Hastings Gulf War hero battling post traumatic stress sydrome is raising funds to create a workplace

Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, went to school at William Parker leaving after A levels in 1991, joining the Royal Navy at Dartmouth Naval College as a Midshipman. He was a keen member of the Hastings Sea Cadets from 11 years old until he joined the Navy at 18.

He was the second in command of the Mine Hunter HMS Ledbury in the Battle of Al Faw.

Graeme launched a Go Fund Me appeal to raise enough money to buy a shed and computer and filming equipment to enable him to keep working.

He explained: “I have PTSD and a condition called ‘Moral Injury’ from my time in Iraq and it has cost me my livelihood, relationships, my independence and my cognitive function.

“The NHS Mental health services and the NHS’ TILS service for veterans like me literally saved my life. I’m still recovering and managing the lifelong PTSD symptoms of anxiety and hyper vigilance.

“I am very lucky. Because I can’t live independently, I live with my parents and my teenage son. I am insanely grateful for this because without them, I would be dead, or homeless.

“I struggle with the anxiety, which is embarrassing speaking as a bomb disposal officer, very little mental ‘desk space’ poor memory and poor executive function. I have typical ‘Shell Shock’ tics when I get stressed.

“I’m not currently capable of a ‘real’ job so I have a social media occupational therapy project which I’m using as a filler to practice and expand my capacity to work rather than sitting about being a patient.

“My plan is to expand on my occupational therapy social media project The New Home Guard which is a comedy blog advocating social cohesion and making veterans laugh.

This is part of a wider occupational therapy programme to get me back into the real world. This includes filming and editing and making things on my sewing machine.

“The first step is to buy a shed to put in the garden where I can ‘go to work’ and have an ‘office’. A shed is about the same size as a cabin on a ship so it will be familiar .

“In later phases, I will look at the other things I can do to enhance this ‘business’ and facilitate my recovery back to being a useful member of society.”

So far Graeme has raised £3,330 raised of £4,500 target and said: “I am absolutely humbled - it is overwhelming.”

To support Graeme visit his Go Fund Me page at www.gofundme.com/f/graemes-recovery-from-ptsd where you can also read more details of his story.