00:00yeah i'm very good um obviously this has been quite you know it's hard having to put myself
00:05out there as such you know i don't want to be out there like this and um you know it's um
00:11it's just been a shamble the whole process um i've had i found it hard you know i um
00:18a couple of years ago i approached the council and um where my life had literally had its last
00:25rock bottom and such um you know i was i was stabbed in the back and i got resuscitated
00:32and um i said listen this is enough i needed some help and i went to my local authority
00:36government sorry and um i asked for some help and you know i said i really need some help
00:42um and somebody told me about the armed forces covenant so i'd done a bit of digging around it
00:47and uh yeah so i the lady that was dealing with me at the time she was uh they were nice
00:54um but they just point blank denied the covenant even being signed they said even if we did sign
01:00it and that just to clarify just my understanding of the armed forces covenant is that once you leave
01:05the armed forces you are really supposed to get priority housing and mental health care and what
01:11you seem to be saying is that you've not had either of those two things and in fact um you can't get
01:17housing but basically 300 afghans can is that right yeah that's correct yeah and
01:24that i need to i think it's really important to highlight that there's nothing wrong with us
01:28opening our doors to these people they they were under the rule in front of the taliban and they
01:32were being you know brutalized under their you know horrific acts um but ultimately we need to
01:40prioritize the local residents i mean you can see i'm not the definition of a homeless person like i'm
01:46not living in a tent you know i'm i've still got a family and the support around me that love me and care for me
01:51but ultimately i need my own place and that armed force covenant does it's supposed to recognize
01:57that um i've been nothing but like transparent with these people and i just feel like i'm getting
02:02nowhere and you know the fact that i'm even on here it's gut-wrenching you know like it's just
02:09making me feel degraded but in fact these people need to be held accountable they signed a covenant
02:15you know like they want to be out there they want to be recognized for doing the right thing socially
02:19but they're not actually doing it they're not instilling them qualities and them standards for
02:23the veterans and not just the veterans you know you can go and walk into bracknell high street and
02:29you'll see real people like real homeless people that are living in tents cardboard boxes you go and
02:33see it just go and see it by the bracknell banks the old banks and uh you'll see that there's not enough
02:37being done uh you've got to understand that some of these people do need uh medical intervention with
02:43their mental health and yeah you know like we've all we all go through ups and downs but it's just
02:48been it's just been a rough ride you know it really has been a rough ride exactly and you were prepared
02:52we're looking at certain pictures on the screen now of you in action and you were prepared clearly to put
02:57your life on the line for this this country uh you were sent off to fight in a war and and you were
03:03injured weren't you could you just explain to us a little bit about what happened to you
03:06yeah well obviously i was on my second tour um i don't know how i made it through the first tour
03:13the 2008 tour that was pretty horrific um you know we went back obviously i wanted i was a lifelong
03:19soldier i had my i'd signed up for the whole you know service uh but unfortunately i was medically
03:25discharged due to sustaining a gunshot wound and it was a high velocity round it shattered my femur
03:30ricocheted to the top of my abdomen and then um i was left you know with shortening of the leg and
03:35then that causes you know when you're walking gravity i carry myself well um but i just think
03:41the support after i mean the army was brilliant it's mainly like local government because i did
03:49approach them like after i got injured and they tried to put me in a place that just wasn't accepted
03:55it wasn't even wheelchair friendly i don't think and um i just think it doesn't help
04:01you know it suppresses you know like yeah you know if you're wanting to progress in your life
04:09it suppresses it you know like not being able to and not just that like um recently like they denied
04:17to me that they signed the covenant and you know it's just like yeah i'm really lost the words
04:23it just it just feels yeah i don't want to be here doing this i i get that well it's well first
04:28well i hope you don't feel embarrassed and everything i can understand where you're coming
04:32from with that and i mean that's certainly the last thing that we would we will run from you i
04:35think it's incredibly brave thing that you're doing to speak out and one thing i will say as well george
04:38is that and this is a depressing fact is that there will probably be hundreds or thousands of people
04:43watching this now who are in the same position as you and it it boils my blood that we've got people
04:48who are willing to do a job that yeah i mean i can't even imagine i get to sit here in a studio every
04:53single night and sometimes talk a good game i'd be rubbish if i joined the army i'd be rubbish in
04:58those situations the ones that you ran towards you know and we can't look after you when you come home
Comments