Traumatised Chelmsford veteran 'let down' by Army
Monday, August 13, 2012
Essex Chronicle
AN EX-SOLDIER plagued by flashbacks of war claims the Army has left him high and dry since he left the Force.
Mark Griffiths served a total of 12 years in First Battalion Royal Anglian, including time in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Iraq.
But when he was discharged from the Army with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in July, he said he was alienated by his squadron for being "weak" and told he was not going to get a medical pension.
"The Army was my entire life and all I ever wanted to do since I was five-years-old," said Mark, 30, of Pickwick Avenue, Chelmsford.
"After all the years I have given them this is not what you expect to happen. I just get so many flashbacks, violent mood swings, depression – you just cannot sleep. It pretty much takes over your entire life.
"All I hear when I close my eyes is the sound, the loud noises, the screaming. I cannot even explain to you how it sounds."
Mark worked alongside fallen Chelmsford soldier Scott Hardy in Afghanistan. He was just one of his many friends who died in battle.
"Scott was a top bloke, he could talk to anyone and could always make me laugh," he said.
"It was so sad because on our rest and recuperation from Afghanistan he was telling me how he wanted to leave the Army and settle down with his girlfriend and have a family in Chelmsford.
"I found out through an officer casualty report, and it hit me really hard, it was beyond words.
"I have seen so many of my friends die and had to bury them all. There are people in their 80s that will not have been to as many funerals as me."
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Very sad state of affairs. Always hearing stories about how veterans from any war are badly treated by the government. Yet footballers are making thousands a day. Good luck to this guy from Chelmsford - so young and yet already seen so much horror.
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