SECRETS OF MY SURVIVAL Teaching bushcraft helped Afghan hero overcome PTSD
A FORMER Commando who fought in Afghanistan while suffering PTSD has found his own form of therapy in bushcraft.
Nick Goldsmith, 33, is helping others solve post- traumatic stress with his Woodland Warrior programme.
And he says chatting about their experiences around the campfire has helped them back from the brink.
It is part of Nick’s new business running survival and adventure courses in woodland near Bristol.
The Royal Marines Charity helped him set it up last year when he was medically discharged with PTSD.
Nick began showing signs of the condition after months fighting the Taliban on a daily basis 11 years ago.
But he was sent back on three more six-month tours in Afghanistan before being diagnosed.
Bayonets
He now teaches wilderness survival skills – including shelter building, fire making, foraging and wild cooking.
Hidden Valley Bushcraft, which he runs with wife Louise, 33, in Chew Valley, Somerset, also has a Woodland Warrior programme which has helped 26 fellow veterans so far.
Last year it featured in Baroness Karren Brady’s ITV show Give It A Year, which follows people who have started new businesses.
Nick, dad to three-year-old son Finn, says working in the great outdoors and telling stories around the campfire is “effective t herapy” f or traumatised ex-service people.
“It is less confrontational than sitting in a small room facing a stranger with a pack of tissues on s t andby,” He s aid. “Concentrating on other tasks means I often forget my reservations about expressing my feelings. Likewise, engaging in some kind of manual task while talking through my experiences works equally well.”
Nick joined the Royal Marines in 2008 intending to serve at least 22 years.
“I conducted four tours of Afghanistan and several sensitive overseas operations, which subjected me to lifethreatening incidents,” he said. “This, along with other factors, resulted in the illness I manage on a daily basis. “On my first tour of Afghanistan in 2008, I was a point man in Whisky Company 45 Commando. “My daily routine consisted of patrols and sentry duty, which could involve closing with the enemy, bayonets fixed in dense maize f i el ds, c l earing g compounds and mounted patrols. I was often the first person into the compounds, or to cross open fields and to lead the way, finding improvised explosive devices as I went.
“These patrols were up to 18 hours at a time, sometimes lasting for days in 52 degrees heat. On this tour I severely injured my knee when diving for cover to avoid oncoming g fire. I was transferred to Camp Bastion but was not given an adequate de- compression period, having to return straight to my unit for an operation.
“As soon as I was able to bear weight I was the pall bearer at seven of the 13 repatriation funerals I attended within a sixmonth period, which added to my anxiety and survivor’s guilt.”
The veteran vetera added: “My diagnosis has s stopped me doing a job I loved.
“I became hyper- vigilant, paranoid an and distrustful. Sleeping was difficult, with flashbacks a ni nightly occurrence.
“I could no longer work for prolonged per periods and became tired and ‘burnt ‘bur out’ easily.” The Sund Sunday People is campaign campaigning for better
treatme treatment of veterans.