The Poppy Appeal has launched in Leeds, and this year the Royal British Legion are highlighting the mental trauma that can result from military service.
From risking their lives in war zones to support for family members and children who may struggle with the upheaval and disruption of service life, the mental health needs of the Armed Forces community are complex.
Tom Smith is the Royal British Leeds Poppy Appeal Manager and a retired Army Major.
He told GB News: “The physical security is there with body armour, helmets, armoured personnel carriers, that type of thing, but nothing can protect the brain.
Veteran Simon Brown accepted one of the first poppies to mark the start of the appeal
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“There’s a lot of service personnel suffering mentally that can be through PTSD from specific incidents, or it can be mental health such as anxiety and depression and which I’ve suffered from as well.
“I served for 32 years in the Royal Signals and I served all over the world.
“When you’re away Christmas from your families and all that type of stuff, it doesn’t have to be shrapnel flying, it doesn’t have to be bullets clipped round your feet, it’s the fact that you’re away and you’re enduring that sort of separation from your families and your friends.”
Veteran Simon Brown accepted one of the first poppies to mark the start of the appeal.
He still carries the scars of service, both physically and emotionally, after he was shot in the face by a sniper.
On his third tour of Iraq in 2006 with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, he was called to rescue a stranded vehicle with a crew of six on board following an insurgent attack.
Afghanistan veteran Gary Greenwood, 31, was at the Poppy Appeal Launch in Leeds
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During the extraction, as the vehicle pulled away, a bullet entered his left cheek and exited the other side.
Over 10 years he’s had 25 operations, 140 hours of surgery to reconstruct his face and his left eye was removed.
He told GB News: “I woke up 17 days later in Birmingham, and I lost my left eye completely on my right eye. I only had 20 per cent vision left in it. Well, at the time, no vision, but I retained 25 per cent vision.
“So I had to rebuild a life after service with obviously the physical injuries and obviously the psychological sort of losing that as well.”
He added that it’s not just the funds raised, but the symbol of the poppy that supports those that have served in the Armed Forces.
Tom Smith is the Royal British Leeds Poppy Appeal Manager and a retired Army Major.
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“The poppy to me has always been the symbol of hope,” said Simon Brown.
“You know, it’s a case of you look back to its origins and, you know, in the fields of the Somme, um, and that’s what it is. It’s a symbol of hope that tomorrow can be brighter.
“We will all have dark days, and but if we just keep pushing on and we keep fighting back, there is a better future for all of us.”
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the end of combat operations by British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, known as Operation Herrick.
The UK had a military presence in Afghanistan from October 2001, when troops were deployed as part of the NATO response to the 9/11 attacks, and then as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which initially provided security and reconstruction teams.
By 2010, UK troop numbers reached their peak with 10,000 deployed across Afghanistan.
Later the same year, discussions began over the withdrawal of NATO forces.
Molly-Jo Osbourne, 15, is the Royal British Legion Leeds Branch Princess. She said: “My grandad was in the Army.
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In 2014, Britain formally ended all combat operations in the country.150,000 British Armed Forces personnel served in Afghanistan, and 457 lost their lives.
Afghanistan veteran Gary Greenwood, 31, was at the Poppy Appeal Launch in Leeds. He joined the Army at the age of 18 and after 11 years in service, he sought support for his mental health.
He told GB News: “I was out there [in Afghanistan] doing electronic warfare signals intelligence and we were, basically hacking into Taliban communications and building intelligence pictures on everything that was going on and within the area.
“Unfortunately, we did lose someone out on my tour, and it’s just kind of realising what actually did happen after you’re no longer serving .”
For the Royal British Legion Leeds branch, it’s important to respect and admiration for veterans on to the next generation.
Molly-Jo Osbourne, 15, is the Royal British Legion Leeds Branch Princess. She said: “My grandad was in the Army.
“My brother is going into the Army and my uncle’s best friend got blown up in a tank while he was in the Army.
“It’s more the fact of reflecting on what they did for us, because they made this a peaceful world for us.”
The poppy represents all those who lost their lives in service from the First World War to present day.