mental health matters

The Dark Side Of The Military | Ben Close #384

Posted on 23 October 202323 October 2023 by Chris Thrall

The Dark Side Of The Military, features Ben Close who suffered with PTSD after serving with the Coldstream Guards in Iraq & Afghanistan.

The Dark Side Of The Military

The Dark Side Of The Military features Ben Close who served with the Coldstream Guards. He discusses the dark side of military life, PTSD and the lack of support for many when back on civvie street.

Transcript from ‘The Dark Side Of The Military’ podcast

Ben – What hurt the most was while he’s physically abusing my brother, sister and my mother, he was so shit scared of my dad. He never used to do it to me, so it used to mentally affect me as well. Sometimes I just used to wish that he’d lay a finger on me because I could have strung him up. Luton police all got involved and the guy even tried to get me arrested for assault at the age of fifteen. Protecting my mom I hit him and he tried to get me arrested. I remember like it was yesterday, you know what I mean? The trauma was terrible and my father rang me on the house phone. I was in Luton and he basically just said to me, where does this guy live?

If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe to my YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisThrall/videos

https://christhrall.com/

Please support the channel from only £2 a month at:
https://www.patreon.com/christhrall

https://www.paypal.me/TeamThrall

Go Fund Me:
https://gf.me/u/xb5x5u

Become a member and community supporter at Locals

https://locals.com/member/christhrall

Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent Into Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland

Paperback Book: https://amzn.to/2YoeaPx

Forty Nights: My Escape from Crystal Meth Hell

Paperback Book : https://amzn.to/2AYH0hn

Kindle : https://amzn.to/2A UMkCI

How to Write a Memoir

Kindle : https://amzn.to/3fc8Wxm

Podcast on iTunes etc

Spotify : https://spoti.fi/3aH7Xnj

iTunes: https://apple.co/2NUP5HN

RSS: https://lnkd.in/guyd b_W

SoundCloud : https://soundcloud.com/chris_thr

I Lost EIGHT Stone & RAN A 100-MILE Ultramarathon | Podcast #248

Posted on 11 April 202211 April 2022 by Chris Thrall

I Lost eight stone & ran a 100 mile ultramarathon, features Richard Wilcox, a veteran of the Staffordshire Regiment.

I Lost EIGHT Stone & RAN A 100-MILE Ultramarathon

Richard Wilcox served with the Staffordshire Regiment. After suffering with PTSD, Richard became seriously overweight during the first lockdown period in 2020. He decided to change his lifestyle. After watching videos of ultra running online, he was inspired to take up the sport. He signed up for a 100 mile race and spent a year in intense training. By the end of that year, he’d lost eight stone in the process.

Richard has now taken on 30 marathons in thirty days, to raise money for the mental health charity, Combat Stress. In total, Richard ran for 150 hours and covered more than 790 miles. He’d climbed a total elevation of 61,582ft, equating to getting to the summit of Everest twice. So far, his extraordinary efforts have raised just over £1,500 for Combat Stress. Thank you to Andrew Marshall for bringing Richard’s story to our attention.

Transcript from ‘I Lost EIGHT Stone & RAN A 100-MILE Ultramarathon’ podcast

Richard – I used to get pretty out of breath just going up the stairs and just walking up a slight incline. A hill would have me out of breath and I would have to stop if it was a big hill. There was one ill on holiday and it was probably about 500 meters, with quite a steep incline. I’d stop off wide just for a breather and my grandkids on another holiday were making fun of me.