Sam's Story
“Combat Stress probably saved my life.”
Army veteran Sam* served with the Military Police for 23 years, but a traumatic experience in Afghanistan left him with PTSD. Years later he reached out for our specialist mental health treatment.
During his time in the military, Sam served all over the world including in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. “The Army was challenging, engaging, diverse and enjoyable,” he says. “The best bits were the adventure and the travel. Travelling to places off the beaten track was a great experience. It was interesting to experience places from that vantage point.
“I had lots of good experiences during my service, but a lot of traumatic ones too,” he says. “It was only when I came to Combat Stress years later that they were described as that though – to me they were mostly routine.
"There was one key incident though, where I helped recover remains of a colleague who been killed in action in Afghanistan. What I was expecting and what actually happened were poles apart and it stupefied me.”
Sam tried to put the memory of that night out of his mind, but it had an impact. “As a senior guy I tried to be stoic,” he says. “I was there to support others, so I sucked it up. There was so much going on that I didn’t really have the opportunity to think much about it. But it was always there in the background.”
Army life carried on, with Sam starting to experience symptoms of PTSD. “Certain smells and textures triggered me,” he says. “I avoided certain situations and had brain fog. I couldn’t retain information, which was so frustrating.
"I also suffered from anxiety and depression. Then, just as I was leaving the Army in 2018, my father died. That, coupled with the change of employment, was the perfect storm for the PTSD that had been in the background to come to a head.”
Sam knew that he needed some form of help and was at an event for veterans when he met someone from Combat Stress, who gave him our Helpline card. “I knew it was a well-respected organisation, but they were still strangers to me – and that’s a big leap of faith to take,” he says.
Sam kept hold of the Helpline card until he felt ready to make the call, which he did five months later in March 2023. He was given a clinical assessment to understand his symptoms and then had face to face trauma-focused therapy at our Northern Ireland hub.
“My treatment with Combat Stress has helped me to understand what my issues were and what my triggers are,” he says. “Having that understanding means I have the opportunity to take control. You have to play your part in it though, engage with the process and invest in the treatment.”
Sam has now finished treatment and encourages other veterans who are where he was to contact Combat Stress. “It will be the best phone call you ever make,” he says.
“You have nothing to lose and everything to gain - they probably saved my life.”
*Sam provided his story on an anonymous basis, so this is not his real name