Wheelie bin and traffic cone on driveway triggered nightmares

A wheelie bin and traffic cone would have been an innocuous sight for those passing Lieutenant Colonel Chris Parker’s driveway one fateful morning.

But when he laid eyes on it, the sight transported him back to when he was wrestling with life-or-death decisions on the streets of Northern Ireland.

He explained how bombs were often concealed in the objects and the decision of whether to walk down a street littered with the potential hazards rested on his shoulders.

“The mental visual trigger was enough to make sure I had five nights of consecutive, horrific nightmares,” he said.

“I went to the doctor and they helped me very quickly.”

Lt Col Parker had a highly successful Army career, which saw him become Chief of

Staff of the famed Desert Rats brigade in the Middle East.

But the experience on his driveway, which led him to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), came some 22 years after his Northern Ireland duties.

“You don’t have to be blown up to suffer PTSD,” he said.

“The stress can be literally walking past those cones and bins with an absolutely neverending sense of fear that they could blow up at any moment.” He described his counselling experience as ‘exceptional’ but he said the ‘biggest problem’ was men – and particularly military men – often felt speaking out was a sign of weakness.

Last week, a counsellor working across Sussex suggested those leaving the military should undergo mandatory psychological help.

Lt Col Parker said the point was ‘well made’ but questioned if there would be a human rights issue in compelling those who insisted they were fine to talk to someone. He advocated education, sharing stories and getting veterans together as an effective way of supporting them.