{"id":11250,"date":"2023-11-11T11:11:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T11:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/?p=11250"},"modified":"2023-11-10T13:01:48","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:01:48","slug":"a-soldiers-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/11\/a-soldiers-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A Soldier’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Soldier’s Story<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was 15 when my journey started when I got on that train to Aldershot, I was a bit scared but excited all at the same time and wondered what the future had to offer.<\/p>\n

After my training my military career not only took me to some wonderful places, I met people who I not only owe my life too, but they will always be in my thoughts, and I owe them everything and that created a bond that will never be broken.<\/p>\n

At the age of 28 I was injured serving and had to be airlifted out of conflict, which I felt was letting my comrades down. That feeling hasn\u2019t left me and after months and months of rehabilitation unfortunately I was medically discharged which devastated me as I was leaving the only thing I knew from school.<\/p>\n

My fighting didn\u2019t end here as I was torn from something I loved which has taken its toll on my mental health. At the time I was in denial and stuck my head in the sand. It took me until I was fifty years old to realize with the help of wonderful friends and people, I met at church that I was suffering and needed help.<\/p>\n

I reached out to the charity Help for Heroes, and they have been amazing in helping me overcome my past which will only make my future very positive.<\/p>\n

So, on remembrance weekend have a thought for all those veterans and families who are still fighting every day with trauma and injuries. I am so proud that I served, and I owe everything to the armed forces and that bond I will have for life.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.helpforheroes.org.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

By Paul Flounders, a member of our congregation, who served in the Royal Logistics Core and Royal Green Jackets.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cc-home-page"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11253,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11250\/revisions\/11253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christchurchswindon.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}