CRAIG Wyting was asleep on a beach in Bosnia when a helicopter flew overhead, scaring him out of his skin.

The seasoned soldier loved flying and had performed numerous jumps as a paratrooper.

Yet he lay there thinking he was having a nightmare, as the helicopter came in to land.

Craig, who was serving with 3 Para, did not know it at the time but was suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The Colchester resident said: “I was a Para for 12 years. I jumped out of planes and loved flying.

“But I was lying on my towel on the beach on a bit of rest and relaxation and the helicopter came over the top and it frightened the living daylights out of me.”

For Craig it was the culmination of a number of incidents.

He said: “Before I went to the Bosnia conflict in 1995 there were a few things that happened but nothing more than what anyone else would suffer.

“My brother-in-law was shot in the chest in Bosnia before I went out there.

Luckily he was OK.

 

“When I was there I got into a situation where someone was trying to shoot me and I had to shoot back.

“Having faced death a number of times in Bosnia, it came to a head.”

Following on from the incident Craig found himself unable to fly and refused to get on the plane back home to the UK.

His nightmares repeatedly told him if he got on, everyone would die.

He said: “I spoke to a specialist and went to the tarmac where the plane was.

It turned out it wasn’t the plane in my dream.

“I took it as a signal that I could get on. But it was many years before I flew after that.”

Craig, 47, was what he calls one of the “lucky ones”.

His PTSD was diagnosed quickly and he was given the help he needed by the Army.

Whenever he felt like he was struggling, he would speak to his commanding officer who would get him an appointment to speak to a specialist that day.

But Craig said it is something that is not as readily available to soldiers returning from Afghanistan because there are so many affected.

He has welcomed a new scheme announced by Help For Heroes.

The charity is aiming to treat soldiers suffering from anxiety and panic attacks before it develops into PTSD.

Help for Heroes wants to open a Hidden Wounds centre in Colchester to treat mental health problems.

They want to help 3,000 troops and their families every year with the focus on early intervention.

The charity is pumping £2.7 million into the project over the next five years.

They hope to help identify and treat symptoms such as stress, depression and anxiety.

They have yet to finalise where Colchester’s centre will be opened but it could be attached to the charity’s personnel recovery centre Chavasse VC House.

Craig, who now directs films, said: “It’s really great there is more help out there.

“These soldiers need to talk to people because it really helps. It certainly helps me.

“But what they also need it motivation. I have found film and since then it is almost like it has taken things off my mind.

“I think Help For Heroes and all the things they have done and continue to do is amazing.”

<li> FIGURES suggest as many as one in eight soldiers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Charities have warned they have seen a rise in soldiers suffering from the condition after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another organisation which provides help and support is Combat Stress, whose vice-president is Harwich and North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin.

The veterans’ mental health charity is currently supporting 5,000 former soldiers aged from 20 to 101 with the PTSD.

In all, the charity has supported more than 100,000 people since it was founded in 1919.