Charity prevents troubled vets’ suicides, says Foxy

SPECIAL Boat Service veteran Foxy told how a mental health support group he helped found has talked veterans out of suicide.

The ex-Marine Commando said the Rock2Recovery network was inspired by his own experience with PTSD, which saw him medically discharged in 2012 after two decades of service.

He said: “We’re not an organisation governed by the MoD or a charity. We don’t have a lot of red tape so we can have almost immediate impact on people.

“I’ve got coaches who have literally talked guys off railway tracks because they don’t have to jump through hoops and get them to sign bits of paper.”

Foxy said he had seen huge leaps forward in the treatment of mental health in the Forces but that more needed to be done.

He said: “I was a staunch non-believer in mental health issues in soldiers, because I’d spent so long in the military in the thick of it.

“It was only after my last tour that I remember coming back and feeling a little detached. I was gearing up for my next six-month tour and I remember seeing in the distance it was a huge black cloud.

“It wasn’t anything bad, it was just something I really wasn’t looking forward to. I didn’t understand because in 19 years of service I’d always been bang up for the job at hand.”

Anyone looking for support can contact Rock2Recovery at their website, rock2recovery.co.uk