1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,360
Welcome guys to episode 160 of Behind the Shield Podcast.

2
00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:07,960
My name is James Gearing and I want to start by saying Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.

3
00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,320
I hope you guys get to spend some time with your family.

4
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:17,720
And this week I have an incredible man who ironically, Christmas Eve is an anniversary

5
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:18,720
for him.

6
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:26,800
Royal Marine Mark Omrod who actually knelt on an IED back on Christmas Eve in 2007, lost

7
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:34,400
both his legs and one of his arms and what happened after that, what his team did, what

8
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:40,640
the medical staff did, the road to recovery is such an inspirational story.

9
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,880
I know you guys are going to be amazed by his journey and then to come out of that and

10
00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,360
be such an altruist and want to help even more just like several of the people we've

11
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:55,320
had on the show already is another incredible part of his story.

12
00:00:55,320 --> 00:01:01,840
So as I always say before we start the interview, go to your podcast app, subscribe and then

13
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,200
make sure you rate the show, leave us feedback.

14
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:09,880
I love to hear your comments and then most importantly, share the hell out of this.

15
00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,520
Social media can be such a powerful tool if it's used positively.

16
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,960
So take some of these episodes that you've loved and then send them to people you know

17
00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:20,180
who will get something out of them so we can get everyone listening to these incredible

18
00:01:20,180 --> 00:01:26,420
human beings that have been kind enough to share their stories with us here on this podcast.

19
00:01:26,420 --> 00:01:31,480
So with that being said, I introduce to you Royal Marine Mark Omrod.

20
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:50,680
Enjoy.

21
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,000
Well Mark, if I want to say initially thank you so much for agreeing to come on.

22
00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,320
I'm always blown away by people like yourself that I reach out to and immediately you turn

23
00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,640
around and say that you'd love to talk to the audience that listens to this show.

24
00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,920
So my first thing is thank you very much.

25
00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,720
No problem and thank you for saying blown away.

26
00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:11,880
That was the perfect choice of words.

27
00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,960
Let me take my foot out of my mouth a second.

28
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,880
You're putting feet in your mouth.

29
00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,320
All right so where are you calling from right now?

30
00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,120
I am calling from Plymouth in England.

31
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:29,680
Plymouth sounds familiar.

32
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,520
So that is very close to where I grew up in Bath.

33
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,320
Were you born there originally?

34
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,120
Born in Brennan Plymouth yeah and I was in Bath this week actually.

35
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,920
It was about a three hour drive from where I am but there's a couple of twisty roads

36
00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:48,600
so you know it's not too far in terms of mileage but you know how it goes when the roads are

37
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:49,600
a bit twisty.

38
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:54,280
Yeah it's not exactly a straight shot when you're driving in England.

39
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,560
So then if you wouldn't mind I'd just love to explore your family unit because clearly

40
00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:06,120
you know your journey in life created the resilience that you've shown dealing with

41
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,000
the hurdle that you were given.

42
00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,080
So what did your parents do and how many brothers and sisters did you have?

43
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,320
So I actually have a twin sister.

44
00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,200
Not a lot of people know that.

45
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:19,440
I don't know why they don't.

46
00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,600
It just never really came up in conversation over the years but I have one sister.

47
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:25,760
She is a twin.

48
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:33,960
And we were born, my entire family, mum, dad, sister, born and bred here in Plymouth.

49
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:39,760
My parents I think like most people who were that generation had a couple of jobs over

50
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:40,760
the years.

51
00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,560
My dad's main one was as a toilet.

52
00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:45,560
So he was a ceramic toilet.

53
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,720
He used to do a lot of work with Tesco's on big contracts around the country and then

54
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,680
obviously a lot of private work when he could on people's houses, on our own house.

55
00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,960
That kind of stuff.

56
00:03:57,960 --> 00:03:59,760
And yeah my mum had a lot of jobs too.

57
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,920
She worked, you know I can remember them all but she had various jobs over the years doing

58
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,600
what she could to provide for the family.

59
00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:13,320
And I just had a very normal, quite privileged upbringing really.

60
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,520
Did you have any military people in your family or extended family?

61
00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,720
So here's a funny story.

62
00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:25,880
Last year my nan who is 86 now, I went round to see her and she said I've got something

63
00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:26,880
that you might like.

64
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,560
So she went off to her room and she got it out and she brought out this little box.

65
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:36,840
Now I kind of recognised the box anyway and kind of guessed what it might be because you

66
00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,400
know being in the military and been on operational tours myself I've received medals over the

67
00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:47,280
years and this box she brought out was what I assumed to be some sort of medal or medals.

68
00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:53,280
So she opened it up and there were five in there and I said who's are these?

69
00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,520
She said oh well my dad was a Royal Marine in the Second World War and your granddad's

70
00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,760
dad was in the Royal Navy in the First World War.

71
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:00,760
You had no idea?

72
00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,720
No I said no I joined the Marines in 2001 do you not think it would have been a good

73
00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,080
idea to tell me that then?

74
00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,160
Because when you join the military it comes up in conversation a lot have you got any

75
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:12,160
family in the military?

76
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,720
And I've always been like no, no, no one immediate, no one that I know of really.

77
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:24,240
And I did but I only found out last year and actually you know she gave me those medals

78
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,400
and I got them tidied up and I got the ribbons replaced because they were all battered and

79
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,360
torn and I wore them this year to remember them for the first time ever which was a really

80
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,440
proud day for me.

81
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:40,320
That's amazing I had a similar experience and it was my great uncle but I became a firefighter

82
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,960
and it was kind of a sad thing because he was just getting senile when I did but I didn't

83
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,560
think I had any firefighter in my family and being a legacy is kind of a you know it's

84
00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:54,880
a revered thing too but he was one of the senior volunteers in the London Fire Brigade

85
00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,960
during World War II and I only found that out when he was kind of you know on his way

86
00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:04,200
out so it was sad in one way but it was like you at least you found out.

87
00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,440
Yeah, you're right.

88
00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:11,380
Right well I want to talk about another area so here you are and obviously fast forward

89
00:06:11,380 --> 00:06:15,160
to when we get to your career the strapping Royal Marine.

90
00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:21,760
When you were young self-described you were not the most athletic of children initially.

91
00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:31,600
No I was not I was chubby I played a lot of computer games when I was a kid.

92
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:36,120
Exercise you know I did the usual stuff running around with friends running through the woods

93
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:42,600
climbing trees a bit of a kick around with the football every weekend but nothing you

94
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:48,440
know there wasn't anything really that I was focused on when I was really young you know

95
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:55,840
I mean not until I turned about 13, 14 I started getting into sport a little bit and started

96
00:06:55,840 --> 00:07:00,560
to discover the joys of training.

97
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,520
And then was it your journey into martial arts that was the pivotal point though as

98
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,360
far as your body change?

99
00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:13,080
It wasn't really so you know I trained in Muay Thai full contact kickboxing from about

100
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:19,400
11 or 12 years old but never really seriously you know I just did it because I enjoyed it

101
00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:24,040
I was quite good at it I didn't really see it as a career or really as a way of keeping

102
00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:30,400
fit as such I just did it because I enjoyed it and it was actually when I was at school

103
00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:40,120
when I was about 13 or 14 I think I was 14 and I was sat in the canteen and I was eating

104
00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,200
one of those like pastry buns with pink icing on top that was filled with like jam and cream

105
00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:49,320
in the middle and I was sat down and if you imagine like a button-up shirt you know I'm

106
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:55,440
sat down and it's kind of compressed and from the side you could see in through my shirt

107
00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,240
and you could see my chest and one of these guys walked past and like I said I was quite

108
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:04,160
chubby and he kind of looked in through the hole in my shirt and he said to me your body's

109
00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:11,360
disgusting and then he just walked off and I was like what?

110
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,840
And so I put this bun down I'm like that was a bit of a weird random comment and I've never

111
00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:23,840
really thought about that before so I ditched the bun and then I kind of took myself off

112
00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:30,760
and we had a little gym in the school and it was like a broom closet pretty much there

113
00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:35,680
was I think if I remember right there was a treadmill in there there was a bike like

114
00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:40,120
a lap hold down machine a pack deck and a handful of free weights and I kind of went

115
00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,480
in there and I locked the door and I ended my shirt and I looked in the mirror and I'm

116
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:50,880
like yeah that kid was right you know my body is pretty disgusting I'm pretty fat I'm pretty

117
00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,920
out of shape you know I'm 14 years old I shouldn't look like this I should be pretty fit and

118
00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:02,640
healthy and literally in an instant that was the minute I was like well let's say the way

119
00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,160
I'm letting things go you know and I was in the gym anyway I only went in there to use

120
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:11,280
the mirror because I knew there was a flaw to see the mirrors in there and I was like

121
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:16,200
right I'm gonna start looking into this training thing now and seeing you know I already did

122
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,920
the kickboxing like I said in the muu tie but you just turn up twice a week and then

123
00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,160
you know an hour here and an hour there and I was like well I need to do this seriously

124
00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,680
you know I need to get in shape loose and white I had no idea really why I was doing

125
00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:35,180
it I just didn't like what he said of the way it made me feel and so I started training

126
00:09:35,180 --> 00:09:40,840
at lunchtime so I'd lock myself in that gym and I started training with no real idea what

127
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:45,360
I was doing I just knew that I liked being in there you know I liked the feeling when

128
00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,120
I finished and it made me feel productive like I was achieving something.

129
00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:54,080
Did you change the way you ate as well?

130
00:09:54,080 --> 00:10:00,280
Only slightly because I wasn't very well educated in that you know back then you kind of thought

131
00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,940
as a 14 year old you starve yourself and just exercise those and that's really really healthy

132
00:10:04,940 --> 00:10:10,800
which it isn't but I just kind of changed a few things you know and cut down rather

133
00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:17,520
than having this mountain of chips at lunchtime I would have half the portion and you know

134
00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:21,480
every now and again I'd reach for a piece of fruit rather than a bag of crisps you know

135
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,760
because I didn't really know what I was doing and we didn't have the internet back then

136
00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,600
either so it was a lot harder to find the information out and to figure out what it

137
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:32,880
was you were doing you just kind of knew general information and made the best of it.

138
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,760
Yeah and I've talked about this a lot on the podcast we were just given the wrong information

139
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:41,840
too like told that oh if you're an athlete you need to have bowls of pasta and you know

140
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,720
Gatorade or Lucasade in England you know and then you realize that it's actually all sugary

141
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,480
shit and we shouldn't be needing any of it.

142
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:54,560
Yeah no I know and I don't know if you agree or not but I think sometimes nowadays with

143
00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,280
the internet it can be even worse because there's so many people out there contradicting

144
00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,960
each other you know one person says you need to do this other person says you need to do

145
00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:08,200
that and if you're new to it and you're trying to figure it out it can be quite overwhelming

146
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,800
all the information and not knowing what to do.

147
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,160
Yeah well if you just give me an idea I'm going to start a brand new fitness podcast

148
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,440
where I can change your body shape and you give me 20 bucks I'm just going to send you

149
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:23,000
an email saying your body is disgusting and then off you go.

150
00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,800
I'm going to start a new one as well it's called the landmine diet where you can lose

151
00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,800
six stone in a split second.

152
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,400
I do not recommend it.

153
00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:35,400
Immediate results guaranteed.

154
00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:36,400
Exactly.

155
00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:42,440
All right so then if you wouldn't mind me walk me through from this you know this new

156
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:48,560
zeal and this desire to train and obviously you know like we all know that people do train

157
00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:55,360
that feeling of you know the endorphins that you get from training but that area in your

158
00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:00,440
life to the career choice of the military.

159
00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:05,640
Yeah so you know like I said I was I was figuring it out for myself and so I eased into it and

160
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,240
like you just mentioned there you know I didn't know what it was back then but I would finish

161
00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:13,080
the workout and the endorphins were released and I'd feel good and I found that helped

162
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:17,520
me in school actually it helped me focus it got rid of a lot of stress and you know being

163
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:22,720
sat down all morning learning stuff was quite stressful I didn't realize back then but then

164
00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:28,880
training at lunchtime would help to alleviate that stress and refocus me for the afternoon.

165
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:34,200
And then when I go training with the kickbox and the muay thai I started to notice a bit

166
00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,960
of a difference in my fitness I was getting fitter I was getting a little bit stronger

167
00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:44,480
and you know I liked that as well because I saw some progress in that area of my life

168
00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:51,520
and then it wasn't really until about a year and a half later when I was just approaching

169
00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:56,600
my GCSEs and I've been training consistently I wouldn't say it was I was training really

170
00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:02,000
hard you know I was just being consistent with it and doing a little bit every day and

171
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:09,200
then I thought to myself you know when I turn 16 and I do these exams after the exams I've

172
00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,760
got to make a choice am I going to go on to college to go to university to carry on with

173
00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:22,120
education or am I going to get a job? Now I knew I wanted a career as opposed to a job

174
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:27,800
I wanted something that I could progress in that I could build on that would help me develop

175
00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,720
as a person I didn't just want a nine to five job and to keep chopping and changing every

176
00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:38,040
five minutes and I kind of knew that I didn't want to go on to further education as well

177
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,680
you know I didn't hate school I did pretty good I got 10 GCSEs nine of them were A to

178
00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:47,800
C's I got one D so I could have easily gone on to further education but I kind of had

179
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:54,320
that that feeling inside that I wanted to go out there and make a name for myself and

180
00:13:54,320 --> 00:14:01,560
carve my name in the universe type thing so I started thinking about it and I kind of

181
00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:06,700
narrowed down the list of jobs that I wanted to do and I think the training the fitness

182
00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:11,760
had a big impact on it because if I remember rightly it was either the fire brigade the

183
00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:17,800
police or the military and so I started you know asking friends teachers family about

184
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:25,360
all these different areas and pretty soon after a bit of research I kind of marked out

185
00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:32,720
the the police and the fire brigade and focused on the military now it's a bit weird because

186
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:42,080
I live in Plymouth and it is quite famous for homing lots of Royal Marines but I didn't

187
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:46,120
know who they were when I was a kid you know I just thought like I think a lot of 15 year

188
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:52,760
olds do if I want to be a soldier I go and join the army so I had a lot of the people

189
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:57,000
that I grew up with were in the same school as me but they were two or three years older

190
00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,800
and I had friends who had already left and were already in the army serving in Germany

191
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,400
Kosovo Bosnia you know and all those places and their lifestyle looked kind of cool to

192
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,600
me they were coming home you know on these leave periods they had brand new cars they

193
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,720
had money in the bank you know it looked kind of cool to me so I thought right I'm going

194
00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:19,560
to do that I'm going to join the army so I went down to the careers office with one of

195
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:25,040
my friends who was serving in a tank regiment we spoke to the sergeant major down there

196
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:30,040
we got all the paperwork I came home I had to get my parents to look at it because I

197
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:37,960
was too young at that point to sign up myself and then my dad told me that I had an uncle

198
00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,680
who was an officer in the Royal Marines now he's one you know when you have the people

199
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:47,120
in your family that uncle you call them uncle but they're not your mum or dad's brother

200
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:53,880
type uncle yeah yeah close friends right and then so we went in the car and he only lived

201
00:15:53,880 --> 00:16:01,480
about 15 miles from where I am just in a little place called Buckfastly and I went up to see

202
00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:07,400
him and he had served 22 years and finished as a captain and he told me a little bit about

203
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:14,680
life in the Royal Marines and how it was different to the army I went back the next week to the

204
00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:21,320
career center again I spoke to the Royal Marine he sat me down and showed me a video and from

205
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:25,800
the minute I saw that video I was like this is what I want to do you know I mean because

206
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:31,820
they had these guys that were jumping out of planes they were going into contacts via

207
00:16:31,820 --> 00:16:38,080
boat they were going in the contacts on their feet carrying these big packs they were operating

208
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:43,880
in the Arctic in the jungle in the desert in the woodland you know these were like in

209
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:52,000
my eyes then the ultimate flexible soldier like some sort of superhero and the whole

210
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,000
thing you know the aura and the mystique or whatever you want to call it around about

211
00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:02,360
earning this green beret just kind of really appealed to me you know being told how many

212
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:08,320
people fail to earn it and how hard the training is and you know what wearing that thing on

213
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,600
your head actually means and I was just obsessed from that minute I was like this is what I

214
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:17,720
want to do I want to test myself you know do the hardest thing that I can do and I want

215
00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,880
to earn one of those green berets so for the rest of my life I can say you know I did that

216
00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,280
and I earned that and no one could take that away from me so I went and applied for the

217
00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:27,280
Marines instead.

218
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:32,400
Right and just to clarify because we have you know Marines in America and obviously

219
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,760
the Royal Marines back home and then you use the term commando and green beret can you

220
00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,480
sum up because I'm terrible at tripping over military terminology being a fireman and I

221
00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:46,200
call Marines soldiers and I get in trouble and use the wrong ranks so if just just give

222
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:51,560
me like a two minute overview on on the description of Marines green berets and commando so he

223
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:52,560
wouldn't mind.

224
00:17:52,560 --> 00:18:03,840
Okay so the correct term is Royal Marines commando that's our full title and I guess

225
00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:10,160
the closest equivalent in America what you would compare us to and some people will agree

226
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:17,440
some will disagree is probably the Navy SEALs we are the Navy's infantry over here and we

227
00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:24,640
are we're an elite regiment elite unit of men it's the longest and hardest regular

228
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:32,880
forces infantry training in the world apart from special forces and at full strength we're

229
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:41,000
only 7000 men strong so it's a very small tight-knit elite group of men and it's very

230
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,120
very difficult to get into.

231
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,280
Right so what did that because it's 30 week boot camp when you did it it's 32 now is that

232
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:48,280
right?

233
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,480
That's right yeah it started when I did it and I believe they extended it by two weeks

234
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:58,560
because of the the larger number of weapon systems that people get trained on now when

235
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:04,280
we're in Afghanistan they started using different weapons and they extended the training to

236
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,080
incorporate that.

237
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,080
So what just if you again give us kind of lead us down the road of what kind of training

238
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,720
that you did in those 30 weeks and what made you successful versus the people that got

239
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,360
washed out.

240
00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:23,980
So you start off the first two weeks are in what they call the foundation block which

241
00:19:23,980 --> 00:19:29,640
is where you learn and it sounds daft you learn how to brush your teeth how to shave

242
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,040
how to wash yourself properly you learn how to iron your clothes how to make your bed

243
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,600
how to polish your boots how to wear your uniform all that kind of stuff it's like your

244
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:44,800
little induction into the Marines it's still pretty fast paced you know you're up again

245
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,640
every morning at five o'clock you're going to bed late you know learning all these skills

246
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:55,360
you're in one massive room with you know between anywhere between 50 and 70 strangers to start

247
00:19:55,360 --> 00:20:01,840
with and then when you do that and you finish the foundation period you then move into your

248
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:11,440
your main body of infantry training which stretches on for another 24 weeks I believe

249
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:18,920
my maths are right and then the last like I say it might have changed now the last four

250
00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:24,600
weeks you go into maybe six weeks actually you go into what they call the commando phase

251
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,360
which is where you do your specialist training which is what makes you a commando so it's

252
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:34,920
all that you know all the stuff you've learned in that accumulated period put into this commando

253
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:40,400
phase and then they throw in all those tests that we do so the endurance course the 30

254
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:47,840
mile speed march the nine mile the the Tarzan assault course the field the live firing exercises

255
00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:54,520
the final exercises you know the big yomps across the moors all that stuff into that

256
00:20:54,520 --> 00:21:01,080
last little bit of training and then the very final week is the marching about and the parade

257
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:06,560
and the ceremony of stuff getting ready for finishing your training and what we call passing

258
00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:11,600
out and going to your unit. Brilliant right now again that seems like you set the bar

259
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,720
very high and it does kind of parallel with a lot of the special ops guys that I've had

260
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:21,560
here in my profession I'm a true true believer that if you set that bar high you end up with

261
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:27,160
some incredible men and women you know firefighters police officers whatever profession it is so

262
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:32,920
what again what what was it that got you through when that bar was set high where you only

263
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:39,760
end up with 7000 men at the end total. Do you know what it was when you got a bear in

264
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:46,800
mind when I joined I was 17 years old and I remember those first two weeks in that foundation

265
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:52,800
block just every night going to bed thinking this is shit I want to go home and I only

266
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,980
lived 45 minutes away and I just kept on thinking to myself I'm just going to get on the train

267
00:21:57,980 --> 00:22:02,520
and go I don't want to do this don't like this this is out of my comfort zone you know

268
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:07,360
I've got weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks to go yeah and I'm only you know just started

269
00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:15,080
I'm going to quit but then I kind of just broke it down into you know one day at a time

270
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,240
and I thought well just focus on doing one day at a time you know and then before you

271
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,160
know it a week will be gone and then you're one week closer and then break that next week

272
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,840
down to a day at a time and then another week ago you'd be another week closer and so I

273
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:33,560
started doing that and as it progressed the training and it got progressively harder and

274
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:40,160
those thoughts crept into my mind again about quitting and giving up I somehow had this

275
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:49,480
ability to really vividly imagine myself stepping off that train back in Plymouth where I came

276
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:54,680
from having not earned that green brain I could tell everybody that I failed and I just

277
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,240
couldn't it made me feel sick and then you know 17 years old I'm like what am I going

278
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:04,840
to do the rest of my life if I quit and that really drove me on when you're cold wet tired

279
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,640
hungry sleep deprived your feet are bleeding and covered in blisters you've got webbing

280
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,960
bands all over your back you know you've been in the field for a week and you just want

281
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,840
to you just like I want to go back to my bed I want to watch a DVD I want to get a takeaway

282
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:22,120
pizza and just be a civilian you know that thought of stepping off that train and saying

283
00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:27,800
to everyone I failed I wasn't good enough I was like no way there is no way I'm doing

284
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:33,080
that because I'm 17 years old and I have to carry that around me for the rest of my life

285
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,080
and so I just said no matter what happens I'm just going to push myself to my absolute

286
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,480
limit whenever I need to and I want to get through this day by day until eventually I

287
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:42,760
get that green brain.

288
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:47,640
Beautiful and I think that that's that shows that it's a good system and a good a good

289
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,280
series of training because when you take a step back and look at the career that you

290
00:23:52,280 --> 00:24:00,720
do you did that I do if you quit when you're on the job you know your fellow Royal Marines

291
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,440
are going to die or the civilians you're protecting are going to die and in my case you know someone's

292
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:09,760
going to burn to death or bleed to death in their car and I think that's why it's so important

293
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:15,320
to keep these bars set high and test people like you and me to see if we're going to quit

294
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:20,040
because when the shit hits the fan you don't have that option or literally someone is going

295
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:21,040
to die.

296
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:26,880
Right and do you know what's beautiful about that is that when the shit does hit the fan

297
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,960
you can look to your left and you can look to your right and you can do it calmly knowing

298
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,400
that those people left and right of you have gone through exactly the same training that

299
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,080
you have and that they're going to get your back you know they're going to have your back

300
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,960
and you're going to get through whatever it is you're facing because you know how good

301
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:42,960
they are.

302
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:48,080
Yeah well I'm looking forward to talking about you know the event where that did happen I've

303
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,240
heard you recount the story before and it sounds like the men to your left and right

304
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:57,360
absolutely did what they were trained for but before we do that I'd love just to explore

305
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:03,080
your first tour to contrast it and then you know progress chronologically to that point

306
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:08,600
so when were you deployed and where were you deployed?

307
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:15,880
So my first deployment was in 2003 when I was 19 to Iraq and that was on what was called

308
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:24,520
Operation Telek 1 and I was working with Royal Marines headquarters we were first over that

309
00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:31,560
border from Kuwait into Iraq we took over Azerbaijan naval base and set up a command

310
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:38,960
post in there and pretty much worked out there for the three and a half months that we're

311
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:45,800
in country but to be honest you can't even compare the two Iraq and Afghanistan you know

312
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:55,280
this sounds bizarre maybe but I found Iraq very boring the time just dragged out there

313
00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:03,040
you know I didn't fire one round while I was out there I got a very good suntan but honestly

314
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:08,000
I just found it boring there was nothing going on for me personally and the guys I was working

315
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:16,560
with and I kind of came back quite disillusioned you know you've got to imagine as a 19 year

316
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:25,440
old with a green beret having just gone to war all before your 20th birthday and you

317
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,920
come home and think is that it?

318
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:34,280
Did all that training and pushed myself that hard to go and sit around and not do much

319
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,600
for three and a half months in a war zone and I thought that's what it was going to

320
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,240
be like in every deployment that I went on you know?

321
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:47,400
Yeah and then just to backtrack for a second had you already enlisted when 9-11 happened

322
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,680
or was it right after?

323
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:56,040
So I enlisted on February 2001 and I finished my training in October that year so literally

324
00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:02,560
four weeks before I finished my training was when we all saw 9-11 happen so we knew that

325
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:07,440
we were going to be going straight out into some sort of conflict and early 2002 January

326
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:14,040
2002 I think it was I was put into pre-deployment training to go to Afghanistan on something

327
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:20,360
called Operation Jucana now that for whatever reason didn't happen to the scale that it

328
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:25,800
was meant to I think it ended up being more of a special forces thing so I didn't go and

329
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:31,240
then 2003 rolled around and we went to Iraq instead.

330
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:36,320
So after that first deployment you actually came out didn't you is that right?

331
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:43,760
I did I came home in 2005 my first daughter was born, Kezia and I thought right I would

332
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:48,240
have served my minimum time of five years I've been to war I've had my green beret

333
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:53,560
I was still I think 21, 22 I would have been when I left still young enough to start a

334
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:59,280
new career so I put my notice in and I'll leave and so that's what I did you know I

335
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:07,000
signed off, saw out my 12 months I came outside and you know things didn't work out on my

336
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:13,080
daughter's mom as I was leaving and so my life was in a bit of chaos I ended up going

337
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:21,280
to South Africa and training as a bodyguard and I came home and while I was looking for

338
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:27,000
work as a bodyguard I started working on nightclubs as a bouncer.

339
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,920
Now I don't know if it was because I was so young or I just didn't know anybody in the

340
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:37,600
industry but I couldn't get any work as a bodyguard either you know in the UK doing

341
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:42,920
what I thought was a glamorous stuff looking after celebrities or back out in the desert

342
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:48,600
doing that more commercial stuff living out of a duffel bag for a couple months at a time

343
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:56,560
I just couldn't get my foot in the door and it was also the time where the security industry

344
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:01,580
was getting regulated by the SIA so we all had to have these licenses and these badges

345
00:29:01,580 --> 00:29:07,520
which I had but the police were kind of clamping down on Dormon because I think they were quite

346
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:13,880
notorious back in the day for being thugs and bullies so literally this sounds like

347
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:19,120
an exaggeration but I could have stood there and got punched in the face in front of a

348
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,760
policeman and I would have got arrested you know it was going that crazy at that time

349
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:30,080
and I ended up getting arrested a couple of times and I think I panicked you know I was

350
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,200
like this is what's going on here one minute I'm a high-flying Royal Marine with this massive

351
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,800
career ahead of me proud of what I'm doing and you know the world is my oyster and the

352
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,280
next minute I can't even go and do my job without getting arrested and getting looked

353
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:49,480
at as a scumbag and a bully and a thug you know and it was happening multiple times and

354
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:54,640
I was like this is not good you know this I don't deserve this this is not me I'm not

355
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,800
a bully I'm not a thug I just seem to be getting the wrong end of the stick all the time so

356
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:05,360
I kind of panicked and you know ran back to the careers office and went look I'm a civilian

357
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:11,600
now I've been outside for like 10 months I don't like it let me back in so they drew

358
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,360
up the paperwork and I signed back on a dotted line and because I'd only been a civilian

359
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:20,640
for it was just about a year I think at that point there was no need to go through all

360
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:25,040
that training again you know it was just a case of doing some annual tests like shooting

361
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:31,400
and fitness and NBC training with the CS gas and that kind of stuff and then I was back

362
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:38,500
in early 2007 I rejoined was back in and got drafted to a place called 40 commando which

363
00:30:38,500 --> 00:30:45,600
is about an hour and a half north of where I live just outside of Devon.

364
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:50,640
Right and then so you guys were deployed back out to Afghanistan?

365
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,600
Yeah so I had a choice when I rejoined I could have even gone to Limston which is where we

366
00:30:54,600 --> 00:31:01,380
do our training that's a non-deployable unit which you know isn't particularly exciting

367
00:31:01,380 --> 00:31:04,640
if you're fresh in your career it's kind of somewhere you want to be where you're finishing

368
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,960
off if you're trying to sort your life out or they would send me to 40 commando who were

369
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:14,280
due to go out to Afghanistan next so it was kind of a no-brainer for me you know I kind

370
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:19,680
of felt at that point in my life really overwhelmed and out of my depth and I thought getting

371
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:27,400
out the country for a bit and just resetting and refocusing would have been a good thing

372
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:32,040
you know and I could have came back after Afghanistan and picked up my career with a

373
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:39,560
nice fresh positive spin on it and start taking it in a good direction so I joined 40 commando

374
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:44,320
quite excited to go out on this deployment and to sort myself out and that's what we

375
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:50,560
did on the 7th of September 2007 we landed in Afghanistan.

376
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:57,320
Right now leading up to Christmas Eve what kind of action had you seen this time around

377
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,280
obviously Q8 like you said was not a shot fired but what was your experience the second

378
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,280
time?

379
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:09,720
It was completely different like it didn't matter what time of day it was day or night

380
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:14,040
whether you're sleeping eating sat on the toilet if you're on a foot patrol whatever

381
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:20,280
in any split second from anywhere you could have got attacked you know you're in constantly

382
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:27,640
in firefights constantly having rockets and mortars thrown at us you know constantly having

383
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,560
to observe the enemy going out and taking the fight to them at the same time protecting

384
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:37,320
civilians it was very kinetic very full on we had to be very proactive out there we weren't

385
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,440
sitting around for any length of time we were doing stuff every day you know just always

386
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:47,200
on the move always doing something and always in some sort of action.

387
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:53,760
Right so then I guess that takes us to Christmas Eve 2007 so I know you've obviously recounted

388
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:58,880
this story many many times but some of the kind of bits and pieces I've heard from when

389
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,680
you've spoken about it before it's such a fascinating incident from a trauma medicine

390
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,280
point of view as well so if you don't mind I'd love to explore that evening a little

391
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,480
bit and ask you some stuff about you know the triage and some of the treatment and things

392
00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:12,480
like that.

393
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:21,720
Yeah no problem so we just got tasked with going on another one of our foot patrols you

394
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:27,120
know we'd be doing it for three months to that point and the ones we we'd done prior

395
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:35,040
to this one we had a an objective and a mission we would push out one two three how many miles

396
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:41,080
we'd be out for five six seven hours at a time you know we come back having gathered

397
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:46,480
intelligence and you know all this kind of stuff we had an objective when we left but

398
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:52,120
the whole idea of this patrol was that we would leave the camp out of the rear entrance

399
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,240
we'd go in two sections with eight men in each section one would go north one would

400
00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:03,160
go south we were to patrol the immediate perimeter around the camp and then meet at the front

401
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:09,320
entrance close things down and come back and come back in the camp so it was really because

402
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,960
we didn't have much going on at that period around Christmas it was really more of a show

403
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:17,320
of presence you know because we were aware that we were always being watched so we had

404
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:21,200
to show that we were always out there doing something and getting boots on the ground

405
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,640
and taking the fight to the enemy even if we weren't you know particularly doing that

406
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:30,840
we didn't have much of a mission to go out and conduct so we left that morning on Christmas

407
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:36,320
Eve ours in this section went north the other one went south and then we went out and we

408
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:45,080
did all the same basic low-level military kind of stuff that we done to that point about

409
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:51,640
six hours into it both of these sections now find themselves at the other side of the camp

410
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:56,600
at the front entrance ready to do close things down and finish up for the day and the section

411
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:03,080
I was in was tasked with giving the other section overwatch so we basically had to get

412
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:08,240
into fire positions protect them when they were vulnerable so they could come back into

413
00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:13,080
the camp they would then get behind the perimeter of the camp they would then provide cover

414
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:18,640
for us so we could get back in safely and then we finish up for the day you know quite

415
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,520
pretty standard stuff you know looking out for the rest of the guys and just making sure

416
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:29,640
everyone's safe so we all started taking up fire positions I kind of waited till near

417
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:35,480
the end to take mine up I was actually second in command of the section so I had to be in

418
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:42,840
a specific location and do some checks and when everyone was happy with their positions

419
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:48,720
and the area of responsibility I walked over to the position that I'd set for myself and

420
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:54,360
as I went to get down on my stomach I knelt on a detonated and improvised explosive device

421
00:35:54,360 --> 00:36:04,440
right now I heard you mention about the traditional IEDs were a certain power they were just looking

422
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:11,120
to maim so then obviously you guys all flock to your injured comrade and then they do the

423
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:16,720
secondary attack what was different about this particular one that you stepped on?

424
00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:25,920
So my IED was a it was an anti-personnel mine which as you just said it is designed to maim

425
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,840
someone to blow a leg or a foot off so that when they when the rest of the guys come to

426
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:35,240
help him the enemy will follow up with like a small arms attack and try and kill everyone

427
00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:40,400
but on top of the anti-personnel mine was also the warhead of a 107 millimeter Chinese

428
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:47,840
rocket so they had double stacked this thing so that when I stood on or now on the warhead

429
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:54,560
of the rocket it put pressure on the anti-personnel mine the two plates in the anti-personnel

430
00:36:54,560 --> 00:37:02,000
mine touched and detonated which then detonated the mine and the warhead so I kind of got

431
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:08,800
blown up twice if you like and you know a 107 rocket warhead will take the side of a

432
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:12,800
building off if you fired it out of a building it'll put a big old hole in the side of a

433
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:22,200
building so I was very very lucky I think because what we took cover was like in a bowl

434
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,720
I think that this device must have been at some sort of an angle because if it exploded

435
00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:31,480
straight up there would have been nothing left of me it would have just been a pink

436
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:38,080
cloud so yeah it must have been at some sort of an angle and I was just very lucky that

437
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:42,000
it detonated in a direction that it did.

438
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,160
It's just it's crazy listening obviously from from someone that's never been in that

439
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:50,080
situation but I had Rob Jones on a while ago who's a fellow Invictus athlete on the American

440
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:55,000
team and he lost both of his legs but if my memory serves me right one of his friends

441
00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,120
stepped on the IED but because it blasted outwards his friend that stepped on it wasn't

442
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,680
hurt but Rob was right next to him and he he lost both his legs.

443
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:08,920
Yeah so yeah all right so then you you have this explosion again if you wouldn't mind

444
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,840
I know you've told the story many many times but just kind of walk us through the next

445
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:18,120
few seconds really and minutes at most.

446
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,640
So initially I didn't know what happened because I was in no pain and when this device had

447
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:29,120
exploded it created a big dust cloud because the ground in Afghanistan is very sandy and

448
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:34,480
very dusty and I thought initially that we had been attacked you know I thought someone

449
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:40,480
had fired a rocket or a mortar on our position and so my initial reaction was find out where

450
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,320
the attack came from and then just start raining hell down on this position and get all the

451
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,320
lads out of there and make sure no one gets hurt.

452
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:53,120
Now I couldn't see initially because of this dust cloud but in my head I was you know I'm

453
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:57,160
filled with adrenaline right now and I'm trying to figure out what to do when this dust cloud

454
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:04,360
settles and I remember thinking that where I was positioned about 600 meters behind me

455
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:10,760
down beneath us because we were quite high up there was a small rectangular forestry

456
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:16,440
block and everything around it was just flat mud fields so I remember thinking if someone's

457
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,600
going to attack us if they've got any sense that's where they're going to do it from so

458
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:25,960
I was thinking right wait for this dust cloud to settle turn around get eyes on the forest

459
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,640
even if you can't see anyone just start firing into there because the chances are that's

460
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,840
where it's going to have came from and then hopefully somebody in camp will get on the

461
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:38,000
HMG and then just tear the forest down with a machine gun.

462
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:44,680
So you know this all happened really really quickly you know I couldn't possibly comprehend

463
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:50,280
the time realistically but basically this dust cloud settled and as I was trying to

464
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:56,240
turn around I kind of realized I couldn't and then sort of looked down to figure out

465
00:39:56,240 --> 00:40:05,680
why and then there was both my legs have been ripped off from the knee down.

466
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:10,480
Right and in the documentary obviously you actually get to see the extent of your injuries

467
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:14,200
it's pretty graphic but I mean you know they got some incredible video footage of your

468
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:21,040
actual post-injury excuse me post-exposure injuries so what was the initial treatment

469
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:27,320
for the guys around and also let me back up what was the initial reaction and did their

470
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,840
training kick in as far as an event like that?

471
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:37,480
Yeah I mean the guys around me were absolutely phenomenal you know I noticed that I saw what

472
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:41,240
happened to my legs and it's so difficult to try and explain unless you've been through

473
00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:45,120
a traumatic incident what it feels like you know it's very surreal it feels like you're

474
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:53,240
dreaming there's no pain you kind of know it's happening but it doesn't feel real and

475
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:56,480
I remember looking around and seeing the guy in charge of the section who was a friend

476
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:02,040
of mine Sean that I went through training with and while I was looking at this and trying

477
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:08,000
to make sense of it and not really believing it had happened just a look on his face kind

478
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:14,080
of said to me yeah it is happening Mark you need to do something about it and I kind of

479
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:20,880
went back to look at my legs to give myself some sort of final confirmatory signal that

480
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,480
this was real and I had to do something about it and as I was looking back I saw my arm

481
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:32,360
lying in the sand and at that point I actually asked Sean to put a bullet in my head because

482
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:38,640
I you know I just was in so much shock at what I was looking at my immediate reaction

483
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:46,160
was well this is shit I don't I don't like this so I'd rather die and obviously he didn't

484
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:52,960
do that he's a bit more level-headed than I am and all the guys around me they just

485
00:41:52,960 --> 00:42:01,320
did exactly what they were trained to do it was so cool you know because you'd think in

486
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:09,200
that situation people would panic and everything would go to shit and it would be just chaos

487
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:14,600
but everyone just did exactly what they knew they had to do before we'd you know the tasks

488
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:17,520
that we were given before we'd been on the patrol so one guy's on the radio and he's

489
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:23,320
calling in an evacuation you know one guy's making sure that we're in a defensive position

490
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:28,200
in case he was a small arms attack follow-up the guy closest to me is on his belt buckle

491
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,480
clearing a safe route to me for when the medic gets there so he doesn't risk running over

492
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:38,120
any other devices and everyone just clicked straight into their their role and their responsibility

493
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:43,640
and when the medic did get to me he ran straight in because the path had been cleared he was

494
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:51,080
protected because someone had already cordoned off the area made it made us well protected

495
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:56,640
and then the medic got in and he started putting tourniquets on my limbs he asked me to help

496
00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,600
tighten the one up on my arm because I was you know I was lying there with my eyes closed

497
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:07,240
just literally bleeding out and he needed to keep me responsive he then pulled a stretcher

498
00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:13,160
out and he went to put me onto the stretcher he hooked both his hands under my armpit and

499
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:19,520
he dragged me onto the stretcher now I wasn't in any pain until that point and when he when

500
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:25,080
he put me on that stretcher it felt in my right leg like somebody had just jammed a

501
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:30,880
screwdriver under my kneecap and just started ratcheting up on it and so I kind of asked

502
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:36,280
him to put me down and I looked down to where the pain was coming from and there was like

503
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:42,560
a tendon or a nerve or something coming out of my leg and it was going into my boot and

504
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:47,360
my foot was still in my boot so he I guess where he had pulled me and the weight of the

505
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:51,400
foot and boot had stayed on the floor it pulled on this nerve or whatever it was and caused

506
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:57,800
a pain so he had to then pick that up and put it on my stomach and put me on the stretcher

507
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:02,280
they got me off the high feature that we're on out the minefield they put me in the back

508
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:08,280
of a vehicle as the vehicle was going up the incline to go back into camp to the helicopter

509
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:14,200
landing site the the driver you know he was driving quite aggressively because of the

510
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:18,600
terrain and the fact that we had to get back for this helicopter me and the medic fell

511
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:26,720
out the back as I was kind of half in half out the driver swung around grabbed whatever

512
00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:30,520
he could grab to keep me held in the vehicle and ended up holding on to the femur bone

513
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:37,160
that was poking out my right leg he then he left the medic because the other section that

514
00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:41,040
we were working with earlier in the day they were still at the bottom of this hill so he

515
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:45,600
was protecting he was safe and then he got me to the helicopter landing site and the

516
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:51,280
last thing I remember is the helicopter landing and the heat of the exhaust beating down on

517
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:56,840
me and then just the sandstorm that it created from the propeller blades and then I blacked

518
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:03,360
out which is the point where they tell me I effectively died I showed no signs of life

519
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:09,040
yeah well I want to go back just to the scene for a moment so there's no better illustration

520
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:18,040
than what you just told us as far as training drilling to the point where you fall back

521
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:22,480
to that level of training where it's impulsive and also having a selection process that when

522
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:27,920
as we said earlier in his interview when the shit hits the fan those men in this case not

523
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:34,360
only fall back to their training but act instead of freeze yeah you've got a bear in mind I'm

524
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:39,040
lying there I'm trying to figure out what's actually going on and make sense of it I'm

525
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:45,360
bleeding to death and one of the things I can remember is these guys are fucking awesome

526
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:52,760
like just they just doing it you know I mean yeah they're just professional as hell and

527
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:57,800
they're doing what they're trained to do and even though you know to look at there's just

528
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,960
so much blood and stuff coming out of me I kind of knew in the back of my mind that was

529
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,400
going to be okay because I knew that I was in the best possible hands that I could have

530
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:11,480
been in yeah and it sounds like you were I mean it sounds incredible because no one really

531
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,640
knows what they're made of until they're faced with something like that and it sounds like

532
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:19,200
everyone on the scene there stepped up and did exactly what was required of them yeah

533
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:23,240
and it's funny because when you when you drill this stuff and you train people will get

534
00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:29,760
it wrong a hundred times but when you need to do it for real it's just slick and I don't

535
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:34,160
know what it is I just guess something kicks in in your body and you're like I can't fuck

536
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:39,600
this up and they just get it right and you know luckily they did yeah well it's a hundred

537
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:44,080
times muscle memory as well and that's the problem that I see you know in my profession

538
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:47,320
is there are people that are afraid to go to training they don't want to look stupid

539
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,920
and it's like that's exactly where you're supposed to fuck up over and over and over

540
00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:55,080
again because then just like you said when when you get that adrenaline and you get that

541
00:46:55,080 --> 00:47:01,880
flow state hopefully you'll fall back on that and you will get it right exactly right well

542
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:06,400
let's talk about the back of the helicopter and triage because that's another incredible

543
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:13,040
twist in your life story yeah so when I was put on the back of the helicopter they obviously

544
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:19,400
checked me for my vital signs so they checked for a pulse and I didn't have one they tried

545
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:24,480
putting fluids into me through an intravenous line but all of my veins had collapsed because

546
00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:29,520
of a massive blood loss and they put an oxygen mask on me which they were hoping would steam

547
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,440
up to show that I was breathing but it didn't so they put me in the corner and they just

548
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:40,160
called it they said right this guy's dead leave him now the reason they did that was

549
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:45,680
because another guy was injured in the blast but he just had shrapnel in his back so the

550
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:49,840
way you prioritize a casualty in that situation is if you've got a guy that's dead and the

551
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:54,720
guy that's dying as harsh as it sounds you leave the dead guy and you start to work on

552
00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:59,840
the guy that's dying because you could potentially have two dead guys so they had to make a very

553
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:03,080
quick call and be like right this guy's not responsive leave him let's get the work on

554
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:09,080
this guy now luckily as one of the medics walked past me to get some equipment to go

555
00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:15,240
and work on the other guy he saw my eye flutter which meant that my heart was still beating

556
00:48:15,240 --> 00:48:20,320
and he then alerted some of the other medics who came over to help him and they performed

557
00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:26,520
procedure on me which had only been cleared for use three days prior to this incident

558
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:31,520
and had never been used on a human casualty in the field before you know it only ever

559
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:39,680
been practiced in a nice clean calm sterile surgery room you know like a practice facility

560
00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:43,240
and now you've got a major on the back of a chinook helicopter people are dying people

561
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:47,640
are dead there's sand and dust everywhere there's helicopters banking from left to right

562
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:52,720
everyone's filled with adrenaline you know so the first time they get to do it for real

563
00:48:52,720 --> 00:48:59,440
that's the situation that they're facing and the procedure involved them taking two drills

564
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:03,600
and one person going in through the front one going in through the back into my hip

565
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:09,960
bone and then put an intravenous line into my hip right next to all my vital organs and

566
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:17,600
everything and they'd never I think if I'm right normally you do it in the femur or maybe

567
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:23,680
the tibia and fibula yeah the legs the tibia normally just below the kneecap okay but obviously

568
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:31,000
I didn't have one no and they didn't even know if it would take but somehow fortunately

569
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:36,280
when when the guy Mills he drilled it in he locked it in first time got the fluids in

570
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:42,560
there and they said within about three minutes I was back up and awake and responsive and

571
00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:48,800
answering their questions so and again yeah and then another another you know win for

572
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:52,800
training and that's the thing is is thinking around it because now we actually get to do

573
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:57,560
it in the shoulder too so in theory you're one good arm it's just probably something

574
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:03,280
they discovered years later that would have been a sight in 2018 but I think at the time

575
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:07,920
yeah the tip was the one and then if you did this the sternum you had to have a special

576
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:12,840
set of needles it's like a round one with multiple needles on it so you take away what's

577
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:17,440
traditionally you know your normal sight you're now again he was talking earlier about outside

578
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:23,360
your comfort zone now you're having to to fall back in your training and be in you know

579
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:27,880
use ingenuity to figure out how are you going to get around you know the soldiers or this

580
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:38,720
excuse me this Marines injuries yeah and again just pure professionalism you know like I

581
00:50:38,720 --> 00:50:44,120
I love my job my job was easy you know I mean here's a gun here's a bad guy go look after

582
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:49,160
the good guys and it's pretty easy you know I kind of felt naturally like that I was good

583
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:53,720
at that kind of stuff but you give me like a syringe or something and say save this guy's

584
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:58,680
life when all that chaos is going on and I don't think you could have seen a very professional

585
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:04,840
soldier in that situation from me but these guys were so good at it and you know they

586
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:10,840
just you know they just thought on the spot and okay let's try this boom and it worked

587
00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:18,280
you know and I think about that a lot you know literally I'm so lucky to be here it's

588
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:24,200
ridiculous yeah I mean yeah I mean it is the way you tell your story and all the things

589
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:28,680
that could have gone wrong initially and then like you said especially with triage most

590
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:33,880
people to notice someone that you've black tagged that you've called deceased you know

591
00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:39,560
breathing you know with with with signs of life I mean that in itself I think was was

592
00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:43,560
bigger than than earthly powers if you believe in all that stuff or the universe or whatever

593
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:48,680
that was obviously meant to happen you were meant to be you know to to be safe and obviously

594
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:55,000
then ultimately do the work that you're doing now yeah now I'm very lucky right well let's

595
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:59,640
talk about that so you're on the helicopter they they get the the blood pressure back

596
00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:05,080
you're talking to them so what were the next few months of uh you know surgery and then

597
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:12,200
recovery for you um following the injuries yeah so this helicopter flew me back to another

598
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:17,480
base in Afghanistan where the field hospital was and obviously I was a bit of a mess and

599
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:24,520
the surgeons I think if you look at the photos there was you know my legs were like amputated

600
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:28,920
through the knee at that point but all the flesh and tissue was dead above it so they

601
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:35,080
had to pick a site where it was still alive and amputate there to reduce the the possibility

602
00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:40,120
of any further surgeries so they literally just locked them off above the knee and then

603
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:45,720
my arm above the elbow well the flesh and tissue was healthy uh they bandaged me up

604
00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:50,600
and then they flew me home on Christmas day and I got back to the UK I think about three or

605
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:56,280
four o'clock in the morning on Christmas day in Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham and then when

606
00:52:56,280 --> 00:53:03,640
I got there I was in a coma for three days and then I spent another four days on the intensive

607
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:09,160
care ward and I had to have around the clock medical care because there was a lot of dirt

608
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:14,280
and dust and sand that was blasted up into my open wounds which could have caused an infection and

609
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:19,560
I could have died from that so I had to be monitored 24 seven for that first week and then

610
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:24,280
I kind of fought all that off got out of intensive care in that first week and went up to what was

611
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:31,560
called the burns and plastics ward upstairs which was where they were going to gradually reduce me

612
00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:37,800
off the pain medication they were going to introduce some light physiotherapy into my day

613
00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:43,800
it gave me an opportunity to as I came off the medication and got a little bit more with it it

614
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:50,680
gave me the opportunity to accept and understand my situation and then try and figure out a little

615
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:57,720
bit and I think when I was up there if I remember rightly I only had three follow-up surgeries and

616
00:53:57,720 --> 00:54:02,520
they were just what they call cleanouts just to clean out any debris shrapnel dirt and dust or

617
00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:08,840
whatever was in in my open wounds and reduce that infection risk again but I did six weeks

618
00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:13,800
in total in hospital and then I moved off to rehab to start learning to walk again.

619
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:21,240
Right now you had an interaction with a certain medical professional and I think this is very

620
00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:26,200
important to highlight kind of his his bedside manner and the effect that it had and this isn't

621
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:30,920
even to blame this is something that we see in our profession with what I call compassion fatigue

622
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:35,400
people that are kind of burnt out so that it was the amputation specialist was that right?

623
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:41,720
Yeah it was it was about three and a half weeks into my recovery and I was I was doing pretty

624
00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:48,360
well you know I was feeling pretty positive about things and this guy walks in and he

625
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:54,840
introduced himself to me and he told me he was the the expert on amputations he'd been doing it for

626
00:54:54,840 --> 00:55:02,120
33 years and he said look you're gonna have to get used to life in a wheelchair because I've never

627
00:55:02,120 --> 00:55:07,960
met anybody in my experience that's only got one leg missing above the knee that uses prosthetics

628
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:13,960
all the time because it's too painful it's too difficult to use and it takes too much energy

629
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:22,600
and then literally turned around and walked out you know and I'm like shit that's not really what

630
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:30,040
I wanted to hear and you know of two low points in my whole recovery that that was the first one

631
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:37,240
you know at 24 years old you know a week earlier or a couple weeks earlier you know I'm six foot

632
00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:44,520
two 16 stone peaking my physical fitness running around Afghanistan now I'm 24 years old nine stone

633
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:48,840
four foot tall being told that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair

634
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:53,000
yeah and this is this is based on just because he'd never seen this happen

635
00:55:54,120 --> 00:56:00,440
just because he yeah I mean I mean the guy had you know 33 plus years experience so I couldn't

636
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:05,160
really question it and I didn't know anything about being an amputee I'd never seen a guy missing

637
00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:09,560
feelings before running around on prosthetics because it just wasn't on my radar you know

638
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:14,440
beforehand because I never known anyone in that situation so I just took what he said as facts

639
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:18,520
you know and I just started trying to figure out what was going to do the rest of my life in a

640
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:24,440
wheelchair 24 years old yeah that's like Roger Bannister going well you know no one's ever run

641
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:31,720
a mile in four minutes before so fuck it I'm just going to give up right exactly yeah yeah so so if

642
00:56:31,720 --> 00:56:35,480
you don't mind just the the mental side because obviously I'm sure people are wondering about that

643
00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:40,840
having been told that what was your mental journey like for those next few weeks

644
00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:46,520
well it was only about a week to be honest but it sucked you know I ignored phone calls

645
00:56:46,520 --> 00:56:54,280
a time visitors away um you know stopped my rehab just kind of ended up just watching DVDs back to

646
00:56:54,280 --> 00:57:01,960
back to try and escape reality and about a week later I had a visit off someone um and this guy

647
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:07,240
knocked on my door and I invited him in because I was feeling a little bit better at that point

648
00:57:07,240 --> 00:57:12,760
and he came walking in our room on two prosthetic legs uh he was a double above me amputee like me

649
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:17,960
he sat down and he told me how he was blown up by a suicide bomber in Iraq when he was serving the

650
00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:25,240
army he taught me through the entire process of getting from where I was in the hospital bed to

651
00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:30,360
where he was at that point he took the legs off he put the legs on he took me through the fitting

652
00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:35,800
process he told me what was difficult what I'd find challenging and he told me what was difficult

653
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:41,640
what I'd find challenging you know I just spent hours with me telling me his story and sharing

654
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:47,160
his experience with me you know and letting me know that actually you know you can have a decent

655
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:51,320
life once you get out of here once you heal yourself and get strong again you know and that

656
00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:56,600
really excited me you know once I'd seen this guy doing that and I know he had two arms so I knew

657
00:57:56,600 --> 00:58:00,760
it was gonna be a little bit more difficult for me I'd lost my dominant arm as well but I knew

658
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:05,720
that there were there were prosthetics out there and there were aides out there that could help me

659
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:10,120
get my independence back so I got a laptop in my room and I just started researching everything I

660
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:16,680
could you know just trying to find other people around the world who had injuries similar to mine

661
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:21,640
that were out there living their life using prosthetics and enjoying themselves you know

662
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:24,920
Did you tell him that he was a week too late because if he timed it perfectly the doctor

663
00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:28,120
would have said I've never seen anyone do it and he walks in right behind him

664
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:34,680
Perfect no we've been joking apart so you just went on on the internet and you googled this injury

665
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:37,800
and all of a sudden there's these pictures of people that are doing it and I know that you found

666
00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:45,240
a group in America that again shows some of the closed-mindedness of some not not saying all

667
00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:49,880
some of the professionals that are dishing out this advice to patients on a daily basis

668
00:58:50,600 --> 00:58:56,040
based on you know their own journey and yet you can freaking google above knee amputees

669
00:58:56,040 --> 00:59:00,680
google above knee amputee and you find all these people that are doing the exact opposite of what

670
00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:06,360
that doctor told you yeah I mean it was it I'm not gonna say it was hard but it was a little

671
00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:11,800
bit different back then because you remember dongles no I don't the little they were little

672
00:59:11,800 --> 00:59:15,400
like usb sticks what you put in your computer that was the only way you could get on that was before

673
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:20,760
wi-fi existed I think so and it was rubbish trying to get on the internet so it was it was a little

674
00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:26,840
bit difficult trying to do the research because the connection was so bad but um yeah I found

675
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:31,880
people all over the world that were out there you know doing things and living their life it was a

676
00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:37,800
little bit disheartened sometimes because a lot of these companies made these marketing videos

677
00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:44,360
and you know I remember seeing a guy with an above elbow amputation with a prosthetic arm playing

678
00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:49,320
basketball and I had no idea whether you could or couldn't play basketball and you can't really

679
00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:55,000
with a above elbow prosthetic but it kind of got you all excited and then you're like all right okay

680
00:59:55,000 --> 01:00:00,600
you can't really do that so you had to self-manage your expectations but you know I found some people

681
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:06,120
doing some incredible things and used that as motivation as I left the hospital and then

682
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:11,080
transitioned into rehab and started learning to walk again right now I just want to explore one

683
01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:15,880
thing that you mentioned a little while ago I know you do talk about this on the documentary but your

684
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:23,320
friend Damien you know you were talking about missing some calls are you you feel comfortable

685
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:31,000
telling us about that yeah yeah yeah no problem so Damien Mulvihill was a friend of mine he was a

686
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:35,960
corporal in the marines from Plymouth same as me we'd served together in air defense troop back in

687
01:00:35,960 --> 01:00:48,360
2003 2004 and Damien was on the same tour as me and he came home January 2008 for two weeks R&R

688
01:00:49,000 --> 01:00:53,960
and he left me an answer phone message like I said I wasn't answering the phone back then I didn't

689
01:00:53,960 --> 01:00:59,000
really feel like talking to anyone and he asked about coming to visit me and I never bothered

690
01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:05,400
phoning him back because I wasn't up for it and then he went back to Afghanistan and in February

691
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:17,560
2008 he was killed by an IED so you know I never got to speak to him or to see him before he went

692
01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:24,840
back which is something I regret but you know I just wasn't in that frame of mind to see anybody

693
01:01:24,840 --> 01:01:30,520
at that point I just wanted to be on my own you know and just lock myself away from the world

694
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:35,560
yeah that's completely understandable but it's just so heart-wrenching as well just as a tangent

695
01:01:35,560 --> 01:01:41,160
for a moment that you know you I'm sure you and so many of the other men and women sign up

696
01:01:42,200 --> 01:01:54,440
hoping to go out there and the outcome I guess that's what I'm looking for of your efforts out

697
01:01:54,440 --> 01:02:01,000
there results in civilians being saved and de-escalating the violence but you just see

698
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:06,360
over and over and over again from whatever military forces we have out there the IED is

699
01:02:06,360 --> 01:02:13,400
just taking life over life over life yeah this is a pretty cowardly way to fight a war if you ask me

700
01:02:13,960 --> 01:02:19,480
you know as a Royal Marine I think most of us would happily stand toe to toe with anybody

701
01:02:19,480 --> 01:02:26,680
anywhere in the world you know and have a dust-up but you can't really have a fair fight with an

702
01:02:26,680 --> 01:02:34,920
explosive you know so yeah I mean I think a lot of us actually you know a lot of us would we used

703
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:39,480
to say in the early days of deployment I'd rather be dead than go home missing a leg

704
01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:43,720
but you always think all right it would never be me it's never me it's going to happen to

705
01:02:43,720 --> 01:02:50,520
until it happens yeah yeah exactly all right well then so you did find a group

706
01:02:50,520 --> 01:02:54,840
the dream team prosthetics in America so how did you find them and what was the

707
01:02:55,400 --> 01:03:03,000
the experience with that kind of adventure out to the states so one of the guys I found online

708
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:11,240
was a guy called Cameron Clap now Cameron's a triple amputee he was run over by a train in 2002

709
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:18,200
when he was 15 years old and I mean this guy was phenomenal he is phenomenal and he was doing

710
01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:25,560
all the stuff what I was getting told wasn't possible you know he was um his legs were similar

711
01:03:25,560 --> 01:03:32,360
to mine his arm was a lot shorter than mine but he would wear his prosthetics all day every day

712
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:39,080
you know he never used a wheelchair he didn't have any sort of adapters in his cars he was just

713
01:03:39,080 --> 01:03:45,960
driving using his legs he was an adaptive athlete running swimming surfing doing all these kind of

714
01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:50,520
things and just really living his life and dominating and I used to watch his videos and

715
01:03:50,520 --> 01:03:55,720
read his blogs online and be like yeah this is what I need to achieve I need to go and do what

716
01:03:55,720 --> 01:04:00,440
this guy's doing because if he can do it then I know I can I've got the same injuries the same

717
01:04:00,440 --> 01:04:06,040
technology you know I just need to figure it all out so I used to watch him for a little bit online

718
01:04:06,040 --> 01:04:12,440
for motivation and then I eventually reached out to him and said look mate this is who I am

719
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:17,720
this is what's happened I think you're pretty awesome and I'd really like you to teach me

720
01:04:17,720 --> 01:04:24,920
and train me so I can get to a level of independence similar to yours so he emailed

721
01:04:24,920 --> 01:04:30,680
me back about a week later you know we became friends he then introduced me to his team you

722
01:04:30,680 --> 01:04:37,000
know the guy that would make the sockets for his legs the guy that would program his legs because

723
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:41,720
they have to be plugged into computers the guys that would do all the adjustments and alignments

724
01:04:41,720 --> 01:04:46,440
on his legs the guys that would train him to walk the guy that made his arm you know the whole team

725
01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:51,640
of people that were behind the scenes that got him to where he was he introduced me to those guys

726
01:04:51,640 --> 01:04:57,240
and everyone started helping me online they would send me emails saying you know if you've got pain

727
01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:02,040
in your legs then try doing this and it will get rid of the pain in your legs and you know if you

728
01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:06,280
want to walk down a ramp do this is the technique you need to use and they would tell me all this

729
01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:11,960
stuff online and I put it into practice when I went into rehab and it just helped me break through

730
01:05:11,960 --> 01:05:17,880
those plateaus that I was hitting you know every couple of weeks as I was progressing and then just

731
01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:23,400
stopping and not being able to get any on any further now eventually and it was only about six

732
01:05:23,400 --> 01:05:29,640
weeks into it and but eventually these guys invited me out to America and said look come meet Cameron

733
01:05:29,640 --> 01:05:33,000
come train with him spend some time with him and let's see if we can get you

734
01:05:33,880 --> 01:05:40,280
close to the same level of independence that he's at so I booked my flight

735
01:05:41,160 --> 01:05:48,040
I got my accommodation sorted out and on the 9th of June 2009 I flew out to meet Cameron

736
01:05:48,040 --> 01:05:54,600
the only thing was when I flew out there they said to me you have to come on your own which was

737
01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:59,320
pretty scary considering that I had people all around me all the time doing everything for me

738
01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:05,160
and I wasn't allowed to use a wheelchair so I had to leave my wheelchair at home which again

739
01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:12,360
you know at that stage of the game it was so painful to just get around for like half a day

740
01:06:13,240 --> 01:06:17,080
I was like how you expect me to go to the other side of the world now to get in airports carrying

741
01:06:17,080 --> 01:06:22,680
my own baggage getting on and off planes and all this stuff without any help without a wheelchair

742
01:06:22,680 --> 01:06:26,840
when I get tired and they said look this is the deal you got to either do what we ask you to do

743
01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:34,040
or you know you're wasting your time so I bit the bullet in the end and I flew out there on my own

744
01:06:34,040 --> 01:06:41,560
on the 9th of June 2009 I met Cameron I met his team and that was a trip that changed my life

745
01:06:41,560 --> 01:06:46,200
I never used a wheelchair ever since that day now you said about painful I want to illustrate

746
01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:50,520
something that people are listening so above the knee amputees so when you're walking this is the

747
01:06:50,520 --> 01:06:55,880
same with Rob Jones when you're walking with your lower limbs you all your body weight is basically

748
01:06:55,880 --> 01:07:02,200
on that femur bone pushing down against the skin that's been folded over it yeah and your groin

749
01:07:02,200 --> 01:07:08,600
with the socket ends at the top and your ischial tuberosity which is the bone which basically is

750
01:07:08,600 --> 01:07:13,800
connected in the top of your leg to your ass you know so all your weight is going through all that

751
01:07:13,800 --> 01:07:18,760
all the time you know and it takes between three and five hundred percent more energy for an above

752
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:24,200
knee amputee to do anything than it does for an able-bodied person so you're you know constantly

753
01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:30,920
tired in the beginning and you're in pain a lot not just from the prosthetics but from your body

754
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:39,160
readjusting you know to having no limbs and all the tenderness and soreness and everything that

755
01:07:39,160 --> 01:07:45,560
brings with it so yeah it was it was pretty hardcore if i'm honest yeah well i got to see

756
01:07:45,560 --> 01:07:51,000
i got to witness it firsthand when uh rob jones that i talked about them the american marine

757
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:55,560
i met him in new york he did a fundraiser and climbed the world trade center now i climbed the

758
01:07:55,560 --> 01:08:01,320
world trade center you know lucky fucker with with all my limbs still intact but rob basically

759
01:08:01,320 --> 01:08:07,400
bear crawled you know 100 floors vertically and again it was just amazing because you realize

760
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:13,960
when you're watching you know athletes like him and you the the the adaptations that you have to

761
01:08:13,960 --> 01:08:19,960
make and all the the the normal biomechanics that that we're used to are taken away and you have to

762
01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:27,480
literally reinvent locomotion with what you've been left with exactly yeah and you just have

763
01:08:28,200 --> 01:08:33,880
i find now that you you use a lot more of your body than you ever thought about using

764
01:08:33,880 --> 01:08:39,000
and prior to being injured you just take it for granted you've got hands feet toes and fingers

765
01:08:39,560 --> 01:08:47,000
you know now i use my arm stump my chin my shoulder you know whatever you know all these

766
01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:52,280
other bits that you think are useless i now use it for for different things you know like

767
01:08:52,840 --> 01:09:00,360
i'm just trying to think of an example um like when i do jiu-jitsu you know i've only got one arm

768
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:05,160
but it hurts like hell if i drive my chin into your sternum and start wiggling it about or put

769
01:09:05,160 --> 01:09:11,640
my arm stump on your throat you know so you even though you think some parts of your body are

770
01:09:11,640 --> 01:09:17,320
useless now you just learn how to use them and make them useful again yeah you know it's funny i had

771
01:09:17,320 --> 01:09:23,480
the kyle maynard on i don't know if you've heard of him he's a american mountaineer at uh uh what

772
01:09:23,480 --> 01:09:31,080
they call a congenital amputee arms and legs and yeah he started uh wrestling and doing um mma

773
01:09:31,080 --> 01:09:36,040
and at first he was getting beat up no one had a problem with it but then when he started winning

774
01:09:36,040 --> 01:09:40,440
people were like whoa this isn't fair and it's funny when you said about the the the chin all

775
01:09:40,440 --> 01:09:45,320
those other things you could just see how as you start winning people like wait a second these are

776
01:09:45,320 --> 01:09:51,000
in the rules you can't do chins yeah you can do what you want you can do what you want yeah exactly

777
01:09:51,000 --> 01:09:55,880
well speaking of uh of sports so we got you up to the point where you're working with dream team

778
01:09:55,880 --> 01:10:02,360
prosthetics so what was the first uh sport that you delved into as far as you know post injury

779
01:10:04,440 --> 01:10:08,040
oh god when i went out there they have a thing called the endeavor games

780
01:10:09,480 --> 01:10:16,520
and they put me on some running legs i never never ran before and prosthetics and i didn't even like

781
01:10:16,520 --> 01:10:22,120
running when i had legs and they ended me in this 100 meter race and it was just awful i was just

782
01:10:23,240 --> 01:10:31,640
garbage i came last and i was in a lot of pain um and i really just didn't want to do it it was

783
01:10:31,640 --> 01:10:38,280
horrible i was i was i was quite chubby again back then um because i was kind of still eating

784
01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:44,120
what i ate before but obviously not being as mobile so i was a little bit out of shape um

785
01:10:44,120 --> 01:10:50,200
um which made everything more difficult but yeah i remember that first time running it was just

786
01:10:50,200 --> 01:10:56,120
horrendous just the energy that it takes and the balance and the concentration and the skill

787
01:10:57,240 --> 01:11:02,840
um and i hated it but i never really did sport in the beginning i waited nine years to get into

788
01:11:02,840 --> 01:11:08,360
sport right so after that horrendous race you know what what were some of the ones that you

789
01:11:08,360 --> 01:11:12,520
found you did enjoy did you stay running or did you go to rowing or you know what was the

790
01:11:12,520 --> 01:11:18,840
progression from there none of it to be honest and i i'm lucky i've got a couple friends that own

791
01:11:18,840 --> 01:11:25,880
gyms here in plimber and i i knew i couldn't do kickboxing or tie boxing again so you know but i

792
01:11:25,880 --> 01:11:31,960
used to enjoy weight training so my friend gave me the key to his gym and he'd let me go in there

793
01:11:31,960 --> 01:11:38,040
about five in the morning when they were closed and i spent about six months just training and

794
01:11:38,040 --> 01:11:44,920
trying to figure out how to exercise certain body parts by adapting exercises because i didn't want

795
01:11:44,920 --> 01:11:49,800
to do it when the gym was open because i was quite conscious that i'd be getting in everyone's way

796
01:11:50,440 --> 01:11:55,800
and pissing people off um so i did it when it was closed and it took me about six months to figure

797
01:11:55,800 --> 01:12:02,440
out and i developed these routines where i could get really good workouts um and actually feel like

798
01:12:02,440 --> 01:12:07,240
i used to feel at the end of a workout i'd feel pumped up and out of breath and tired and like i'd

799
01:12:07,240 --> 01:12:13,320
actually achieve something but i didn't do any of the other sports rowing swimming hand cycling

800
01:12:13,320 --> 01:12:21,560
any of that until 2017 that was when i started getting into all of that right now this is in

801
01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:27,320
preparation for the invictus games yeah so what what i do is every year at christmas and i'll

802
01:12:27,320 --> 01:12:32,600
be doing it in about two weeks i sit down right right where i am now at my desk in my office

803
01:12:32,600 --> 01:12:38,120
and i just start scribbling down all my goals that i want to achieve achieve in the following year

804
01:12:39,160 --> 01:12:47,720
and i sat down and usually i'll put like subheadings so health fitness family finances career whatever

805
01:12:47,720 --> 01:12:54,200
it may be and i sat there and i was scribbling away and i just had this niggling feeling now

806
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:59,640
that i was missing something and i was forgetting to put something down and so i closed my eyes i

807
01:12:59,640 --> 01:13:05,880
just sat here in this chair and i kind of waited for something to pop into my head and this jigsaw

808
01:13:05,880 --> 01:13:12,600
puzzle came up and it was like you know like i say one piece was was fitness and health one was family

809
01:13:12,600 --> 01:13:17,400
one was career and there was one piece in the middle that was missing and i was just trying to

810
01:13:17,400 --> 01:13:24,200
figure out what it was and eventually i realized that it was sport you know in in nine years of

811
01:13:24,200 --> 01:13:29,800
recovery i hadn't done any sport and so i started scribbling down all these goals for what i wanted

812
01:13:29,800 --> 01:13:37,800
to achieve in in the world of sport now i had seen a lot of my friends from rehab taking part in the

813
01:13:37,800 --> 01:13:44,120
invictus games but it never really appealed to me because i'd never rode before i didn't really swam

814
01:13:44,120 --> 01:13:48,040
post-injury i'd never done those sports before the athletics and all that kind of stuff it didn't

815
01:13:48,040 --> 01:13:53,960
really get me excited but i thought you know these guys have done really well not just in what they

816
01:13:53,960 --> 01:13:58,120
have achieved in sport but it's helped with their recovery a lot and with their life a lot

817
01:13:58,120 --> 01:14:04,360
both mentally and physically so why don't i give it a go you know i've covered most of the other

818
01:14:04,360 --> 01:14:09,560
things in nine years i've got a full family now i've got a job you know that's all going nicely

819
01:14:10,120 --> 01:14:15,240
you know let's do something i've not done before so i applied for the invictus games i didn't think

820
01:14:15,240 --> 01:14:21,720
i'd get in because i didn't really know anybody i wasn't in those circles i wasn't in those cliques

821
01:14:21,720 --> 01:14:25,880
um i've never done any of the sports before i had no experience so i thought they'd just look at me

822
01:14:25,880 --> 01:14:32,120
and be like well you're not going to be any good so we don't need you but fortunately after applying

823
01:14:32,120 --> 01:14:41,160
and going through the trials i made the team and got to represent the uk in canada back in 2017

824
01:14:41,160 --> 01:14:48,440
at the invictus games yeah the trials were in bath is that what you're saying yes they were yeah very

825
01:14:48,440 --> 01:14:55,960
cool my hometown it's it's interesting because in 2016 the games were in the disney area and i was

826
01:14:55,960 --> 01:15:00,680
that working for the fire department that protected disneyland at the time and ironically and this is

827
01:15:00,680 --> 01:15:05,560
going to sound very unimpressive compared to your injuries but i tore my knee literally about week

828
01:15:05,560 --> 01:15:10,920
before so i wasn't able to be one of the medics that was you know attending that but when when

829
01:15:10,920 --> 01:15:16,920
people ask about the royal family that's always the thing that i i kind of point to is the

830
01:15:16,920 --> 01:15:21,240
generation of you know william and harry and the altruism that they seem to have inherited from

831
01:15:21,240 --> 01:15:28,440
their mother it appears the invictus game seems to be one of the most uh it makes me proud to be

832
01:15:28,440 --> 01:15:33,160
british if that's if that's what the royalty of that generation is going to be about the charities

833
01:15:33,160 --> 01:15:38,280
and and paying back to the people that serve their country yeah it's cool it's really cool

834
01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:46,280
right so in 2017 then what what was the result and obviously i'm going to lead into then

835
01:15:46,280 --> 01:15:56,760
what happened in 2018 so yeah 2017 we went out to canada my first experience of any adaptive sports

836
01:15:56,760 --> 01:16:02,600
apart from the the camps i've been on i i didn't know what to expect i didn't really if i'm honest

837
01:16:02,600 --> 01:16:07,240
in the sports of that i didn't really know the rules completely or the etiquette or the procedure

838
01:16:07,240 --> 01:16:10,760
or what it was like to compete in those environments i just kind of went into it blind

839
01:16:10,760 --> 01:16:17,000
um but we did all right i ended up with two silver medals two bronze medals and then the jaguar land

840
01:16:17,000 --> 01:16:23,880
rover award for um overall best athlete of the games which was kind of cool if you think about

841
01:16:24,600 --> 01:16:30,280
every nation every athlete and competitor you know i managed to get that out of all those people

842
01:16:30,280 --> 01:16:34,920
which i was really chuffed about as for my first games ever i didn't think it could have gone much

843
01:16:34,920 --> 01:16:43,000
better than that yeah so then what about 2018 well when i left 2017 obviously i'm i'm armed

844
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:48,520
then with a lot more knowledge i had the experience of competing i knew what the atmosphere was like

845
01:16:48,520 --> 01:16:55,960
i knew how it all ran i'd like more about the sports but in canada i was very you know it was

846
01:16:55,960 --> 01:17:01,160
all brute force and ignorance for me there was no techniques no strategies and anything i did it was

847
01:17:01,160 --> 01:17:07,880
just fitness fitness fitness and just muggle my way through it but in 2018 i thought well i've got

848
01:17:07,880 --> 01:17:13,880
this experience now you know maybe i should learn how to do these sports properly you know listen to

849
01:17:13,880 --> 01:17:19,720
my coaches a bit more and then try and be a bit more scientific with it and so that's what i did

850
01:17:19,720 --> 01:17:26,200
i applied again you know again i was lucky enough to be selected and we started training and i just

851
01:17:26,200 --> 01:17:32,440
changed my approach i looked more into strategies and the techniques um focused more on recovery

852
01:17:33,000 --> 01:17:39,720
just didn't i didn't worry too much about thrashing myself as much as i had the previous year um and

853
01:17:39,720 --> 01:17:45,400
it was really handy to to have that experience of actually having competed once because i knew what

854
01:17:45,400 --> 01:17:49,480
to expect now when i went into i didn't have any of those things to worry about because i'd done it

855
01:17:49,480 --> 01:17:58,040
before yeah what was the result so this year was four gold medals one silver medal and two bronzes

856
01:17:59,320 --> 01:18:04,520
so a little bit better than last year and a nice way to finish off my invictus career

857
01:18:04,520 --> 01:18:09,000
yeah exactly well i want to just kind of underline because now now you told us about the two years so

858
01:18:09,560 --> 01:18:16,360
you went into these sports having not really you know done them really before do you think that

859
01:18:16,360 --> 01:18:21,560
it was again back to your role marines training you know physically obviously but then more so

860
01:18:21,560 --> 01:18:28,200
because you had those limbs taken away from you more so the mindset that got you to that level

861
01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:35,320
in such a short amount of time as far as preparation do you know what i think it is

862
01:18:35,320 --> 01:18:43,000
and i've thought this for a long time right if if you were born fit and healthy and with all the

863
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:49,400
same advantages that most of the rest of the planet are born with i don't really see any reason why

864
01:18:50,520 --> 01:18:56,600
if you see someone that's successful you can't be as successful if not more than they are that was

865
01:18:56,600 --> 01:19:00,760
my mindset when i went to meet cameron i thought well this guy's a triple amputee i'm a triple amputee

866
01:19:00,760 --> 01:19:05,880
he's got this technology i've got that technology he's doing what i want to do why can't i do it

867
01:19:05,880 --> 01:19:10,600
all i've got to do is copy what he did and that's what i did when i went out and met cameron allowed

868
01:19:10,600 --> 01:19:14,520
to walk again and then i did the same thing with the invictus games i looked at the people that

869
01:19:14,520 --> 01:19:19,400
have done it before and i thought well he's injured similar to i am and he can do that sport this guy

870
01:19:19,400 --> 01:19:24,280
is injured similarly to me and he can do that sport so i should be able to do him too you know

871
01:19:24,280 --> 01:19:29,400
and that's what kind of pushed me into it and then i thought now all i need to do is copy what they

872
01:19:29,400 --> 01:19:36,520
did and then figure out a way to take it a bit further you know because i wanted to be what in

873
01:19:36,520 --> 01:19:41,080
my mind i thought was successful and that was winning medals and i wanted to win medals yeah

874
01:19:41,080 --> 01:19:48,120
and it's such a simple concept but it is obviously so true is the difference between you and some

875
01:19:48,120 --> 01:19:52,840
people you know there's a lot of uh victim mentalities going on people they've had next to

876
01:19:52,840 --> 01:19:59,000
nothing happen to them in their life but is just saying you know here's where i'm at how can i

877
01:19:59,000 --> 01:20:04,680
how can i make this work how can i succeed instead of focusing on you know on on what's negative on

878
01:20:04,680 --> 01:20:08,200
what's what's challenging you or the walls it's like all right how can i jump this wall or walk

879
01:20:08,200 --> 01:20:14,920
around the wall or dig under the wall yeah and if someone's done it before then you know i don't

880
01:20:14,920 --> 01:20:20,920
want to get too crazy on you but in in you know what nlp is neuro linguistic programming uh yes

881
01:20:20,920 --> 01:20:26,680
yes so in that there's a thing called modeling which basically means you take somebody that's

882
01:20:26,680 --> 01:20:31,000
achieved what you want to achieve and you model their mindset and their physical actions so if

883
01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:35,240
if you want to lose a bunch of weight find someone that's been in a similar situation to that's done

884
01:20:35,240 --> 01:20:39,800
it and just say how did you do it what did you do physically what did you tell yourself mentally

885
01:20:39,800 --> 01:20:46,040
you want to be a millionaire you know in i don't know by selling cars go find a successful car

886
01:20:46,040 --> 01:20:50,040
salesman who's a millionaire and say what did you do how did you do it i want to do it as well and

887
01:20:50,040 --> 01:20:55,320
just copy them that's as simple as it gets you just copy them that's what i've done all throughout

888
01:20:55,320 --> 01:20:59,320
my recovery i found somebody who's achieved what i want to achieve and i figured out what they've

889
01:20:59,320 --> 01:21:05,000
done or i've asked them and i just copied it that's it yeah and that sounds horribly close to the

890
01:21:05,000 --> 01:21:10,600
term mentorship you know finding someone that that can teach you but be prepared that they're

891
01:21:10,600 --> 01:21:16,040
probably gonna say it was really fucking hard and you know that's where you realize that there is

892
01:21:16,040 --> 01:21:21,560
no shortcut there is no life hack for coming back from you know losing three limbs or you know

893
01:21:21,560 --> 01:21:27,320
whatever it is but like you said if they got there using that method then you will but you've got to

894
01:21:27,320 --> 01:21:34,520
understand that you've got to put in a shitload of work as well and that is where sadly a lot of

895
01:21:34,520 --> 01:21:40,120
people stop and draw the line you know i mean they a lot of people that's where they make excuses

896
01:21:40,120 --> 01:21:45,080
and they say oh you know i don't really want to do that and then they'll turn around and say to you

897
01:21:45,080 --> 01:21:49,880
oh you're so lucky why am i lucky because they get up at quarter past five in the morning and

898
01:21:49,880 --> 01:21:54,760
i bum walk into a freezing cold garage and i do an hour on my bike and then stretching and strength

899
01:21:54,760 --> 01:21:58,840
and conditioning training and then i train again in the evening i'll do that six times a week

900
01:21:58,840 --> 01:22:03,480
and then i've been successful how does that make me lucky yeah i've worked really really hard

901
01:22:03,480 --> 01:22:07,320
to get where i am there's been a little bit of luck involved i don't doubt it there always isn't

902
01:22:07,320 --> 01:22:11,880
any success story but you know you've got to put the hard work and grind it and take action

903
01:22:12,440 --> 01:22:17,320
yeah and there's always an excuse i mean i've had it you know as as a again i've never had any

904
01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:22,040
physical trauma really of any significance but i've always been very skinny so as a fireman

905
01:22:22,040 --> 01:22:25,720
people were like oh it's easy for you you don't put on weight i was like no it's not easy for me

906
01:22:25,720 --> 01:22:30,440
i'm built like a fucking toothpick i've had to work to get my strength you know everyone has areas

907
01:22:30,440 --> 01:22:35,400
that they've got to work on and no one wakes up in the morning as this elite athlete without putting

908
01:22:35,400 --> 01:22:44,120
the work no i know you're right 100 right um but people just they look at it and yeah it just

909
01:22:44,120 --> 01:22:51,160
annoys me when they say you're so lucky i'm like okay cool you call it luck i'll call it preparation

910
01:22:51,160 --> 01:22:58,360
hard work yep exactly chance favors are prepared so when the luck comes along if you're not ready

911
01:22:58,360 --> 01:23:02,200
then it's just going to bypass you so you have if you do get luck you've got to be ready to accept

912
01:23:02,200 --> 01:23:08,120
that opportunity as well yeah exactly right well i want to highlight another area because

913
01:23:08,840 --> 01:23:15,640
i i am just so endeared by people like yourself um and i say this for one specific reason

914
01:23:16,520 --> 01:23:19,800
whether you've been injured whether i've got soldiers or you know people that have come on

915
01:23:19,800 --> 01:23:25,240
the show that didn't have any injury they just had a career as a a seal or a firefight or whatever

916
01:23:25,240 --> 01:23:31,080
it was but you served your country in your case you served and you know you had a life-altering

917
01:23:31,080 --> 01:23:36,760
injury as well but when you came out one of your goals and this has happened on many many of these

918
01:23:36,760 --> 01:23:42,200
people have had on was how can i do more and and i know that you've done you know fundraisers for

919
01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:47,560
the royal marine association royal marines foundation so what was that aha moment when

920
01:23:47,560 --> 01:23:53,160
you realized that that was something that you wanted to do as well after your uh your rehab

921
01:23:54,680 --> 01:23:59,240
you mean the fundraiser sort of thing yeah yeah just just giving even more than you'd already given

922
01:24:00,920 --> 01:24:09,800
it's a bit of a combination really first of all these charities are lifelines and you know some

923
01:24:09,800 --> 01:24:16,120
of them don't publicize a lot of the stuff they do my family have been hugely supported from day

924
01:24:16,120 --> 01:24:22,040
one particularly by the royal marines charity you know and you can't just go through life taking

925
01:24:22,600 --> 01:24:30,760
you know and you never i never once felt obliged to give or to help but i just felt compelled to

926
01:24:30,760 --> 01:24:35,080
i wanted to say thank you and there were more and more people coming through the system

927
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:40,280
i knew that the money was getting spent and and i wanted to do a little bit selfishly to make

928
01:24:40,280 --> 01:24:46,360
myself feel better you know to do a little bit of good but also to make myself feel better you know

929
01:24:46,360 --> 01:24:52,520
and it helped in my rehab i would set myself some sort of physical challenge like in 2010 you know

930
01:24:52,520 --> 01:24:57,000
me and a bunch of mates ran across america from new york to la it was a physical challenge a

931
01:24:57,000 --> 01:25:02,680
mental challenge but also it was a way to give back and to say thank you to these charities so

932
01:25:02,680 --> 01:25:09,240
you you kind of hit all three points really you know mental challenge physical challenge contribution

933
01:25:09,240 --> 01:25:13,800
so this is from a guy that couldn't that hated running 100 meters and he decided to run across

934
01:25:13,800 --> 01:25:23,640
america yeah but it was very slow regardless it's 2500 miles yeah it's a long way it took a long

935
01:25:23,640 --> 01:25:30,600
time but um it was slow but you know even even that you just break that down into little daily

936
01:25:30,600 --> 01:25:36,600
challenges you know and you figure it out but it's just nice to be able to give back it makes you

937
01:25:36,600 --> 01:25:44,040
feel good um you know and you can you can have everything in the world that you want big houses

938
01:25:44,040 --> 01:25:50,040
fancy cars millions of pounds but the only way i think you can really feel truly fulfilled is if

939
01:25:50,040 --> 01:25:54,360
if you're doing something to help other people yeah that's something yeah absolutely there's

940
01:25:54,360 --> 01:25:58,600
something that i've seen so much in people especially they've been through the uh the

941
01:25:58,600 --> 01:26:02,760
physical trauma but even the mental trauma some of the people that come out the other end been some

942
01:26:02,760 --> 01:26:09,000
really dark places some of them literally were about to complete suicide that feeling of purpose

943
01:26:09,000 --> 01:26:15,320
that feeling of i'm valuable i'm able to give back i'm able to contribute was so life-altering

944
01:26:15,320 --> 01:26:20,040
for them and i see it all the time now in some of the you know the camps and organizations where

945
01:26:20,040 --> 01:26:25,160
they they were you know the the attendee they were the the subject of that camp and then they

946
01:26:25,160 --> 01:26:29,480
become the mentor role and then they they are shepherding other people now and that seems like

947
01:26:29,480 --> 01:26:37,000
such an important uh kind of place physically and mentally for someone to get to yeah because it

948
01:26:37,000 --> 01:26:42,680
gives you a sense of purpose like you said and we all need a sense of purpose to to be motivated and

949
01:26:43,640 --> 01:26:49,240
you know give yourself a bit of an identity of who you are and what you stand for but also you know

950
01:26:49,240 --> 01:26:55,320
these situations that we find ourselves in when you faced adversity and you know you've got these

951
01:26:55,320 --> 01:27:00,840
challenges they also give you a really powerful platform in this especially in this day and age

952
01:27:00,840 --> 01:27:07,080
with social media you know you can you've got this platform now where you can raise awareness you can

953
01:27:07,080 --> 01:27:13,080
do a lot of good and you can do it pretty much 24 hours a day seven days a week with social media

954
01:27:13,640 --> 01:27:20,680
it's not like the old days where you know you had the one or two stand out people like you know you

955
01:27:20,680 --> 01:27:25,960
had simon weston from the falcons douglas bardo lost his legs and learned to fly again those are

956
01:27:25,960 --> 01:27:31,560
the guys back then they were like the unicorns but nowadays there's so many people in my situation

957
01:27:31,560 --> 01:27:36,600
all over the world doing crazy things and just putting out on social media it reaches so many

958
01:27:36,600 --> 01:27:42,760
people and does so much good you know that you've got it's the way of taking a shit situation

959
01:27:43,480 --> 01:27:48,440
and making it into something positive yeah absolutely and then and then you're such an

960
01:27:48,440 --> 01:27:53,320
inspiration to everyone else like aside from the ones that can relate because they've been hurt

961
01:27:53,320 --> 01:27:58,920
they've been at war whatever it was hopefully anyone with any ounce of humility is going to

962
01:27:58,920 --> 01:28:04,200
look at people like you and you know simon weston and all these other you know amazing people that

963
01:28:04,200 --> 01:28:09,800
have overcome their challenges and then recalibrate their own life like yeah i know it's really hard

964
01:28:09,800 --> 01:28:16,760
that my iphone screen cracked but my life is fucking amazing so let's you know let's go out

965
01:28:16,760 --> 01:28:22,520
there do some good today instead of being a whiny little bitch exactly exactly i think that was a

966
01:28:22,520 --> 01:28:28,280
bible quote i can't remember all right well i want to talk about one other area before we

967
01:28:29,640 --> 01:28:35,640
go to some wrap-up questions but another side of this obviously is the mental health it sounds like

968
01:28:35,640 --> 01:28:41,480
your resilience and just your your hard wiring really you know kept you strong through you know

969
01:28:41,480 --> 01:28:48,520
a huge adversity really how is mental health being addressed in the royal marines specifically

970
01:28:48,520 --> 01:28:55,640
are they doing a good job with that we we do a phenomenal job um we i said earlier we're only

971
01:28:56,360 --> 01:29:03,960
7 000 men serving that full strength and i think there's like maybe 120 000 of us who are veterans

972
01:29:04,680 --> 01:29:09,320
so we're a small organization and we like to look after our own we've got what we call the

973
01:29:09,320 --> 01:29:14,440
royal marines family in the extended family so when it comes to things like mental health

974
01:29:15,240 --> 01:29:20,040
you know you know you that your uncle was there for you and we've got there are things set up in

975
01:29:20,040 --> 01:29:24,360
place and it's brilliant you know i've got a friend jamie who was a sniper he was a sergeant

976
01:29:24,920 --> 01:29:30,600
he suffered himself with mental health issues he was very close to taking his own life and now he

977
01:29:30,600 --> 01:29:36,040
runs an organization what helped other people that are struggling and he takes all of his experiences

978
01:29:36,040 --> 01:29:40,760
all of his training everything that he's done over the years and learned and he helps other people

979
01:29:41,400 --> 01:29:48,120
you know and and it just goes round in a circle and i think we're particularly good at it um

980
01:29:49,720 --> 01:29:55,160
you know i don't think anyone's ever really gonna completely conquer it but we're pretty close i

981
01:29:55,160 --> 01:30:00,440
think yeah well we need to look at your model then because i know in in the fire department for

982
01:30:00,440 --> 01:30:04,840
example we're starting the discussions now we're definitely taking down some of the walls but

983
01:30:04,840 --> 01:30:11,480
there's a lot of that bullshit 1980s fake machismo around it where it's stigmatized still and you

984
01:30:11,480 --> 01:30:17,240
know talking about feelings is weakness and i'll give you an example i live in this little community

985
01:30:17,240 --> 01:30:23,640
right down the road last night a 17 year old was killed after he wrapped his car around a tree and

986
01:30:23,640 --> 01:30:28,760
burnt to death basically in there if he wasn't dead on impact so the responding crews on that

987
01:30:28,760 --> 01:30:35,640
particular day had to go and extinguish that fire and then obviously you know are faced with the

988
01:30:35,640 --> 01:30:41,080
scene of that poor kid that uh you know went through that and this is a daily event in emergency

989
01:30:41,080 --> 01:30:47,960
services so then to have the audacity to say that that shit doesn't affect people is ridiculous so

990
01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:53,880
the the people like the royal marines for example that are actually way past that and redefining it

991
01:30:53,880 --> 01:30:58,840
because if there's ever you know a definition of a man i'd say that royal marines is is definitely up

992
01:30:58,840 --> 01:31:05,320
there it's it's role models like you know your organization and mine that are in in the position

993
01:31:05,320 --> 01:31:10,280
like you said to lead and say hey i'm a fireman i'm a policeman this stuff is real and i think

994
01:31:10,280 --> 01:31:15,160
we're pretty manly men or you know womanly women or whatever you want to put it but we we need to

995
01:31:15,160 --> 01:31:20,600
lead from the front and and make people realize that it's it's strength when you reach out and

996
01:31:20,600 --> 01:31:27,720
ask for help not cowardice or you know weakness yeah i agree 100 and i think in a situation like

997
01:31:27,720 --> 01:31:33,240
that what you're talking about um i don't know what systems you've got in place but we had a

998
01:31:33,240 --> 01:31:40,200
thing called trim trauma risk in management so when i got blown up that was tragic for me but

999
01:31:40,200 --> 01:31:45,320
the rest of my section and my friends had to watch that so as soon as i was evacuated and they were

1000
01:31:45,320 --> 01:31:50,840
taken back to camp they were what we call trimmed so a trained counselor who happened to be the

1001
01:31:50,840 --> 01:31:57,000
sergeant major came down and worked with them immediately after the incident to make sure they

1002
01:31:57,000 --> 01:32:02,520
were okay and then would follow up with them throughout the rest of the tour and then when

1003
01:32:02,520 --> 01:32:08,280
they came home you know the responsibility is kind of on them then that if they find themselves

1004
01:32:08,280 --> 01:32:14,040
suffering they have to reach out for help but then they know what's available so i think in that

1005
01:32:14,040 --> 01:32:18,920
situation you're saying you know like i said i don't know what you've got in place but from my

1006
01:32:18,920 --> 01:32:24,360
point of view it's it's your higher act is responsibility to immediately after an incident

1007
01:32:24,360 --> 01:32:29,560
like that get the guys back to the station and be like right not who wants to talk because that

1008
01:32:29,560 --> 01:32:37,160
singles people out but everybody get in here now and do some sort of professional session with them

1009
01:32:37,160 --> 01:32:44,680
or something to to monitor them follow it up for you know the next couple weeks couple months

1010
01:32:45,240 --> 01:32:49,400
and then make sure that everyone is completely clear that if they find them so struggling

1011
01:32:50,120 --> 01:32:55,000
this is available and this is where you go right and is that included when you're entering that

1012
01:32:55,000 --> 01:32:59,960
profession is that kind of from day one something that you guys are taught about so that you always

1013
01:32:59,960 --> 01:33:06,680
know that's there it wasn't when i went through but i think it is a lot more now right um because

1014
01:33:06,680 --> 01:33:11,560
mental health now is something that we promote proactively and it's not just things like post

1015
01:33:11,560 --> 01:33:17,080
traumatic stress everybody on the planet i don't care how tough they are everybody has mental

1016
01:33:17,080 --> 01:33:21,560
health like they have physical health you know and there are different levels of it you know your

1017
01:33:21,560 --> 01:33:27,080
physical health you get overweight it's bad you get too underweight it's bad you balance it out

1018
01:33:27,080 --> 01:33:30,360
you know and your wellness and health and it's all good it's the same with your mental health

1019
01:33:30,360 --> 01:33:34,840
you spend too long experiencing traumatic incidents thinking negative thoughts then

1020
01:33:34,840 --> 01:33:39,800
your mental health is bad you spend i don't think you can spend too much time you know thinking

1021
01:33:39,800 --> 01:33:44,600
positive things and experiencing positive things and filling your mind with that but you've got to

1022
01:33:44,600 --> 01:33:50,600
balance it all you know and your physical health is as part of me your mental health is as important

1023
01:33:50,600 --> 01:33:55,000
if not more important than your physical health because if your mental health is bad then

1024
01:33:55,800 --> 01:33:59,640
inevitably your physical health will be because you start comfort eating or you start drinking or

1025
01:33:59,640 --> 01:34:03,800
you start taking drugs and then your physical have deteriorates and then it's a vicious cycle

1026
01:34:03,800 --> 01:34:08,360
but for some reason like you said everyone thinks when you say mental health you know you're not a

1027
01:34:08,360 --> 01:34:13,160
man if you reach out and ask for help and i think it's the opposite i think you've got our balls

1028
01:34:13,160 --> 01:34:17,640
to reach out and say look i'm struggling can you help me and then if you've got a bunch of

1029
01:34:17,640 --> 01:34:24,280
assholes who are in charge of you going what are you talking about man up then you know that doesn't

1030
01:34:24,280 --> 01:34:31,080
help at all and those kind of people need to be re-educated or weeded out yeah i couldn't agree

1031
01:34:31,080 --> 01:34:34,920
more mate and you hit on a very important point as well that we don't do very well

1032
01:34:35,560 --> 01:34:41,560
which is we have CISD which is kind of like TRIM critical incident stress debriefing and it will

1033
01:34:41,560 --> 01:34:46,680
happen you know for example like that that incident down the road here and they'll come and they'll

1034
01:34:46,680 --> 01:34:51,880
talk that day but what people miss is what you said in the next breath which is and then you follow

1035
01:34:51,880 --> 01:34:56,760
up the rest of the tour so for us it could be the rest of the career you know you're always checking

1036
01:34:56,760 --> 01:35:01,880
on these people because you know i've been on those calls where i've had a three-year-old

1037
01:35:01,880 --> 01:35:06,200
and i've cut a dead three-year-old out of a car you know those are pretty pretty uh you know

1038
01:35:06,200 --> 01:35:12,200
impactful moments in in your life and it may not hit then it may hit you know 400 sleepless nights

1039
01:35:12,200 --> 01:35:17,080
later when your sleep deprivation is just wrecking you just found out your wife was cheating and that

1040
01:35:17,080 --> 01:35:23,720
is the moment that everything comes flooding back right yeah right well i really appreciate your

1041
01:35:23,720 --> 01:35:27,000
your perspective of that and it's great to hear how progressive the Royal Marines are

1042
01:35:29,960 --> 01:35:34,520
so i want to i want to underline something well a couple things before we transition to the closing

1043
01:35:34,520 --> 01:35:43,000
question so your autobiography is manned down and you just released um the documentary no limits so

1044
01:35:43,000 --> 01:35:46,760
let's talk about no limits for a second what point did you decide to put your story on screen

1045
01:35:46,760 --> 01:35:54,120
i had the idea a couple of years ago um but you know it was just one of those pipe dreams don't

1046
01:35:54,120 --> 01:35:59,560
know you never think you could do that or you know the right people you've got the ability to do it

1047
01:36:00,360 --> 01:36:05,720
and i started working with another former Royal Marine called Matt Elliott who was finishing

1048
01:36:05,720 --> 01:36:11,880
university and getting his degree in photography and videography and media studies and we just said

1049
01:36:11,880 --> 01:36:16,600
a couple times messing about you know oh you know we should make a documentary you know like a fly

1050
01:36:16,600 --> 01:36:23,560
on the wall thing where i show people you know a little bit deeper than what i show them in social

1051
01:36:23,560 --> 01:36:29,720
media and you know i talk about what life is really like and i show myself walking under my bum and

1052
01:36:29,720 --> 01:36:34,520
brushing my teeth in the morning taking the kids to school and you know just reality you know i

1053
01:36:34,520 --> 01:36:41,160
mean fly on the wall kind of stuff so we agreed to do it and then we started doing the documentary

1054
01:36:41,160 --> 01:36:47,720
and then obviously i got accepted for the team for the Invictus Games and we completely changed

1055
01:36:47,720 --> 01:36:54,760
direction with it and we went with that instead but um you know i just i really enjoyed the whole

1056
01:36:54,760 --> 01:37:01,880
process and i just i didn't think i would you know but i really did and it was just so nice to be able

1057
01:37:01,880 --> 01:37:09,160
to share the experience and know that people are going to watch it and it might help in their lives

1058
01:37:09,160 --> 01:37:16,360
you know and i've had such good feedback from it um 20 000 views now up on youtube um

1059
01:37:17,720 --> 01:37:22,040
not a single negative comment loads people contact me daily about it you know they're telling me

1060
01:37:22,040 --> 01:37:27,320
they've just watched it and you know they one minute they're laughing one minute they're crying

1061
01:37:27,320 --> 01:37:32,040
and all this kind of stuff so it's just something i'm really proud of and you know i think i've got

1062
01:37:32,040 --> 01:37:37,480
a couple more in me if i'm honest you know that i could do and if the opportunity comes up then

1063
01:37:37,480 --> 01:37:41,720
that's something i'd love to do again yeah well i'll just testify i watched it the other day

1064
01:37:41,720 --> 01:37:46,280
obviously in preparation for this and i hadn't really heard of it until we started the you know

1065
01:37:46,280 --> 01:37:52,840
connecting but um it was amazing from several different levels from a trauma medicine point of

1066
01:37:52,840 --> 01:37:57,480
view like when you have the people that were treating you and they had the you know the footage

1067
01:37:57,480 --> 01:38:05,560
of your injuries that was just mind-blowing because it set up just the the grotesque brutality of war

1068
01:38:05,560 --> 01:38:11,960
you know in in those scenes and then how your you know medical personnel was still moved

1069
01:38:11,960 --> 01:38:17,720
you know decades later um recalling the story but then there is that fly on the wall side like you

1070
01:38:17,720 --> 01:38:22,360
were saying where you know i believe that that little video clip that you just put up today

1071
01:38:22,360 --> 01:38:26,600
of you carrying a daughter up the stairs that was in the the movie as well wasn't it when she's on

1072
01:38:26,600 --> 01:38:31,240
your shoulders yeah so so that's the the fly on the wall normality that you're a dad and doing the

1073
01:38:31,240 --> 01:38:36,120
same as the rest of us and then the invictus games you know the adaptations which i've talked a lot

1074
01:38:36,120 --> 01:38:42,360
about to several the adaptive athletes that i've had but what a great time it is for adaptive

1075
01:38:42,360 --> 01:38:48,360
athletes where in the crossfit space and the paralympic space and the invictus space it's not

1076
01:38:48,360 --> 01:38:53,400
oh i don't have the right limb so i can't do this or i have ms so i can't do this it's just how am

1077
01:38:53,400 --> 01:39:00,360
i going to work my way around you know the four-limbed you know traditional human physique and

1078
01:39:00,360 --> 01:39:07,160
adapt in a way where i can suffer exactly the same next to a fall in person on a concept too

1079
01:39:07,160 --> 01:39:11,960
with my one arm and we all can relate how fucking awful it is to row on that damn rower

1080
01:39:12,760 --> 01:39:18,680
yeah you got it so yeah it was amazing so i just wanted to say everyone out out there

1081
01:39:18,680 --> 01:39:24,040
go to youtube and watch the uh documentary no limits you will not be disappointed it's incredible

1082
01:39:24,760 --> 01:39:28,840
thank you right well then the first closing questions i know we've been going on for

1083
01:39:28,840 --> 01:39:35,080
over an hour and a half now um your book is man down um is there any other books that you love

1084
01:39:35,080 --> 01:39:39,400
to recommend to people that you've read it can be about something that we've talked about today

1085
01:39:39,400 --> 01:39:48,760
or something completely different so a couple years ago one of the things that really flipped

1086
01:39:48,760 --> 01:39:53,960
my mindset and changed the way i looked at things or maybe not changed it but opened it up more was

1087
01:39:53,960 --> 01:40:03,240
when i started reading i read a book by a bloke called tony robbins um i think i forget now there

1088
01:40:03,240 --> 01:40:07,400
were two of them i think it was called awaken the giant within and it was a personal development

1089
01:40:07,400 --> 01:40:14,120
self-development book and it was brilliant and it was kind of saying all this stuff that i knew

1090
01:40:15,080 --> 01:40:20,600
and some of it was common sense but i knew i wasn't applying it and it really helped me to

1091
01:40:20,600 --> 01:40:25,240
apply things and then i started training in neuro-linguistic programming and that again

1092
01:40:25,240 --> 01:40:32,120
opened my mind up to a whole new way of thinking and a mindset and i started to realize what i was

1093
01:40:32,120 --> 01:40:36,440
saying earlier that your your mental health is important as your physical health and you need to

1094
01:40:37,240 --> 01:40:42,600
read and go on courses and attend seminars just as much as you need to eat the right food and go

1095
01:40:42,600 --> 01:40:48,360
and train right and rest right and you know all those personal development self-development books

1096
01:40:48,360 --> 01:40:53,720
you know just get just have as many as you can and just digest as many as you can i read them all the

1097
01:40:53,720 --> 01:41:00,280
time and i love to go on courses and seminars now as well and just meet other like-minded people

1098
01:41:00,280 --> 01:41:06,040
you know and that's it's a big part of my life now brilliant did you ever see his uh i think it

1099
01:41:06,040 --> 01:41:12,520
was a netflix special documentary i am not your mentor i was in it oh yeah so that for a brief

1100
01:41:12,520 --> 01:41:18,840
second i was i was at that seminar called date with destiny in florida and uh there's a point

1101
01:41:18,840 --> 01:41:24,120
where i'm the camera pans in on the audience i'm sat there with a purple shirt on taking notes

1102
01:41:24,120 --> 01:41:29,560
while he's on stage but i have to watch it again now look for you yeah all right well speaking of

1103
01:41:29,560 --> 01:41:37,080
movies are there any other movies that you love and or documentaries you know i i grew up i was

1104
01:41:37,080 --> 01:41:44,040
born in 83 i grew up as a massive swachhnega stalone john claw van damd dole flungren boost

1105
01:41:44,040 --> 01:41:49,960
willis kind of fan so i loved all that kind of stuff growing up but when i went through rehab

1106
01:41:49,960 --> 01:41:56,920
after that low point for me i watched a movie called bronson with tom hardy in it and he no

1107
01:41:56,920 --> 01:42:02,520
one i don't think we knew who he was back then and i watched this film and i'm very proud to be

1108
01:42:02,520 --> 01:42:07,400
british and i watched this and i thought this guy's awesome you know this film's really cool and um

1109
01:42:08,280 --> 01:42:15,640
that kind of turned me on to the new age of sort of action superstars uh in hollywood

1110
01:42:16,200 --> 01:42:23,320
and so i just i just watched anything with uh with tommy but i think my favorite movie of all time

1111
01:42:23,320 --> 01:42:31,480
and i don't mind admitting i cried at the end of it was terminator 2 really i cried at the end of

1112
01:42:31,480 --> 01:42:37,400
it when i first watched it when he lowered himself into the lava i got so caught up in the story

1113
01:42:37,400 --> 01:42:42,680
they made me cry but that's got to be my favorite movie of all time was it was it the thumbs up

1114
01:42:42,680 --> 01:42:49,320
that went down at the end it's just like how this human being developed this real real relationship

1115
01:42:49,320 --> 01:42:54,040
with a robot and the robot had to sacrifice himself and the boy didn't want his friend to die

1116
01:42:54,040 --> 01:42:59,320
and all that kind of stuff and i'm like yeah it's quite sad actually well yeah i'll tell you this

1117
01:42:59,320 --> 01:43:04,680
was funny is i was a stunt man before i became a firefighter and i worked for universal studios the

1118
01:43:04,680 --> 01:43:11,880
theme parks not the uh the the films and i was a stunt double in the terminator 2 live show i was

1119
01:43:11,880 --> 01:43:18,120
the bad guy robert pottrick no wow really so i was the asshole that made you cry technically

1120
01:43:20,120 --> 01:43:25,800
that's cool all right well uh the next question that i always love to to ask because it just

1121
01:43:25,800 --> 01:43:30,760
opens up so many you know rabbit holes as it were but is there a person that you would recommend to

1122
01:43:30,760 --> 01:43:36,040
come on this podcast as a guest to talk to the first responders and military of the world

1123
01:43:38,520 --> 01:43:46,680
oh man there's loads um so many people that i've met through through rehab through invictus

1124
01:43:47,880 --> 01:43:55,400
um i mean i don't know if you do you do you speak to people all around the world yeah literally i

1125
01:43:55,400 --> 01:43:58,840
can i can skype anywhere on the planet and space if they've got an internet connection

1126
01:44:00,840 --> 01:44:07,320
oh man i have to think about that there's so many people that i can think of um

1127
01:44:08,760 --> 01:44:14,200
let me think and i'll drop you an email brilliant yeah yeah perfect all right so then the very last

1128
01:44:14,200 --> 01:44:18,440
question before we talk about you know where we can find you and where people contribute to the

1129
01:44:18,440 --> 01:44:25,880
charity um what do you do to decompress when you are not making movies writing books and doing

1130
01:44:25,880 --> 01:44:35,400
charity fundraisers i train that is how i decompress it's it sounds bizarre but it it's so

1131
01:44:36,840 --> 01:44:43,400
therapeutic for me just uh because i enjoy it so much just to do something i enjoy

1132
01:44:43,400 --> 01:44:52,360
you know at my own leisure training lifting weights doing cardio doing crossfit doing jiu-jitsu

1133
01:44:53,000 --> 01:44:59,400
that's just how i decompress um and then if you want to talk about something that's not physical

1134
01:44:59,880 --> 01:45:06,520
you know really relaxing i'm just a big movie buff i just love watching films especially this time

1135
01:45:06,520 --> 01:45:10,520
year when all the all the christmas funds are just about to watch jingle all the way actually

1136
01:45:10,520 --> 01:45:15,240
with the kids but they've gone to bed now that was based on a true story wasn't it

1137
01:45:16,680 --> 01:45:23,880
was it um you know one thing i forgot to talk before we do that very final one you said jiu-jitsu

1138
01:45:23,880 --> 01:45:29,800
so tell me about royal marines jiu-jitsu oh man that's awesome you know like i said i was i was

1139
01:45:29,800 --> 01:45:35,960
a full contact kickboxer and a muay thai fighter before i was injured and i just loved everything

1140
01:45:35,960 --> 01:45:41,560
about martial arts the physical aspect the mental aspect the respect the honor the discipline all

1141
01:45:41,560 --> 01:45:47,480
that kind of stuff and you know when i was injured i thought well that's that's my life in the martial

1142
01:45:47,480 --> 01:45:53,880
arts world over and then this guy i didn't know at the time a servant of all marine color sergeant

1143
01:45:53,880 --> 01:45:57,400
physical training instructor called sam sheriff came up to me and said look do you want to try

1144
01:45:57,400 --> 01:46:06,120
jiu-jitsu now in the beginning i was like not really mate no because this is just some sort

1145
01:46:06,120 --> 01:46:10,120
of pity thing you're going to do where you're going to let me win and i'm at this easy session

1146
01:46:10,120 --> 01:46:14,840
you're going to say how great you think i am and it's a way to make me feel good but i went down

1147
01:46:14,840 --> 01:46:19,720
there and i got my ass handed to me and i had to really work for it and i found out actually

1148
01:46:20,440 --> 01:46:26,840
it was probably the most inclusive martial art that you can do as a as a disabled person

1149
01:46:26,840 --> 01:46:34,200
because there's there's nothing you know in karate or kung fu or you have to kick you have

1150
01:46:34,200 --> 01:46:39,960
to punch you do the the cat is in the movements you know it you have to have all your limbs to a

1151
01:46:39,960 --> 01:46:45,480
degree but in jiu-jitsu you don't because you're down on the deck you're rolling you're choking

1152
01:46:45,480 --> 01:46:51,800
people you're submitting people you know you're crawling all over the place and someone in my

1153
01:46:51,800 --> 01:46:59,960
position can actually compete with an able-bodied person you know and in certain situations it's

1154
01:46:59,960 --> 01:47:06,920
an advantage to be me in jiu-jitsu because there's not so much to grab on to and like i said earlier

1155
01:47:06,920 --> 01:47:12,840
i'll use my chin my my stumps you know i'll jam them into parts of your body that other people

1156
01:47:12,840 --> 01:47:19,240
can't jam them into and just do what i can with what i've got left to win the fight you know i love

1157
01:47:19,240 --> 01:47:25,000
it yeah it's it's amazing and it just doesn't matter who you are people just if people try

1158
01:47:25,000 --> 01:47:28,920
jiu-jitsu and again it's that work ethic if you try jiu-jitsu and you don't like being choked out

1159
01:47:28,920 --> 01:47:34,200
or you know not humiliate is the wrong word having your pride questioned i guess is a more you know

1160
01:47:34,200 --> 01:47:38,840
gentle way of saying it then you're probably going to run away but for the rest of the people that

1161
01:47:38,840 --> 01:47:45,880
are prepared to to leave their ego at the front door and and you know uh go on an evening play

1162
01:47:45,880 --> 01:47:51,960
even playing field no matter who these people are it doesn't matter it's just it's loved by everyone

1163
01:47:51,960 --> 01:47:57,240
the navy seals and the business people and you know you name it it's just such a an amazing art

1164
01:47:57,240 --> 01:48:01,000
and actually speaking of which i'm sitting down with hoist gracy next week to interview him for

1165
01:48:01,000 --> 01:48:09,080
the show okay so i've trained with yeah are you training with him he's an ambassador for

1166
01:48:09,080 --> 01:48:15,320
reorg in fact hoist signed my white belt i've got a signed white belt by voice really okay i'll have

1167
01:48:15,320 --> 01:48:20,280
to i'll bring that up when i interview and then that's so reorg is a is a foundation he works with

1168
01:48:21,640 --> 01:48:29,240
hojja does yeah he's an ambassador for it gotcha brilliant all right well it's been such an amazing

1169
01:48:29,240 --> 01:48:33,480
conversation but i want to make sure that we talk about where everyone can find you online where

1170
01:48:33,480 --> 01:48:37,320
they can find you on social media and then if they if they want to contribute where's the best place

1171
01:48:37,320 --> 01:48:45,320
to do them so i'm in all the normal places instagram facebook twitter linkedin i've got

1172
01:48:45,320 --> 01:48:50,920
the website mark onward.com you can pretty much find me anywhere if you just google mark onward

1173
01:48:52,040 --> 01:48:57,880
and i'm active every day on social media like most people are trying to keep up with it and

1174
01:48:57,880 --> 01:49:03,560
respond as many people as i can but it's getting progressively harder and if they want to donate

1175
01:49:03,560 --> 01:49:09,880
to the charity i i have a page set up just given you just google mark onward just given there's a

1176
01:49:09,880 --> 01:49:15,160
page there where they can contribute or failing that just go onto the rawmereans charity website

1177
01:49:15,160 --> 01:49:20,680
and you can leave a donation there brilliant all right well i just want to say thank you so much

1178
01:49:20,680 --> 01:49:25,880
you've been so generous but the reality is your story is so incredible i think it just takes this

1179
01:49:25,880 --> 01:49:30,520
long to really tell it properly and you know then obviously all the the things you've done

1180
01:49:30,520 --> 01:49:35,880
you know since then so i really appreciate you being so generous with your time my pleasure