It is only 8 months since I
came across Fishing For Heroes and in that time my life has changed
immeasurably. The initial training was first class and the continued support
has been extremely encouraging. I find fishing both restful and exciting in one
and can lose myself for hours on the water’s edge. It gives me something to
look forward to and makes the times I am not fishing pleasurable. Apart from
me, the people most positively affected by my learning to fish are my family
and that means everything to me.

On a slightly different tack- I am
coming to realise what it is I enjoy about fishing. My kit has mysteriously
evolved into a sort of “belt order” and when I put my net across my back
it reminds me of preparing for a patrol. I am working on the type of fishing I
enjoy the most and so far it is fishing the wild lochs in the north of
Scotland. They need careful map reading and route selection. All this plus
the stealth required at the water’s edge just feel so comfortable and familiar.
It seems the training runs deep.The one difference is the fact I do not have to
be tactical and can relax on a rock in the sun if I want to.  I could do
without the low flying jets though – a bad experience in the past.

Hi, my name is Ken, I’m a 55 year old Falklands Vet who has Combat Realated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or CR-PTSD.

What’s my story? It’s the same as far too many others and those looking at this site already know it, or a personal version of it. I came across Fishing for Heroes in September 2009. Fishing For Heroes is not so much about what PTSD is, but more about what can be done about it.

So what can you expect from your 3 days fishing with Fishing For Heroes?
First of all the B&B is fantastic, you are looked after really well but left alone if you know what I am saying, you are treated like a human being not as a mental health condition. The location is fantastic and the food is 5*, take a bigger belt, it’s top grub.

Your instructor, Tom is not an ex service man but you’d never guess, Tom would fit into any NAAFI or SCREWS bar I’ve ever been in. He’s a top instructor, he has a way about him, he’s quiet and patient but he will tell you as it is when needed.
I was a complete mess when I got there, in fact I nearly turned around a number of times on my drive down (so glad I didn’t now) and I’d never fished before in my life. Tom had me feeling at ease and into a fish on the first day.

My 3 days were great, I could have stayed longer, but what 3 days fly fishing did for me was show me a way of leaving all the bad/intrusive stuff behind me, for a few hours at least.

All PTSD sufferers know that quiet times can soon become bad times, Fishing For Heroes teaches a skill that can (with practice) keep the quiet times…..Quiet.

Tony, Tom and the rest know how to go that extra yard. The whole crew at Fishing For Heroes are TOP people who know how to take the time needed to get it right, how to take a closed book and over the intitial 3 days ease open the pages a little and let the story start to come out in a safe and comfortable way.

Too many of us can say (and all too often) “Been there and got the T-shirt”. Well, for some of us, Fishing for Heroes can be the start of taking that T-shirt off.

It is said that “Every journey starts with a single step” Well getting in touch with Fishing for Heroes could be the start of YOUR journey and Your Tomorrow…….. Give yourself a chance and give it a try, you may well be chuffed you did, I know I was.

After 15 years of service I left the forces in 2005, armourer by trade, id specialised in EOD. I’d had various detachments and visited many parts of the world. In 2003 I part in OP TELIC, I only spent 5 months in theatre, but after about a month I was involved in an incident after about a month there near the border at Safwan. After about 5 months I left with a “squaddie tan” everything there was ok at the time, and like most service men and women I was stamped “OK” and fit for service. I left the forces in 2005, everything was good with life until a road accident in 2008 where I was hit from behind in my car by another driver……………. Since then whether or not you want to call it a “flash back” I’ve not had a decent night’s sleep, I’ve not been able to sleep in the same bed as my long term partner ( she knows nothing of what I did in Iraq ) because of my nightmares and the fact I’m scared in case I lash out in my sleep, I’ve become increasingly short tempered and angry with life, although I didn’t hit the bottle I did have times when I’ve drunk myself stupid, then do the same thing a couple of nights later, but while im in employment im ok, as long as im working it takes my mind off things (at least during the day), but as I work away from home a lot at the end of the day I go back to my digs alone which is where I spend all night trying not to slip into a sleepless depressed night…………….

Things have improved over the last few months as im now involved in a group called “forces for good”. A last month I went with them to a meeting wales about ex forces, which is where I met Tony, and is where he was kind enough to invite me down to a fly fishing course just outside of Exeter, he put me in touch with his college Tom who was to be my fishing coach. I gave tom a wring, after a short chat with him he basically said to me “just turn up breathing and leave the rest to him”. This I did, at first I didn’t want to, my way of thinking is that there are people out there in far greater need than me…….but I’m glad I went, WOW, what an experience………it was only three days…..but those three days made me forget about everything, there was no sense of time at all, felt so relaxed, (this isn’t some kind of crappy sales pitch) curtacy of the “fishing for heroes” charity, they put me up in a lovely homely bed and breakfast, ran by Anne and John, (Anne + home cooking= heaven)

The long road ahead for me is getting shorter by the day, and thanks to FISHING FOR HEROES it’s got three days closer to the end…………

Signed:- another forgotten service person

I joined the army in 1975 as a boy soldier I thought I had found a lifestyle that fit me like a glove. It was not untill years later that my daughter told me I was a cliche, I had come from what would now be called a disfunctional family, my father was an alchoholic and my mother well lets just not go there.

Once passed training I was encouraged to push myself a little bit further all the time to “be the best”. Any how after Northern Ireland the army seemed to pale I was no longer the round peg in the roound hole. So, I left I ended up serving in what is now a PMC (private military conttractor). It was really like a home from home most of the guys around me were ex British Army and life was sweet again.

This lasted another ten years but all good things come to an end. Over time I realised that due to my anger people were starting to be afraid and avoid me. I coud not hold a job down for long and it was not long until I hit trouble literally. I met a guy who persuaded me to go fishing with him, my life did not turn around straight away but thanks to Tom and Tony I’m doing ok now.