UK Veteran with PTSD uses service ducks

Pets stop Paul from quacking up
Daily Record
By Paul Cargill
7 Jan 2014

Ducks help army bomb disposal hero keep flashbacks in check

Perthshire Advertiser

A former bomb disposal officer from Perth is coping with traumatic memories of Bosnia – by looking after his pet DUCKS.

Retired Royal Engineer Paul Wilkie (43), who was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in October 2012, adopted his two Call ducks shortly after moving from Perth to Guildtown last September.

The former Perth Academy pupil, who served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan during his 22 years in the army, can often be spotted walking the ducks, named Hesco and Bastion, around the village.

The father-of-three, who left the Royal Engineers in June 2012, explained how he suffers from nightmarish flashbacks of his time in Bosnia every time he falls asleep.

“I was working for the United Nations in Bosnia about 18 years ago,” he said yesterday. “I won’t go into too much detail, but I saw children playing with mines and getting killed.

“Every night I go to sleep, I have to relive that horrible experience. Sometimes I have to go through it three or four or maybe even six times a night.

“I don’t know what triggers it, but I sometimes wake up covered in sweat.”

But Paul said his feathered friends, who are named after the temporary defensive walls soldiers construct around their camps on tour, were helping him to cope with his horrific nightly flashbacks.
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