‘I felt suidical when I left the army’

George Banks spent a quarter of a century in the army after joining up at the age of 15. Having served as a sergeantmajor in the Royal Artillery and undertaking two tours of Northern Ireland, he felt he was ready to leave and embrace civvy street in 1996.

But George, from Dunoon in Argyll, struggled to hold down a job.

He says: “I had lots of skills but no formal qualifications.

“The pressure of finding work while trying to support my family was becoming overwhelming.

“I was a success in my military life – why couldn’t I become a success in my civilian life?”

George now knows he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the symptoms of which he was displaying even before he left the Army.

“My behaviour was getting more erratic by the day, which often led to arguments with other officers and my seniors,” he says.

“Sometimes I felt suicidal, but I didn’t want my kids to have to go through losing a parent at a young age.

“One day I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, ‘I need help.’”

The veteran was eventually put in touch with the Combat Stress charity in 2015 after approaching his GP.

George credits the charity’s peer support group, which he attends weekly, as providing the safety net he needed.