Rob's Story
“If it wasn’t for Combat Stress I wouldn’t be here.”
After fulfilling his childhood wish to join the Army, Rob found memories from his service left a deep imprint on him. Not knowing he was experiencing PTSD, it was only when things came crashing down that he reached out for our help.
Rob joined up at 16, following in the footsteps of his older brother who was in the Royal Artillery. “Like many young guys I watched the Paras on TV and thought ‘that’s for me’,” he says. “I was in the Army cadets as a teenager and it was in my blood. I was always going to be a soldier. I wanted adventure, to go abroad and see different countries. I’d never been on a plane before I joined, so it was exciting.”
Rob served for nine years, before leaving the Army and working as a private contractor in South Africa. He then returned to the UK and joined the Reserves until 2016. During his Army career he was deployed to many pressured places including Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.
“The best bit of Army life was being with my mates,” he says. “It was like a family - you’re in the barracks 24/7 with the guys and make lifelong friends. Army life could be pressured, but it was enjoyable and there was always something going on or happening.”
During his service Rob lost a number of friends, which he now understands impacted on the rest of his life. At the time though he thought he was fine and carried on, right up until he left the Reserves in 2016. However, symptoms of PTSD had started to creep in.
“When I left to work in South Africa I did notice some symptoms that were centered around my service in Northern Ireland,” he says. “I thought it was just because I was drinking a lot but looking back they were there. Then it just crept and crept in.
“I wasn’t sleeping. I was having flashbacks and terrible nightmares - I’d never had dreams like this. I could taste and hear them, there was lots of gore. The dreams weren’t about the incidents that caused my PTSD, they were different but very vivid.”
Rob went from being sociable and enjoying going out with friends, to being nervous in public and closed himself off. “It crept into my daily life,” he says. “I was tired all the time - I thought I had flu as I was always run down and thought I need to get my bloods checked. I was drinking too – on one night out I tried to start a fight with my brother. The next day he told me ‘you need help, this isn’t you’. It was a big kick.”
But Rob carried on until one day in 2017 when he broke down in the street. “I don’t know if it was the stress of my marriage breaking down, or whether it was because work was stressful but it all came to a head,” he says. “All this stuff was going on and I thought I was going mad and that I needed to be sectioned. I didn’t understand what was happening.
“I was working in Glasgow and left the office to go for a walk to clear my head as I knew something was wrong. The next thing I realised, I was on my knees crying in George Square in Glasgow, which is a very busy area. I didn’t know what to do or what was wrong, so I got up and kept walking.
"Then I remembered there was a charity I could talk to. I searched on my phone and Combat Stress came up, so I called the Helpline saying ‘I don’t know what’s happening but I think I need help’. The person on the other end calmed me down and got me to talk properly.”
After Rob’s initial call he was assessed and diagnosed with PTSD. He undertook intensive treatment for PTSD which included sessions with a psychologist, yoga and art therapy. Afterwards Rob received a supported referral to some external help with other veterans, helping bring him to the good place he’s in today.
“If it wasn’t for Combat Stress I wouldn’t be here,” he says. “Looking back now, it’s so sad to say. How could I feel that way? I live such a different life now – I’ve remarried and have another child. I’m not struggling – life is worth living and I’m a much different person.
"If it hadn’t been for Combat Stress, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
July 2025
