VIA is a registered charity and has been formed by two ex Royal Engineers Billy MacLeod and Maurice Sweeney, to help those who have served on operations and have suffered the effects of PTSD or who find it hard to adjust to civilian life. VIA will organise and run adventurous fund raising events and expeditions which will be manned by veterans who have been treated for PTSD and will build self esteem and confidence in those who have suffered and train the expedition leaders of the future....
Through our own experiences of leaving the service, we know how difficult it is walking through the camp gate for the last time and entering, what for many is the unknown world of civilian life. This can lead to many problems as they lose their sense of belonging and being part of a team.
VIA will organise and run adventurous fund raising events and expeditions that ex service personnel can join to help build self confidence and self esteem in a team environment using the vast array of skills our service personnel already possess from their military service.
During our research we looked at what had happened to veterans from the Falklands War era. The results from such a short conflict were shocking.
Statistics from the Falklands War
30,000 British service personnel took part in the Falklands War with a loss of 255 British lives and over 700 wounded. Since then, over 300 have committed suicide. Many have ended up in prison or are living on the streets.
Sapper Hill - Falkland Islands
These shocking statistics are the result of the trauma and experiences of the service personnel who took part in that conflict. Many have suffered with PTSD that has gone untreated for many years. Many others have apparently self medicated, because some civilian doctors have not understood the pressures and stresses of being on operations.
Iraq and Afghanistan
VIA believe that the same thing is happening to many of today’s troops who have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and previous conflicts since before or after the end of the Falklands War.
Photo : Matt Cetti-Roberts
To date, approximately 150,000 service personnel have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and there have been over 400 killed and many seriously wounded. VIA understand that at least 25 have taken their own lives and many more are going through psychiatric treatment due to the experiences they have had.
As well as those killed and wounded, this has a marked effect on other service personnel and is all to do with the stresses of being in combat. Service personnel are leaving this environment and some are then moving into civilian life. A recent BBC report stated that as many as 8500 ex-servicemen have been through or were in the prison system and 12,000 have no fixed address. One in every eleven prisoners serving currently in British prisons is an ex-member of H.M. Forces and 70% of those have been diagnosed with PTSD.
Our Forces train extremely hard to gain a wide array of practical skills during their service and these skills are not always recognised by civilian employers and because of this, many of these skills are never used again. These skills are badly needed in many parts of the world. VIA will use the skills of our ex service personnel to carry out projects throughout the world wherever those skills are needed.
VIA believes that by getting involved with our organisation and taking an active part in our expeditions and fund raising events or in any support capacity, our service personnel can still belong to something worthwhile. They will be able to use the skills they learned in the services, in an environment they understand. By getting the right team together, VIA will get our message out in the public domain and get the support and the funding needed to help those who have suffered with PTSD. Many of our team have suffered the debilitating effects of PTSD so it is something we understand and is close to our hearts.
VIA do not treat anyone with PTSD our sole purpose is to build those who have into confident individuals and for them to feel comfortable being part of a team and by training them to pass the skills on to those who take part in our events.