A former gunner who suffered flashbacks and anger issues following 12 years in the army has urged others coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to seek help.

Paul Mortimer, 46, who served as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, said he hadn’t previously wanted to speak to anyone about Army life but is now being urged to go for counselling.

He believes experiences in his Army career have had an impact on his mental health over the years.

“They take you into basic training where they break you and re-build you how they want you to be,” he said.

“Unfortunately they can’t put you back together as you were before.

“I don’t really talk about it. It’s not something you want to bring up. It’s taken me a long time to go and get counselling.”

Several experiences have been playing on his mind since he left the Forces, including how older soldiers in his unit treated newly-qualified recruits.

In his case, someone set fire to his trousers and, although he wasn’t hurt, the initiation ceremonies still trouble him.

At one point, when he was about 18, he took to sleeping outside the barracks in order to get some rest from the bullies.

“What happened to me was quite mild,” says Paul, who lives in Bradley with Donna and their three children.

Paul Mortimer during his army days

“When I came out of the Army I thought I had adjusted well. But I have strange flashbacks and I lash out in my sleep. I was having anger issues.”

He knows of several ex-soldiers who took their own lives after struggling to cope with mental health issues.

Later this year Paul will travel to Leeds to seek counselling from experts with the charity Combat Stress.

Wife Donna is now hoping to raise £2,000 for the Help for Heroes charity.

Donna, a hairdresser who is having her head shaved to raise money, said former soldiers deserved more help.

“Men and women put their lives on the line and come out into normal life and don’t get the help that they deserve.”

Paul, a warehouseman in Clayton West , said incidents he witnessed in Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone had a major impact on him.

He had been shot at in Northern Ireland but it was an incident in Africa which he cannot forget.

“I had been asked to take some photos (while on patrol) of a derelict building. A dog came out and was trying to gnaw my leg. Then a man from a farm came over and pointed a shotgun in my face. I was holding the camera with my rifle by my side. It sticks in my mind because it was the first time I felt really scared.”

* To sponsor Donna go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/donna-mortimer