy officers… because I was a drill instructor, so it kind of worked... and that saved me...”

Peter found the motivation to help himself and spent 6 weeks on YouTube learning how to build websites, then pitched to his first customer, “ ‘I'll do it for 50 quid’. He was like, ‘50 quid?!’ I was like, 'Look, mate, I'm gash… I'm not amazing, but it’ll be something that gives you a bit of presence…' and he's still got it!”

The entrepreneurial seeds were sewn, “… a load of lads started coming out of The Corps and I started building websites… I smashed them out quite quickly but it was a great little niche because people coming out of the forces couldn't afford a £2-3,000 website and they didn't really know anything about business to be able to start that side up… I always said to them, 'Look, I will build you a website, it will cost you between 5 to £700… but it will pay for itself within a month… the traction and the customers that you get, will pay that back…”

Fast-forward and Peter’s the 2018/19 Nat West Entrepreneur of the Year and co-founder of the ‘imployable’ App with £1.4 million of private investment. So how does a highly successful businessman end-up laying his soul bare on LinkedIn in the middle of the night, discussing the abuse he experienced as a child?

Listen on.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Lieutenant Commander Oli Brown

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“I'm a Lieutenant Commander Serving in the Royal Navy, Serving a full, capable career. Oh, by the way, I have HIV.”

Oli found out by accident and his 2019 diagnosis came as a complete shock. His first 3 thoughts were:

What is my life going to be like?

When am I going to die?

And do I still have a job?

“I realised quite rapidly, I'm not going to die... and that's the simple fact of HIV for people in the UK today, I can do whatever I want and I put no one else at risk. The third one wasn't as straightforward as it should have been.” The answer finally came back as, “Yes, you can stay in, but you'll be medically limited deployable.”

Medically downgraded with anxiety and depression, Oli’s counselling from the Terrence Higgins Trust is helping him to come to terms with having HIV and he’s campaigning with them to reduce stigma, educate and shine a light on policy… getting the attention of No.10,

“…Defence announced that you can join the military and have no impact on being in the military, if you take PrEP (HIV medication) …and as of Spring this year, when it comes to living with HIV and joining with HIV in the military, those restrictions will be lifted.”

Medical knowledge has come a long way since the campaigns of the 1980s as dramatised recently on TV in ‘It’s A Sin’. People can now live full lives with HIV, “I take one tablet a day … and I cannot physically pass HIV on to anyone.”

Oli’s December 2021 post on LinkedIn went viral with 2.6 million views,

“I felt that no one else should feel as alone and isolated as I did. I can't be the only person in the military with HIV. Well, where are they?”

It starts with me - National HIV testing week

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Pam Healy, CEO British Liver Trust

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 10:00:00 +0000

“They could only work until they didn't fit in their uniform, so the aim was always to circulate the skirts until no skirt would fit them….”

Joining us this episode is former WREN Officer and Reservist, Pam Heeley, who explains how women were not allowed to remain in the Navy once they had children; and as there was no maternity uniform, pregnant women had to leave when their skirts no longer fitted. Thankfully, times have changed.

With ‘secret communications’, the handover of Hong Kong, a James Bond premiere event and working on the Bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar ‘T200’ under her belt, Pam’s time in uniform was diverse and interesting. But one of her most challenging roles was helping with the Lockerbie Air Disaster, “…shocking but a good thing to have done.”

A later role with the MOD, saw Pam running the regional media for the whole of the country for all three Services, “…there was a feeling in about 2007 that defense was taking a bit of a hammering in the national media, lots of questions about whether we should be in Afghanistan or not… So as a result, the then the Gordon Brown government decided to try and tilt a bit of focus towards the regional media… their angle tends to be supporting their local Service personnel, not necessarily asking whether we should be there in the first place.”

Finally leaving the military world, the charity sector beckoned, with Pam becoming CEO of a breast cancer charity and is now The British Liver Trust. We hear the little-known fact that men can contract breast cancer and that incidence of liver disease has increased 400% in the last 30 years. We discuss how since the Covid pandemic started, the medical world has accelerated to the cutting edge of science and technology and how advances in knowledge could have widespread benefits for years to come.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Happy New Year!

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Join us as we head into 2022 to hear the New Year’s Resolutions of 10 of our Armed Forces podcast guests. Actually, before we crack on, let’s put it straight out there, 2 of our guests don’t make resolutions! One thing that ties everyone's hopes and reflections together is sense of purpose and wellbeing. Here are a few of their words of wisdom, but can you guess who said what?

“Eat more cake”… “Spend more time working on myself”… “work towards what I'm going to do post the military”… “asking for help, I need to be much better at it.”

“Next year we'll be cycling unsupported across the U.S. 5,000 kilometres in just 35 days, raising money for mental health, 100% of all donations will go to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity” - now that’s a goal!

On a philosophical note, “Resilience through kindness. Not only does it help everyone, but it helps yourself as well.”

We've been fortunate to have had such fantastically inspiring guests from the Armed Forces community but for now, for 2021, that's all folks. Here’s wishing you lovely listener and all of our podcast friends out there a happy and healthy New Year.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Craig Jones MBE, Joint CEO at Fighting With Pride

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0100

In 1989, just before training began, “I realised, that I'd bought this copy of the Radio Times because it had a picture of Michael Ball on the front cover and… let me tell you that 30 years ago, Michael Ball was quite hot property...”

“…I thought well, ‘that's an incredible complication because in three weeks' time, I'm going to Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and that doesn't fit.’ But it just didn't seem relevant… the only people I thought might be gay were Larry Grayson and perhaps John Inman, and quite frankly, I didn't identify with those people. But what I did identify with was this amazing, exciting career that lay ahead of me… and I parked all the gay stuff and walked through those gates...”

The ban on gay people Serving in the Armed Forces lifted in 2000. Several years later, ‘Fighting with Pride’ began as a book, “…I was concerned that the story of the amazing careers of the years of the ban were being lost, so I brought together a group of 10 people who all wrote a chapter… but when we… were ready to launch, we realised that… we were angry… about the fact that nobody has gone back to pick up our fallen, for those who have struggled in the years beyond the ban, and who live lives, which are not those that we would wish of any Veteran...”

Fighting with Pride charity was formed on the 20th anniversary of the lifting of the ban, “…And our journey is beginning to make a difference.”

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Alistair Halliday, CEO RFEA - The Forces Employment Charity

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“HMS Manchester… I was playing on the bridge wing once and… the Club Swinger… came out and started doing The Sailor's Hornpipe… and so I was… on my accordion and she was dancing it superbly... and then… we had an idea, 'Let's get a team together'. So, we put a thing on daily orders for… 9, a mixture, male and female from the ship's company, and then… she drilled them and trained them and that was our party piece... So for these big receptions, I remember doing one in Quebec and one in Montreal… we'd finish it off with this display of The Sailor's Hornpipe. It was fantastic… a really good way to end at a cocktail party.”

33 years of Service in the Royal Navy, 20 years at sea, 15 or so ships and several frontline deployments have produced many a dit and a Veteran who has, not only made a successful transition into the civilian world, but is now Chief Exec. of the Regular Forces Employment Association (RFEA), helping around 20,000 Service leavers a year into the world of commercial employment.

We talk about the impact of the ending of the furlough scheme and the perhaps surprising upshot of the pandemic, “Now employers are crying out for labour, so it’s a job seeker’s market…” with opportunities in the green energy sector, cyber, tech, distribution, construction and the defence industry.

…And of course, many of those dits we mentioned, thrown in for good measure *practices The Hornpipe*

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Commander Pascal Patterson, Stars and Spokes

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0100

“Everyone in the military loves a couple of idiots going off and doing a big physical challenge and that's what we are, and that's what we're doing.”

Having live streamed daily chats with Pascal throughout his recent ‘LEJOG’ bike ride – that’s Land’s End to John O’Groats to you and I, we catch-up with him as he reflects on what was achieved in support of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) and how it’s prepared him for his epic cycle challenge across America next year with Stars and Spokes buddy and fellow Royal Navy Air Crew Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dan Waskett.

So, as Serving pilots who fly “helicopters around war zones”, why are they doing it?

“Whilst we have our primary tasks when we're in a helicopter… we always have also what we call the MEDEVAC role. So, the medical evacuation role and if I use an example from Afghan say… So you're flying a sortie… if there are troops on the ground who have had an incident, and often in Afghanistan it was IED related… ultimately, he or she needs to be taken to a medical facility very quickly…

Now, because of the critical situation…, sometimes when you're flying someone on a MEDEVAC back to a medical facility, you've got all the medics in the back working on the individual trying to keep them alive. Sometimes it doesn't always work out… the individual unfortunately passes away over the course of that hour-long or two-hour-long sortie. And that's an incredibly sad situation.

And I found those moments deeply personal… suddenly it all goes quiet in the back, there's not that rustle of activity, the medics aren't doing anything and the reason being, the individual's passed away and there's nothing else that can be done at that point. And that's a precious moment to be involved in… a deeply emotional moment for everyone present.

But I think the second order effect to consider is at that point, there is a family back in the UK who doesn't know this has happened, and when they find out, it's going to absolutely crush them from a mental health perspective, because either mum or dad or brother or sister, they are not coming home.

The mental health impact of that is going to last decades, frankly, all of their lives. And what needs to happen is the long-term provision of mental health assistance to that individual, to that family, and that is where the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity fits in… (they) stay with that individual and offer help and support… for as long as it takes.

And they do that through the programmes that are funded through donations that come in; and Dan and I have first-hand experiences of that kind of stuff happening. We have seen first-hand the epic support that the charity provides and that is

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Tip Cullen, Royal Marine and Actor

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“It's a bit like what we used to call in the Royal Marines… 'babbin’ your wack'… when you're proper pooing yourself before you go and do something.”

Royal Marine (RM) turned professional actor, Tip, is a ‘story-teller’ and as a young man in Belfast, he had an epiphany, “I knew that I had to become a Royal Marines Commando.” 30 years later, RM Captain, Tip, having achieved his goal of being a Mountain Leader, had another epiphany, “Be a storyteller… I thought, ‘Acting... that's a form of story-telling isn't it?’”

Fast-forward 3 years and Tip graduated with an acting degree. Enter, The Actor’s Fear… “I was like that, 'Ummm fear...?' It's a bit like what we used to call in the RM, babbin’ your wack…”

Tip’s memories of RM friends that he’s lost, help him, “I just have this memory… I've got my gang of friends sitting there looking at me going, 'So... you're nervous? So somebody can shoot at you from 30 yards away with a Kalashnikov and you're not bothered about that. What you've got to do is walk on there and stand and talk. And you're nervous?!’ …And I'm going, 'Gents, I am happy with that. I shall move on task!’ …Those people… that are gone, they're always with me.”

That said, learning to draw on Tip’s experiences as a RM has been a challenge. Currently, he’s playing Echo 1 in Sunray, a film co-written and co-directed by previous podcast guest, Sam Seeley, “A troubled character who's post-operations, has been suffering massively from Survivor's Guilt, potentially PTSD, and all these issues, get compounded when he's transitioning back into society… he's a very vulnerable person. He's massively broken, and he's lost everything he loves in his life including friends on operations. So I can empathise massively…”

No spoilers, but what does the future hold for Tip? “What I want is to be able to tell stories. Fame and fortune? I don't need that. I've got everything I want in life… and I just want to be telling stories.”

Follow Tip on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

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Monty Halls, Royal Marine, Filmmaker & Marine Biologist

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0100

“The thing I would say to anyone who's leaving the Services or has left the Services is, ‘Do not underestimate your ability to pull things off…”

Royal Marine (RM) turned marine biologist and TV presenter, Monty left the Corps in ’96, “I look back on it with the fondest, fondest memories… all my best mates, my best muccas are still bootnecks that I Served with, or joined-up with… a real eclectic mix as well… you've got eccentrics, heathen kings, warriors, intellectuals, loose cannons; a real mix of people from all backgrounds and all united under the green lid.”

Transitioning from the RM to a successful TV career didn’t happen overnight and Monty Served as Reservist as well as studying for his marine biology degree, “…Plenty of sort of dark times, you know… the thing that got me through those dark times were my muccas from the Corps… great old mates, great old relationships… we're getting better and better at it, I think, of actually hooking up with a mucca and I'd just say, 'Mate, I'm struggling a bit at the moment, actually.' And I think you're always surprised at the stories that emerge when you say that to a friend. It turns out that their life isn't all roses and platinum credit cards, either… there's a great expression that says, 'Never judge the inside of your life by the outside of someone else's.'”

Monty’s big TV break came when he competed in Channel 4’s ‘Superhumans’ and he won. Since then, his TV credits include a series for Channel Four, 'Freedom Trails', about World War II escape routes through Europe and the survivors; and the two series he made with his young family, ‘My Family and The Galapagos’.

Monty and his young family spent several months in the Galapagos, finding out the challenges of living there and; as President of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, an experienced diver and marine biologist, discovering the environmental challenges to the unique animals of the islands, as well as the fantastic conservation work going on out there, “They're such an iconic archipelago and they're the lens by which we view conservation around the world in so many ways…”

Monty takes a practical approach where environmental challenges are concerned, “You can either do something or do nothing. That's your choice… and when you look back when you're old and you look back on your life, you will think to yourself, 'I should have done something.’ Even if it's saying, 'Right, I'm not going to drink from a plastic bottle anymore… Even that decision is significant… Or 'Right, today I'm going to join a conservation group…’ So, I think it's a straight choice. It's binary, actually. These things are so overwhelming and so complicated and so nuanced, about the impacts and all that. But actually, personally, it's a binary choice. You either

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Chief Petty Officer John Lewis, Founder Males Tales

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“When it comes down to mental health issues, I feel that a lot of it can be helped with just breaking that habit of what your brain's been through… If you watched a film and you thought it was rubbish, you wouldn't put it on again, you’d put something else on!”

Submariner, John is part of HMND Clyde’s Recovery Cell, looking after the day-to-day lives of people who cannot sail with their unit for serious disciplinary or medical reasons including mental health issues,

“When it comes down to mental health… there's a lot of individuals who… don't want to tell someone of a higher rank, because they feel as if that may get used against them, or it's showing they’re not quite strong enough for the job, or it may harm their career prospects. And on the other hand, some people don't want to talk to people of a lower rank because they think it makes them look weak.”

So in 2019, John launched ‘Males Tales’,

“…purely for males to come and talk openly and share lived experiences and support each other.”

It’s been set up as a Community Interest Company,

“The military haven't got an input as such into it. It's not just for military personnel… 40% to 50% of the people who use Males Tales are Serving or Veterans, or families of, but that's purely because of our geographical location. It's totally civilian and there are many people who use the organisation, come to the meetings, who have no connection whatsoever to the military.”

A demanding operational period triggered John’s own mental health challenges,

“I actually spent 16 days without a minute's sleep... I was prescribed Diazepam and even that wouldn't knock me out.”

Although doing much better now, John’s son also suffered with mental health issues,

“During the same trip, I was actually pulled back early because my son, who was 8 years old at the time, was self-harming and he was talking about taking his own life… he was diagnosed with Separation Anxiety. He'd have been about 4 1/2 – 5 when I started going away to sea… I'd probably seen him for about 6 months in 3 1/2 years.

John’s understanding of mental health issues is also as a result of challenges within his wider family,

“I've had family members who've been on the brink of suicide. I've had ones who've had depression and been hospitalised. I think my family's ticked most of the boxes to be fair. And that's given me a good grounding of knowing what's going on out there…”

So back to Males Tales, “It's sort of grown arms and legs… we had our first ‘Females Tales’ last week.”

“If you sit and listen to someone who has been through an issue… Actually listen to them. Hear what the

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Kay Hallsworth, Operations Manager, Association of Royal Navy Officers

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“Being yourself at work…” as easy as it sounds? “…in the military, there is a stereotype of what a military person is… and over the past 30 or 40 years, we've made some changes.

So we've increased the number of women that are Serving… it's no longer illegal to be homosexual within the Armed Forces, we've got more Commonwealth personnel Serving with us. We are a very diverse organisation now, but some people still feel they have to mirror that stereotype… to get on in the world.

…I hid my illness for a very long time, because I was scared of what people would think of me. That takes energy. And that distracts you from doing what you we really should be doing. So if you can be your real self at work, you can bring your whole self to work, and you feel comfortable doing that… you're bringing your full energy to work, and you can commit to your job and be a better Service person.”

Kay joined the Royal Navy in 1992 as a student nurse; and, as a Medical Service officer, was medically discharged in March this year, “I'm at the point now where I'm disabled”, and now works as the Operations Manager for the Association of Royal Navy Officers and the Royal Navy Officers’ Charity.

We hear how Kay’s M.E., known to some as ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’, impacted on her Service life, along with mental health issues, “…there were a couple of incidents within my career… that a psychiatrist has confirmed they were the triggers and I was diagnosed with what's known as ‘High Functioning Depression’. Now, that pressure within the work environment did make that depression worse and made my anxiety worse, because my anxiety meant that I constantly felt I had to be achieving…

…I know you've spoken to Bex (Fyans), she's obviously the Naval Service Woman of the Year this year, I was the one the year before because I was constantly doing stuff. You know, I was Patient Advocate for Admiral Marshall in the Disability Forum, I worked with the Naval Servicemen’s Network, with the Compass Network. I was always doing things for other people and I didn't really have that self-compassion in myself to step back and say, ‘Stop. No. I'm not doing this.’ And it was about performance and about how I wanted to continue in my career and prove that I could do it, even though I was ill. And I think that probably made the situation worse.”

Kay’s husband is her carer and looks after domestic life, “But he doesn't like to carry the title of being a ‘carer’. He's just, as far as he's concerned, a stay-at-home parent and a self-employed businessman. But actually, he does a lot more.”

“… people automatically assume that a carer will be a woman. They also automatically assume that they're

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Chief Petty Officer Janine Potts, Deputy Race and Ethnicity Inclusion Advocate Royal Navy

Thu, 20 May 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“The Navy? What is that?!” Few Royal Navy sailors started their careers with that question, but then most Royal Navy sailors didn’t grow up in land-locked Zimbabwe.

Janine arrived in England aged 19, having been invited by her aunt when Janine felt she needed to leave Zimbabwe due to the political unrest of the 1990s, “So I left, came to London and it was exciting. I’d never left Africa before. It was a cultural shock and London was just buzzing.” Next, Janine needed to figure out, “How do I stay?”

Janine’s experiences of growing-up in a mixed-race community in Africa and her infectious enthusiasm have made her ideal for her current role, 20 years into her career, now a Chief Petty Officer working in the Royal Navy’s “complex but exciting” Race and Ethnicity Advocacy space.

“For me, it’s about education… We just want to be able to… have those safe and open conversations that are uncomfortable, to be honest… talking about racism, race, nationality, ethnicity… Because what I found is, we can't change the past, but we can change the future; and the contemporary Navy is what's important for us now. So to help get the organisation ready for those future leaders that are coming through is what's really, really important…. listening to what the communities are telling us and things that we could do better.”

Connect with Janine on LinkedIn.

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Mark Ormrod MBE, Royal Marine and Motivational Speaker

Thu, 06 May 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“Just try for a day. Keep your legs, but just take your dominant arm and put it behind your back… and look at the challenges that come just from that… and then try and multiply that by 10.”

Before the incident, “I was 6’2, 16 stone, at the peak of my physical fitness, everything that in my mind, I thought an alpha male should be and I was living the dream… now, all of a sudden, boom! …without my prosthetic legs on, I'm four foot two.”

At 16, having decided that he wanted to “make something of myself”, Mark joined the Royal Marines, he wanted to “stop bad people and help good people.” It was at age 24 during a tour of Afghanistan, on his way back to camp on Christmas Eve that Mark stood on an improvised explosive device (IED) and lost both of his legs above the knee and his dominant right arm above the elbow, so as Mark says, “Merry Christmas.”

Mark left the Royal Marines 20 years ago and has worked hard to ‘turn personal tragedy into an ongoing story of personal success.’

“I was the first triple amputee from the UK… initially I thought that was a disadvantage, but I found a way to use that as a bit of motivation because there's something quite exciting about being the first to do anything… I kind of looked at it as an opportunity for personal growth.”

Eventually Mark found a mentor in the USA, Cameron Clapp, who became a triple amputee aged 15 following a train accident, “Having that time and that experience with Cameron and his team literally changed my life…. I took six years of their successes and failures when I went over there and condensed it down into three weeks to achieve similar results to what Cameron had and it was amazing… It gave me my life back.”

Mark’s book, ‘Man Down’ followed as well as a 5km run and now another book and film are in the pipeline, “I honestly think that human beings are their happiest and their best when they're growing… when they've got a challenge… and they're working towards it and seeing progress… this is a bit of an extreme way to experience personal growth, but these are the cards I was dealt, so you just roll with them.”

Next on Mark’s agenda, is a 1km open-sea swim with one limb and no swimming aids, “My purpose now is to live the very best life that I can live… First of all, to show everybody that was involved in saving my life, that they did the right thing… and second, to just to try and motivate and inspire as many other people… as I can and show them you don't need to have all your digits and both arms and both legs to live a full life.”

Keep your eyes on Mark’s social media, the sea swim is on the 21st of May and he’s going for the World Record. Will he succeed? We reckon if anyone will, Mark will.

Head to Mark's sea swim

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Mandy Hickson, RAF Tornado Pilot and Motivational Speaker

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0100

Tornado Pilot, Mandy, Served for 17 years in the Royal Air Force. Yes, you know we can’t resist, “Highway to the danger zone…..” OK, Top Gun reference out of the way and onto business.

Literally, actually. Having left the RAF 10 years ago, Mandy runs her own business as a Motivational Speaker, taking lessons learned from aviation into businesses and schools.

Mandy‘s grandfather, a pilot in World War II, was her inspiration to fly fast jets; but she failed the RAF aptitude tests to become a pilot. However, she persevered and learned to overcome obstacles, “I aspire to achieve”.

Mandy became the second woman to fly Tornado GR4s on the front line and has become a strong role model for youngsters, inspiring them to aim for their dreams.

With the events and keynote speaking business shutting down, Mandy needed to find a new sense of purpose during Covid, so she and her husband are volunteers at the local hospital, laundering and folding the scrubs for the frontline key workers.

Having caught Covid early on, Mandy recognised two important things, resilience and purpose and how they are linked. Resilience “It’s about heading back to where you want to go” and purpose, “We need to have a point that we want to get back to”.

“If I could gift something to my children, it'd be two things, confidence and resilience. But you can't give them either of those two things. These are things that have to be built up… confidence is like a muscle, you know, we need to exercise it, we need to build that up. Resilience comes… often from overcoming hardships.”

Mandy’s experience and insight gained through the pandemic continues to provide a positive message for young people, “…They're going to be pretty resilient, because they've had to come up with new ways of learning, they've had to adapt to change quite quickly as well, constantly, with uncertainty.”

And if anyone know about dealing with change quickly, it’s a Tornado pilot.

Mandy's book is available on Amazon.

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David Noyes RN Retd, Chief Operating Officer, Solent NHS Trust

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0100

“The whole NHS has really stood up and been there when the country needed it most.”

Two careers linked by Public Service.

The first, 28 years in the Royal Navy with “Lots of sea-time”; followed by a career in the NHS, “Making a difference to people, making people’s lives better.”

Having joined-up at 18, David’s varied Naval career included work at sea on board Type 22 Frigates, shore-based at Whitehall and as Logistics Commander at Portsmouth Dockyard, followed by a secondment to the Army as Deputy Commander of 101 Brigade and a tour of Afghanistan.

As well as serving Southern Hampshire with everything from community nursing and physiotherapy to children’s medical and mental health interventions; Solent NHS Trust is also the South East Regional Lead for ‘Operation Courage’ - the NHS Veterans’ mental health service recently launched by Johnny Mercer MP and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA).

Op Courage is a national initiative which connects and enhances the NHS specialist mental health provision for Veterans; the Transition Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS), Complex Treatment Service (CTS) and the new High Intensity Service.

A hugely complicated area of responsibility and David explains how this is tackled regionally, including essential partnership working with third sector organisations such as Walking with the Wounded and All Call Signs in Portsmouth. Being a Veteran himself, David provides valuable insight into the needs of Veterans and provides the logistical know-how to deliver.

An important aspect of this is simplifying how Veterans can access specialist mental health services and in crisis, this can be as straightforward as phoning 111; or referral by members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Military Mental Health Alliance such as Veterans Outreach Support (VOS), The Ripple Pond, Solent Mind or ourselves at Company of Makers.

Of course, in the middle of a global pandemic, David’s team are hugely impacted by providing for the far-reaching implications of Covid on mental health across the entire community, as well being responsible for delivering the vaccination programme.

We discuss the inevitable d

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Leading Writer Rebecca 'Bex' Fyans MBE, Advocate for Down Syndrome & Naval Servicewoman of the Year.

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000

“It’s not something to be scared of… they are a little bit different, but with the right care and nourishment they can thrive and they can be awesome.”

When Bex’s son was born with Down’s Syndrome, being his advocate became her sense of purpose.

Since then, Bex has helped to support other families who have children with Down’s and has been working to raise awareness; volunteering with the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association, Chronic Conditions and Disability in Defence Network (CanDiD) and the Royal Navy Disability Network/Team - working to shine “a spotlight on disability and carers in the Armed Forces”.

Which leads us on to ‘Lots of Socks’… “What have socks got to do with any of this?” you might ask. World Down Syndrome Day on 21 March of course!

So this is why we’ve been posting photos onto social media of ourselves wearing odd socks, thousands have been uploaded globally – the odd socks are signifying the uniqueness of having three copies of Chromosone 21, which causes Down’s Syndrome.

Bex’s passion for making a change has been recognised with an MBE for her work with inclusion and diversity in the MOD and the local community; and Bex was recently awarded Naval Servicewoman of the Year.

Bravo Zulu Bex!

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Sam Seeley – Royal Marine and Filmmaker

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000

“If you know any bootnecks… we love breaking the rules!” But what we don’t expect to hear is this RM attitude applied to creativity.

“Learn the rules like a basic or an amateur so can break them like a pro” …this is the ethos the three bootnecks turned film-makers on Sunray live by.

‘Sunray’, meaning “Troop Boss or The Boss in Marine slang” also alludes to a ray of hope and came out of a difficult time in Sam’s life. Sam started writing as a release. 150 ideas on post-it notes and the thought, “I’m gonna have a crack at this” and Sunray was born.

Sam brought his two former RM mates, Dan and James onboard, the three of them dubbed ‘The Unholy Trinity’, which they take as a compliment; and together they built a following on Instagram and raised £66k through a Kickstarter campaign in order to produce Sunray, “… a 3 part serial drama exploring the Veteran psyche”.

‘Survivor’s Guilt’ is a key theme and Sunray “… challenges the perceptions of mental health and the struggles that soldier’s face when reintegrating into civilian life.”

They’ve each written the screenplay for an episode and will direct that episode, “… set against a backdrop of realistic, fast-paced action… we’ve got the cool tactical drills, we’ve got the amazing weapon systems and we’ve obviously got real-life soldiers implementing that. But at its core, it’s a human story.”

So what’s the plot? Sorry, no spoilers here.

To find out more head to the SUNRAY website or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

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Hugo Mitchell-Heggs, Submariner and Atlantic Rower

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

“Flying fish are a nightmare… they fire off the water like missiles.” Why would this bother a submariner, you might ask?

For Hugo, life beneath the waves was swapped for life on the waves when he roped his three shipmates… can you call submariners shipmates? Anyway, when they all embarked upon the adventure of competing in a rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean…

“If they get caught by a gust of wind, we’re talking thirty to forty knots of wind out there; they hammer across the sky, whistling past you and it’s not uncommon for sailors and navigators to get concussed at sea by these things…” Yes, we’re still talking about flying fish here, “We had a few splatter into the boat and hit us in the middle of the night.”

As if this wasn’t enough, they had to contend with missing home, sleep deprivation, salt sores, sea sicknesses, forty-foot waves and then capsizing.

So, why is Hugo doing it all again?

HMS Oardacious

In January 2020, four Serving Royal Navy Submariners became the fastest military team in history to row unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean; departing from the Canary Islands to reach Nelson's Dockyard Antigua 37 days 6 hours and 40 minutes later.

The HMS Oardacious campaign has fundraised £110,000 to provide Mental Health and Wellbeing support to the Submarine community, collaborating with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity .

The Submariner Memorial Appeal

“Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariner." Winston Churchill

To donate or get involved with the creation of a fitting monument which commemorates the sacrifice of all those who have died whilst in the submarine service and their families head to the Submariner Memorial website

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Pete Reed OBE – Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and three times Olympic Champion

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

So, how does “an unremarkable pupil” – as described by his P.E. teacher at a parents’ evening – become a triple gold medal Olympic rower?

Pete discovered rowing onboard HMS Exeter of all places and his determination, hard work and resilience took him to the Olympics.

These attributes have served him well, perhaps none more so than right now. Pete recently suffered an unexpected spinal stroke which “almost feels like it’s added fifty years to my life overnight”.

Pete relates his challenges to the hardship that everyone is facing with Covid, “we’re all going through a massive life-changing event” and we can all take inspiration from how he approaches difficulties, “we don’t choose these things, we can choose how to handle it”.

Currently “medically downgraded from work”, we join Pete at “an astonishingly exciting time”, having just heard that the Royal Navy, despite the severity of his physical condition, has decided to “retain him in Service” and he awaits his first assignment.

As Pete’s coach used to say to him, “Never, never give up”.

Follow Pete on Twitter and Instagram

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Bill Oliphant, Royal Navy Veteran & CEO, Royal Naval Association

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

“The best bits of the Navy without the b******s!” That’s Bill’s take on the Royal Naval Association (RNA).

From boy scout to sailor, for Bill it’s been “loads of ships and lots of people.” Having Served in the Royal Navy for 37 years from the age of 18 and now CEO of the RNA, Bill spent 20 years at sea and then found himself “in Army pyjamas as much as Navy uniform.”

Bill likes a challenge and his latest is refreshing the RNA to help members through the pandemic and beyond and to get Serving people involved from early on during their Service, ready to support them when they become Veterans.

We caught up with Bill just before Christmas and here’s what he had to say…

To get in touch with the RNA:

Office phone: 023 92 723 747

Helpline: 07542 680 082

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JJ Chalmers, Royal Marine Veteran and star of Strictly Come Dancing

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 14:00:00 +0000

‘JJ off Strictly’ joins us for our Christmas Special! …Once a Royal Marine, Always a Royal Marine.

“Blown-up” while deployed to Afghanistan, JJ joined-up as a Reservist aged 17 and his attitude of “keep cracking on” helped him to go on to win a gold medal at the Invictus Games.

JJ describes how life in the Royal Marines brings hardships and challenges as well as adventures, but the best part is “getting to go to work with your best friends.”

We hear about juggling civilian life as a teacher with being a Royal Marines Reservist, “when you take your uniform off, your Corps values don’t change.”

JJ talks openly about mental health and the difficulties following his injuries, “…it’s ok to put my hand up and say, ‘I’m struggling physically and mentally’” and we also hear about the importance of sense of purpose and recognising incremental gains on the road to recovery. Talking about this honestly, with JJ’s life now in the public eye, helps him to make a positive impact on people who are also facing challenges. A great role model.

JJ chats about his Strictly journey and how his dance partner Amy’s words of wisdom, “don’t get bitter, get better” along with his Royal Marines training, provided a sense of perspective about loss and injury and the attitude “to get stuck in”.

We also hear how “a lot of Royal Marines have a new found love and appreciation for sparkle and glitter” and how being in the Corps,

“the greatest club on earth… quite simply made me a better person.”

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Adrian Bell, CEO of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 19:00:00 +0000

Here we are at the start of series 2 and we have a new level of Lockdown restrictions, ‘Tier 4’.

The world has continued to be turned upside down by Covid since we chatted with our first podcast guest, Adrian Bell, CEO of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity; so, we thought this would be the perfect time to catch-up and find out what he’s learned since then and how the RNRMC is meeting the challenges of the pandemic heading towards Christmas.

We hear about the importance of not only tackling loneliness, but preventing it. We also address some big issues such as the role of the state versus the role of charities; and discuss the inequalities within society highlighted by the pandemic.

Finally, taking inspiration from an article featured in the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (BACP) publication ‘Therapy Today’ we ask, ‘when this is all over, will we retain the pandemic as a bad memory and go back to the way things were before the virus, or will we learn from it…?’

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If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Mark Perryman, RAF Veteran and Commercial Manager, Defence Medical Welfare Service

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0100

“It’s a myth that everybody in the Armed Forces is either mad, bad or sad – it’s just not true”. For World Mental Health Day, we’re chatting with Mark Perryman from the Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS). A former RAF medic whose Service career has had a positive impact on his mental health, making him “more resilient” and able to help others.

With origins in WWII, DMWS has been working throughout the Covid-pandemic on wards and also supporting NHS staff and the blue light services. Their Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) courses also continue in a Covid-secure way, training people to support someone in mental distress. Mental distress is certainly being exacerbated by the anxiety of living through this pandemic and “stigma around mental health is not confined to the Armed Forces” (AF).

We hear about the AF specific version of the MHFA training, “most people go through their Service career and transition back to being a civilian satisfactorily, but for the percentage that do find it a struggle, it’s important to support them.”

We discuss Service-related issues, including barriers to seeking help and awareness of services available for Veterans including the ‘Transition Intervention and Liaison Service’ and ‘Complex Treatment Service’. We touch upon long-term separation and its impact upon Service families, Vicarious Trauma suffered by partners of people with PTSD and understanding pre-Service vulnerability.

Lockdown has had a big impact on the mental health of elderly Veterans and we discuss the big issue of loneliness and social isolation. Mark also explains how some Veterans feel they don’t fit in with the rest of society and the complex issue of ‘Moral Injury’.

We all have mental health be it ‘good’ or ‘bad’, the message here is that it’s “critical to have non-judgemental conversations.”

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Andy and Adrian Rigsby former Royal Marines and Falklands Veterans recall Fort Cumberland

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:00:00 +0100

Great story this. Celebrating our move to Fort Cumberland, we’ve called in who else but the Royal Marines.

At the fort, we interview two brothers, both former Royal Marines, Andy and Adrian; whose father was also a Bootneck and Served at the fort in the 1960s and 70s.

We hear a story about Land Rovers being driven into a ‘wade tank’ (swimming pool for cars) at the fort. No spoilers, that’s as much as we’re going to say apart from, the H&S lot wouldn’t let this happen today. Enjoy!

Got any Fort Cumberland stories of your own? We’d love to hear them.

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This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Ian Millen, Falklands Veteran & CEO of Veterans Outreach Support

Sun, 09 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0100

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

This is how Ian describes the inter-connectedness of our Armed Forces, the teamwork so vital to VOS in helping Veterans and of course, this applies to all of us in tackling Covid-19.

Ian shares a vivid account of his experiences during the Falklands conflict; at the time, a Leading Seaman onboard HMS Antrim.

The perspectives gained through having Served as a rating for 50% of his time in the Royal Navy, 50% as an officer, have shaped Ian’s current work in the charity sector, as have his experiences in the Falklands.

In fact, VOS was born out of the Falklands conflict and a former Sea Harrier pilot is now one of the psychologists providing clinical support for Veterans. We hear about the ‘strategic shock’ that Covid-19 has had on the way that VOS operates, a charity for which face-to-face contact and ‘the personal touch’ has always been so important.

To continue providing help, VOS’ service delivery has shifted to phone and online support and we hear how their new ‘click and connect’ project is supporting Veterans in need.

Call VOS on 02392 731 767 or email admin@vosuk.org

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This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Bridget Nicholson, Royal Navy Veteran & Evidence Director at the Naval Families Federation

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 10:00:00 +0100

Preferring not to be defined by her career, Bridget’s a big fan of Winnie the Pooh’s Eeyore. So who is Bridget Nicholson?

Bridget’s blog, ‘It’s Gone Tits Up’, certainly provides insight into her honestly and sense of humour. Last year’s cancer diagnosis was a shock and we catch-up with Bridget on the first day that she’s clear of treatment.

We touch upon the military use of humour as a coping strategy and the complexity of feelings about her parents passing away recently, with whom she had a difficult relationship.

A global pandemic after the bleak year that Bridget’s experienced has brought with it the challenges of being subject to Covid-19 shielding regulations and trying to social distance within her own home with her adult children and husband on leave from the Royal Navy.

Throughout all of this, Bridget’s humour shines through, but whatever you do, don’t mention ‘staying positive’….

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This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Charlotte Mason, Languages Teacher & Connecting Forces Group Lead

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 10:00:00 +0100

Meet Charlotte, she’s joint-Head of Languages at a secondary school in Portsmouth. We catch-up with her just before her husband goes back to sea with the Royal Navy and hear about the importance of having her own identity and career, whilst being proud to be a military wife.

As a mum to three kids under ten, she’s been home-schooling through Lockdown as well as supporting the children of key workers still attending school. As Lockdown restrictions are changing, we hear about re-organising the school to enable reopening with social distancing.

In addition to teaching, Charlotte set-up the ‘Connecting Forces’ support network and after school club for Service kids, with which Company of Makers ran sewing workshops a while back, linking-up with The Sewing Soldier’s ‘Flags of Thanks’ nationwide project to celebrate Armed Forces Day.

We also find out how the military lifestyle and separation affects family life, with deployments and ‘weekending’. With 1,000+ Service kids at school locally, Charlotte aspires to extending Connecting Forces across Portsmouth and beyond; with Service kids offering peer support and sharing their resilience and ability to adapt.

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This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Nick Fletcher, Chair of Trustees Royal Naval Benevolent Trust

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0100

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy’ …. Wisdom shared with us by this episode’s guest, Nick; who also explains the military’s strength in the areas of structure and planning - in Nick’s case, experience gained through 18 years at sea with the Royal Navy, followed by many years shore-based.

We find out how learning to self-isolate is essential for creating a sense of personal space when living in a 30 to 50-person mess deck onboard a ship - another aspect of military life that has proved useful during Lockdown.

Nick talks to us about the RNBT, “a charity for Ratings, led by Ratings’, where Nick is currently Chair of Trustees. A charity with links back to Admiral Jellico, which has adapted to today’s Covid-challenges by offering direct grants to individuals, many currently in need of food and with a care home Pembroke House, that has managed to remain Covid-free.

We also hear about food, ferrets and tinkering with ‘Raspberry Pi’s’….

If you are a ‘crisis’ or an ‘urgent’ case call RNBT on 023 92 660 296 between 0800 and 1600 or email rnbt@rnbt.org.uk and mark your email ‘crisis case’ or ‘urgent case’. You will be answered by one of the Grants Team who will take down your details and address your issues.

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Nigel Langhorn, Falklands Veteran and CEO of Agamemnon Housing Association

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:00:00 +0100

Through Nigel’s 35 years of Naval Service with 20 years at sea, we gain insight into life onboard ship, how ‘you’re never alone but sometimes it can be quite lonely’ – social isolation resonating with many of us today. We hear how the Royal Navy provided a real sense of purpose and how routine and discipline learned in training still helps years later.

Nigel shares with us his memories of active Service in the Falklands in 1982, having had to abandon ship and deal with ‘survivor’s guilt’. We learn that this life-changing experience gave him a sense of perspective that reminds him today that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel and despite Lockdown, the old ship’s crew of HMS Ardent has used technology to remember their 22 fallen shipmates.

Now CEO of Agamemnon Housing Association, provider of sheltered accommodation primarily for military Veterans and their partners; Nigel explains the challenges of Lockdown and how, by staff and residents adapting so quickly to changes in operations, the virus has not breached the properties. With most residents being over 70, many with underlying health conditions and shielding letters, the challenges continue, as does the hard work of Agamemnon in addressing issues of social isolation and loneliness while the residents’ usual programme of social activities are on Lockdown.

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Jack Broughton, British Army Veteran

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:00:00 +0100

We catch-up with Jack, he’s an inspirational former Squaddie and father to a three year-old ‘Duracell Bunny’

After losing his leg in Service, Jack has suffered serious health challenges but focuses on the positives. Now medically discharged, he explains how his Army training helps him to “adapt and improvise” and also how to live well in Lockdown.

We hear about his writing, stir-frying lettuce and also his post-Lockdown mountaineering plans in support of BLESMA.

Oh, and if you need a cardboard boat building, Jack’s your guy.

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Andrea Macfarlane, Military Co-Chair of Defence Mental Health Network

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:00:00 +0100

Supporting positive mental health is always important; during lockdown, it’s become essential.

Andrea invites the Defence community to access an imaginative programme of online wellbeing activities by ‘just dialing-in and you’re away’. There’s something for everyone including breathing exercises, meditation for the under fives, and online ‘buddy-buddy chat cafes’.

Andrea also explains how ‘slack-lining’ helped her recovery from illness and restored balance by calming the body and mind and we hear about her postie, and how a little bit of kindness goes a long way.

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Stephen Morgan MP, Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces

Thu, 21 May 2020 14:00:00 +0100

Stephen talks to us about his new role as Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces and his personal links to the Armed Forces.

We hear about his role as MP for Portsmouth South, the Home of the Royal Navy and the challenges brought by COVID-19 to local businesses and the wider community during lockdown.

We also find out what happened to his 1960s Vespa.

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.

Adrian Bell, CEO of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity

Mon, 18 May 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In the first episode of 'Lockdown', we spend time with Adrian Bell, the CEO of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, as well as a Royal Navy Veteran. He shares his thoughts on the current situation from his personal perspective, reflecting on its parallels with life at sea and how his life has been changed in both his professional and personal life.

Along with co-hosts Steve Bomford and Mike Davis-Marks, we discuss the lessons of the past, the challenges of today and our hopes for tomorrow.

If you have served in the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, experiencing difficulties and in need of guidance and support, please contact the RNRMC Support Line by phone (023 9387 1568) or alternatively by email (support@rnrmc.org.uk)

Find out more about the Company of Makers or sign up to our newsletter.

This podcast is supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you’re a member of the Armed Forces community and need support with your mental health, Op Courage can help.