Today at the retreat we experienced an amazing thing I pulled into CH HQ waiting for our special guests to arrive for our first group peer support session for Op Medusa Friendly Fire we had the family of Cpl Mark Mclaren MMV wounded in this incident and Pte Mark Anthony Graham whom we lost that morning and three soldiers reaching out whose demons are still affecting them today. Unknown to me they arrived a few min after myself with a monument that was made for the badger Recovery vehicle that was struck by an IED and covered with the poppies from the Afghanistan memorial which were bronzed, This took my breath away as I’ve never seen the memorial nor the book of remembrance that these three soldiers have entrusted to them, the care and attention to detail as they assembled it out front waiting for the families to arrive. Never leaving it unattended out of respect for which it stands, we chatted and everyone just talked about what ever they could it was Peer support at its best just being able to sit there and just listen and chat, laugh and cry as they met the two silver cross families for the first time, listening to the stories for the first time as we shared what happened on that early morning in Sept listening as one soldier told Marks Grahams mom he did not die alone he had friends with him took everything I had to not loose control. As a medic I have always put others before self and still do I feel I have to stay strong for those whom I serve, I have never talked about what we did that morning the way I did today with a …read more
