Falklands veteran who is helping hundreds of people across Wales

PAUL Bromwell was just 18 years old when he returned home to Wales after four months of harrowing service in the Falklands War.

- LOIS MCCARTHY

The burden he carried was far heavier than his years.

"I was one of the youngest men on the special unit out there," Paul, from Rhondda, recalls.

"I should never have been doing what I was doing. When I think about my kids at 18 - doing what I was doing - in the dead of night, going out to find the enemy in the freezing cold - carrying 9st on our backs, days where we hadn't eaten... I don't know how we did it. No-one does."

Like many who have experienced the front lines of conflict, Paul returned with invisible wounds. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) took hold, amplified by the crushing weight of survivors' guilt.

"Part of my PTSD is survivors guilt - I lost so many friends, boys that I'd see going to and from my camp, boys who'd jump in the car with me - suddenly they weren't there no more. It breaks my heart."

The road to healing was neither short nor easy. However, a turning point came during a two-week treatment with Combat Stress in Shropshire.

Paul said: "I was going through a bad time. There, I went away horse trekking and it helped me so much that when I came home, I bought a horse.

"On the days that I couldn't sleep, I'd be up on the mountain with my horse and it would calm me down.

"I haven't looked back since. From that point, I have actually had about 70 horses - not bad!"

Out of one man's struggle grew Valley Veterans - a now thriving veteran-led support organisation that has transformed lives across Wales.

Paul first began informally helping a few friends by building stables in his own garden and word spread quickly.

"A couple of my mates told me that they were having a hard time so I asked them to give me a hand with the horses. I just thought if this is working for me that it will help others.