The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Ex-sniper urges others to open up after PTSD battle
Man’s life and marriage broke down on return from war zone
A former infantry sniper who was plunged into severe depression after returning from Afghanistan has urged others suffering mental ill health to seek help.
Kenny Watson, 30, was so badly hit by post-traumatic stress disorder that he showed no interest in his newborn son and tried to take his own life more than once.
Having turned his life around with counselling from a veterans’ support service he is encouraging others to speak out and ask for help.
Kenny, of Dunfermline, suffered back injuries and hearing loss when he was caught in two bomb blasts in Afghanistan in 2012 while serving with the 3rd Battalion the Rifles.
After snapping mentally during a mock exercise, he was placed under the care of an Army psychiatric unit for two years.
Back home in Dunfermline on leave with wife Kerry, 29, and son Harris, now six, he said his life deteriorated and his marriage broke down.
He said: “I had anger issues and suffered bad nightmares. I would wake up not knowing where I was or who Kerry was. I didn’t have a bond with my son. He was born about a year after I got back from Afghanistan and I had zero emotions for him.
“At first I didn’t really know I was suffering, I thought what I was experiencing was normal.”
It was his wife who helped him get his life back on track.
He added: “Kerry wanted to stay with me, she knew this wasn’t the true version of me, it was an illness.
“It was then that I found Rock2recovery.”
Rock2recovery is a community interest company which offers support to veterans and armed forces personnel suffering mental health difficulties and brain injuries.
The key for Kenny was one-to-one sessions where he could talk about his emotions and learn how to alter his response without having to relive the past experiences which triggered them. He said: “You just need to talk about it. “Life is a lot easier than it was. I’m in no way fully recovered but the bad days I get less and less.
“My son and I are really close now and we do a lot together.”
He spoke to The Courier after Time to Talk Day, part of a campaign to end mental health discrimination.