Now a number of months ago, about 2 miles from my house there was a man found “living in the trees”. The people who found him (and moved him on) said that he must have been there for about a year. He’d constructed a half decent shelter for himself and had living utensils and all sorts of little creature comforts in it. People who lived nearby had said he had been seen wandering around at night now and then but nobody knew where he was coming from.
Recently my house awoke to our dog barking viciously for all he was worth. My brother who was, in rather dubious terms, “sorta awake sleeping on [his] bed… [he] could hear and see stuff but couldn’t really move”, said he heard a thump on the wall of someone trying to climb it and then another thump as they dropped into the back garden. So he lay there listening as the dog nearly laid an egg but didn’t move.
To fill you in on the geography, our house is beside a field that often has animals grazing in it. The boundary wall between us and the field is just short of 5 foot on our side, but easily 6 foot on the other side. As a result, there’s a fairly distinctive thump sound made if someone is trying to climb the wall. As we often go in and out of the field to look after the animals, we’re all trained to the exact sound of someone climbing the wall and then dropping into the back garden. So there’s no doubt as to the fact that someone was definitely entering the garden from the field.
So today my brother and neighbour were moving saddles and while they were packing them into the car an odd looking man approached them. Nothing specifically unusual, just something that didn’t fit properly. This man randomly starts talking to them about his life. He’s roughly 55-60 and as he talked all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. He’s a Yorkshire native and ex British Army. He was saying that he likes walking in those fields. There’s always issues with ramblers cutting the fences (legitimate fences btw!!!! Not blocking any rights of way) so my neighbour’s ears pricked up.
He claims that he never really got out of his army habits and so he now “goes on manoeuvers” at night pretty much every night and then goes on stand to at dawn. He also mentioned one particular night recently when he got into trouble whilst out on “manoeuvers”. He said he entered a field and was securing it when he found himself trapped at the end with no way out other than to go back the route he had come. He had no option but to climb a wall and see where it led him but it created a kerfuffle when he was attacked and had to withdraw rapidly as nobody was there to cover him. He added in more detail than I care to add for obvious parsec reasons but there’s no doubt it was my house.
Now I have to say, this guy has obviously seen some action and has come out quite messed up. He can’t function in society and can’t even live indoors. From the sound of where he was found living a while back he probably is ex BA because he seems well able to look after himself quite nicely on the ground.
How far does duty of care extend??? The British Army did this to him. Do they not have an obligation to ensure that people leaving the service are actually capeable of functioning in civvie street? Should they not have a duty of care to ex soldiers who are found to be blatantly messed up as a result of their service? God knows what that man has seen…
Recently my house awoke to our dog barking viciously for all he was worth. My brother who was, in rather dubious terms, “sorta awake sleeping on [his] bed… [he] could hear and see stuff but couldn’t really move”, said he heard a thump on the wall of someone trying to climb it and then another thump as they dropped into the back garden. So he lay there listening as the dog nearly laid an egg but didn’t move.
To fill you in on the geography, our house is beside a field that often has animals grazing in it. The boundary wall between us and the field is just short of 5 foot on our side, but easily 6 foot on the other side. As a result, there’s a fairly distinctive thump sound made if someone is trying to climb the wall. As we often go in and out of the field to look after the animals, we’re all trained to the exact sound of someone climbing the wall and then dropping into the back garden. So there’s no doubt as to the fact that someone was definitely entering the garden from the field.
So today my brother and neighbour were moving saddles and while they were packing them into the car an odd looking man approached them. Nothing specifically unusual, just something that didn’t fit properly. This man randomly starts talking to them about his life. He’s roughly 55-60 and as he talked all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. He’s a Yorkshire native and ex British Army. He was saying that he likes walking in those fields. There’s always issues with ramblers cutting the fences (legitimate fences btw!!!! Not blocking any rights of way) so my neighbour’s ears pricked up.
He claims that he never really got out of his army habits and so he now “goes on manoeuvers” at night pretty much every night and then goes on stand to at dawn. He also mentioned one particular night recently when he got into trouble whilst out on “manoeuvers”. He said he entered a field and was securing it when he found himself trapped at the end with no way out other than to go back the route he had come. He had no option but to climb a wall and see where it led him but it created a kerfuffle when he was attacked and had to withdraw rapidly as nobody was there to cover him. He added in more detail than I care to add for obvious parsec reasons but there’s no doubt it was my house.
Now I have to say, this guy has obviously seen some action and has come out quite messed up. He can’t function in society and can’t even live indoors. From the sound of where he was found living a while back he probably is ex BA because he seems well able to look after himself quite nicely on the ground.
How far does duty of care extend??? The British Army did this to him. Do they not have an obligation to ensure that people leaving the service are actually capeable of functioning in civvie street? Should they not have a duty of care to ex soldiers who are found to be blatantly messed up as a result of their service? God knows what that man has seen…
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