Climate activists’ national park plea
New Irish PM virus says is his priority once you’re out off the door, it’s clear that you are not thee MoD’s problem and that’s wrong. The MoD doesn’t know how many veterans are killing themselves and that’s disgraceful.”
Billy, who worked as a bodyguard for A-list celebs including Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Kate Moss and Russell Crowe, said he was willing to do anything necessary to help traumatised veterans.
The ex-soldier won an MBE for leading a mission in Iraq to rescue a British hostage, and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for capturing an IRA sniper using himself as bait.
But he admits that he previously refused to believe PTSD was genuine and thought that people who developed the condition were weak. He said: “I’ve been involved in a lot of stuff. I’ve been shot in the face, blown up. There have been numerous occasions when I could have been killed. I’ve had people die in my arms, I’ve been in some pretty nasty situations, but none of it affected me.
“Then a friend of mine who had been in the SAS got PTSD. We were out one night having a beer and he grabbed hold of me and started crying. I couldn’t handle it and said, ‘ What’s up with you?’
“I sat with him until the early hours of the morning talking about what he had been through and it involved an incident when he was very close to death. I realised then that he had PTSD and that it was something very real and very dangerous.”
Billy has backed calls for a centre where veterans and members of the armed forces can get treatment for mental health issues.
He added: “This country needs a centre of excellence to help veterans and serving soldiers who are struggling with mental health problems.
“Part of the problem is there are too many agencies dealing with mental health, which is too confusing and disorganised.
“The best cure for veterans with mental health problems is other veterans. Only a soldier really understands a soldier.
“Soldiers and veterans don’t want sympathy, they just need help from people who understand them.”
More national parks in Scotland would be a “brilliant way” to help t ackle the climate emergency, campaigners say.
The plea comes on the 20th anniversary of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, which paved the way for Scotland’s two existing national parks – Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in 2002 and the Cairngorms National Park the next year.
John Thomson, chairman of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, said: “Scotland has an incredible wealth of world- class landscapes. To make the most of these, many more should be national parks.”
Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland director John Mayhew said: “National parks are ideally placed to lead the way out of the current health crisis towards a better, more prosperous Scotland.
“This 20th anniversary would be the perfect time to create more national parks as a brilliant way to tackle the climate emergency and the nature crisis.”
Granting an area national park status can help conserve locations important for their wildlife, landscape and historic environment.
Former Green MSP Robin Harper, who took part in the debate on the Act, said: “We need to see our countryside as a place where biodiversity and the environment are enhanced – our rural communities and their survival are essential to the conservation of wild Scotland.”