Veteran’s challenge to support families impacted by PTSD

Gary Turner, who served initially as a Royal Marines musician before switching to become a Royal Navy Logistics Officer, is undertaking 11,993 rehabilitation exercises, a minimum of 150 a day.

He intends to give back to those who supported him during his darkest days. He returned from a deployment to the Gulf in 2020 and spent time in hospital with Covid, burnout and undiagnosed PTSD, before being discharged from service in December that year.

Determined to return to normality, he took up a demanding new post as a civilian at RNAS Yeovilton just six weeks after leaving hospital, responsible for 90 personnel and £750 million of aircraft stock. 

“At the time, it felt like the right thing to do,” he reflects. “In reality, I never fully recovered physically or mentally.”

Over the next few years, Gary was medically downgraded, attended recovery courses at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Stanford Hall. Outwardly he continued to serve his community, supporting South Western Ambulance Service and volunteering as a Community First Responder. But beneath the surface, he was struggling.

The impact at home grew harder to ignore. “My moods were low, my patience short, and frustration often spilled over,” he says. “For nearly five years, my family lived with tension and uncertainty.”