Castles

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Photographer Ed Gold interviewed soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and asked them about their experiences in adjusting to civilian life.

soldiers, Callum Wright , Scott Meenagh, Geoff Dunn , Dan Eccles , and Terry Jones served in the Parachute Regiment , known as the ABS.

Ed has worked with the Paras as a photo journalist in the UK and in Afghanistan, among thousands of images of army life.

The Photos shown here document the Para-soldiers, between July 2010 and July 2011, and if he repeated it again in 2018, after they left the army.

Callum Wright , Callum Wright , 29, of the in the footsteps of three generations of His Family and joined the army when he was 19.

First of all, Callum wanted a transporter, a tank like his two older brothers, But then he decided it rather be in the "nitty gritty" of battle and push yourself further.

He chose the Parachute Regiment , despite The High rate of failure.

Out of the 72 people in his recording group, he was one of only 10, the by part of The Elite airborne infantry regiment.

Callum took in a tour in Afghanistan. But after returning to Britain, he felt uneasy in the army.

"When I came back, I got bored," he says. "It's the same, banal [work] in and day out was A Day .

"For me, if I knew that The Afghan [The Tour ] came, and when I was outside, I felt that I arrived and I was to do something that mattered.

"But the feeling disappeared when we returned to the barracks. "

not to transfer After he was able to The Unit were his brothers, Callum decided to discharged from the army and begin a new Chapter in his life, with his wife.

He was a personal trainer and also worked in a whisky distillery. But the civilian is not life fit, Callum long, and after 14 months he returned to the army as a tank transporter.

"The feeling of 'I have more to give, came back, almost like a regret that I had to leave," he says. But after a further two years in the army, Callum had a change of heart again.

"I was there 17 hours A Day and was tired all the time," he says. He was an apprentice to a butcher. "I love it - and I am. "

"I like working with my hands, like the whole meat on the bone, it [speaks to] the cave man in me. "

But Callum still remembers his army days with affection. "I miss the guys," he says, "everyone was the same, only Close Friends . The biggest thing I miss, is the feeling that You matter.

" If You are in the army You wear a uniform and this Presence - they are visible and serve. But if You leave, You are not important. You are just like Everyone Else on the road. "

Now, Callum is making new plans again. He began training as a technician with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Scotty MeenaghScotty Meenagh, 28, has always wanted to belong to the Paragraphs.

"If You are part of the air, there is nobody else to, to. You 're The Best soldier," he says.

"have You famous in the history. I grew up inspired by the Paras in the Falklands War . It was a unit that was impossible to do tasks that No Other unit in the army could at this time. "

Scotty under the entry to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, signed up to the military, 15,.

But , after 18 months of his training, he was injured and discharged. He joined at the age of 19 and began training at the Para Depot.

After 46 weeks of training, he qualified and made a tour in Afghanistan in 2010.

Scotty was "Vallon man", what he means searches the route in front of The Patrol , including the use of a metal detector to ensure that it was safe. He was also a paramedic.

"are your friends to You , to protect You ," he says. "You 're not so much focus on the combat role, so my weapon would be casual on my back and I would protection to a soldier behind me. "

On the 25. In January 2011, Scotty was injured by a bomb that killed one of his comrades. The injury meant that Scotty is a double-was amputated.

recalls his rehab, he says: "You go through so many different States, it is hard To Believe that You were in this Position - it's a strange start of coping mechanisms.

"If You think back to those hard times, that You remove that person from it. "

Scotty says, he is now putting all his energy into the sport. "After he was wounded, You must try to discover different things, their purpose. I found that the sport allows me to Get Out of bed every morning. "

2014, Scotty turned to skiing his attention to the cross-country, after You have seen it at the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia.

He went on to race at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup , and in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea , was The First British sit-skier to race at the Paralympics.

He is currently training for the 2022 World Cup in Beijing Paralympics, and he is also to marry and have "A Family " for themselves.

"My fiancée and I have A House and live a nice normal life. "

Geoff DunnGeoff Dunn's family tradition of service in the military extends back as far as the colonial wars of the 19Th Century .

Geoff, 48, joined the ABS, when he was 17, believe to the top of the infantry. He went on tours in Northern Ireland and Africa.

But after he got married, he said he had to choose between the military or His Family , the divorce with A Number of friends.

After leaving the army, he took a few civilian jobs before they finally settled into a role as a response officer with The Police . In the course of time he retired from the fire arms with The Police work.

After 15 years of police work, Geoff had felt The Call to Once Again "his " bit" in the ABS, motivated by the 2009 British operation in Afghanistan and the people he knew, or hurt had killed.

"honestly, [I wanted to] to the test itself. I really felt like a call to arms," he says. "It was not an easy decision to make, as I have a wife and two teenage sons had. "

He knew that, after he from the ABS for so long, he would have to again from below.

at the age of 40, Geoff passed the recruitment physical test. A 10-mile run carrying about 40lb (18kg) of the kit, which he finished in less than two hours. He was quickly accepted back into the Paragraphs.

After a tour in Afghanistan, Geoff left the army and eventually went into private protection, protection of Maritime workers in the Indian Ocean .

But he says A Family was the death of him to a re-evaluation of the amount of time to spend, he was away from home. He went to work for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary as a firearms instructor, among other tasks.

asked But after three years, a former chief him if he wanted to go back to The Police .

"I've always thought You have a life, and it is very limiting if You bind to a thing," he says. "However, if You enjoy it, then You are good at it. "

Dan Eccles from a young age, Dan Eccles a challenge wanted.

"I've always known, to say the Paras," the 26-year-old. "I had a little bit of the recruitment book that has inspired me. I was fascinated and wanted a slice of it. "

At 17, Dan the Catterick para Depot went. It was the hardest thing he has ever done, he says, physically and mentally. After completing his training, he went to Afghanistan. There served, was the reason why he was signed, he says.

But Dan found that a return to the UK and settling into civilian life outside the army was not so easy. "When You come back, it is difficult to adjust to," he says.

"You have to spend on six or seven months, and they are always on the search to any single person, [thinking]" What do You do? Are You with weapons? Who are You to talk?

"So, when You come back, it is very confusing. You can't turn off your brain. I didn't really help much. I struggled for a few years. "

Dan took a welding course, financing it by working in a retail warehouse. But three years ago, he was depressed.

"the excitement [of the army]. In the camp was very banal. "

But his persistence paid off with his training leading to a welding, so that metal appliances for kitchens in restaurants, cafes and hotels.

Dan's other passion in the civilian three-way battle, a hobby became a life-force, he began, before he left the Army.

"I was so short and thin and tiny," he says. "I was not interested in looking ripped. I just wanted to eat a lot of food and very strong. "

Terry Jones , Terry Jones , 29, joined the army, from his or her local Welsh town. He wrote in the Paras when he was 17.

He served for almost 10 years and completed two Afghan tours, including The Tour , known as Herrick 8 in 2008.

He says to this tour: "It was horrible. It had the worst death rate since the second World War for the ABS. "

"I miss the guys, the banter and how close they are Down There ," he says. "For together. Everyone has each other's back. "

photography, british army

Source of news: bbc.com