WHILE a freak training exercise brought his military career to a premature end, Liam Guatella, managed to transform his life overcoming mental and physical challenges and is now in training to represent Team UK at the Invictus Games.
Former Kingsman Liam, now aged 42, and a Head of Year at the Kings Leadership Academy in Woolston, joined the 1st Battalion The Kings Regiment at the age of 16 and served for three years before transferring to the Royal Military Police where he served around the world for the next eleven years. His overseas postings included Northern Ireland (x2), Hohne (Germany), Iraq x 2 (Telic 1 & Telic 7), Bosnia and Afghanistan.
After sustaining a freak injury during a training exercise he was left with a permanent disability in his left leg and forced to accept a medical discharge in 2012. After leaving service Liam struggled to find a suitable job and was diagnosed with chronic PTSD, which he still tackles on a daily basis. However, despite his mental and physical challenges, coupled with a lack of academic qualifications, Liam found his calling in a youth engagement role, funded by the Royal British Legion, which then helped Liam to find work in mainstream education as a Learning Support Assistant. In a remarkable turnaround, Liam is now a Head of Year at the Kings Leadership Academy.
Having watched his closest friend Mark win medals at the last Invictus Games, Liam was determined to follow in his footsteps and applied for Team UK 2023, where he will compete in athletics (shot putt & discus) and indoor rowing.
Liam said: “This is life-changing. The training camps have already given me a new outlook on life, which I know will allow me to be a better role model, husband and father. I see that I have the potential to be good at a new sporting event, that I can compete against others, that I can hold my head up high and be proud of my past and be excited once again about my future. I have that goal to be the father, husband and proud person I know I can be.”
The Royal British Legion helped to support Liam after Service, funding his work with 16–25-year-olds on a youth engagement programme, which helped him to secure employment in mainstream education. But Liam says he faces a daily battle with PTSD.
He has already joined Warrington Athletics Club to prepare for the Games and is training with them twice a week. He said: “I refuse to let my disability hold me back, I’ll give it a right go. It’ll hinder me, but it won’t stop me.
“More than anything I want to be part of a team again – when I went to the training camps over Christmas, I was talking to like-minded people and feeling relaxed for the first time in ages. A lot of the other competitors have PTSD, you can tell by their mannerisms, but it felt normal to me, and it’s something I haven’t experienced in ten years.”
Reflecting on his military career he added: “I joined up age 16 on a whim but I don’t regret a second of it. I hadn’t done too well in school, but the Kings Regiment helped me to grow up quickly. I did my training, then went to Northern Ireland for Op Banner as soon as I turned 18, flying round in helicopters, bouncing from field to field for six months, doing the Drumcree Riots, it was all character-building. I completed my Warrior Commander and Gunner, but was still keen to fulfil my boyhood dream of being a copper. The Royal Military Police provided the perfect opportunity.
“I did my basic RMP training in Chichester, then went to Iraq for six months during Telic 1, attached to the US Marines. We lost colleagues and saw some horrific things, and I still struggle with that today.
“After Iraq, I volunteered for Bosnia, which was much easier, based at the Banja Luka Camp for seven months. Then I volunteered to go back to Iraq again (Telic 7), but this time I was part of the Theatre Investigation Group for six months, often attached to the Special Investigation Branch, investigating incidents where soldiers had been killed.
He added: “After Telic 7 I got posted back to Northern Ireland working with Weapons Intelligence, then I put my name forward for Afghanistan. Afghan was hard, we were going to all the incidents where IEDs had been used, alongside Bomb Disposal, and I’d say that was my most dangerous posting. That was where I got injured, it was a freak accident doing PT, I just jumped over a ditch and landed heavily on my left side and felt a pop at the top of my leg and lost all major movements from the hip down – today, if I lie flat, I can’t lift my left leg and the medics have been baffled ever since. I was medevaced straight to Headley Court and I’ve been to numerous specialists, I looked like a human pin cushion at times, dozens of doctors have tried to work out what the problem is. They did nerve studies, MRIs, EMG tests, but we’re still none the wiser. It meant I couldn’t deploy anymore and had to take a desk job in the Historical Investigations Team. Not long after that, my wife Lisa fell pregnant, so I got a medical discharge in 2012 and we settled in Runcorn. I didn’t want to ride a desk for the next ten years, anyway!
“It was tough initially, I struggled because the Army was all I knew. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do but I did some volunteering with youth clubs and St Johns Ambulance, to improve my situation. But I remember being rejected for a job picking up litter due to a ‘lack of experience’ despite 14 years in the Forces, dealing with serious incidents and suspected terrorists, and it was so demoralising. I did telesales for a bit, but then the RBL funded me to work with 16–25-year-olds on a youth engagement programme, which I did for a year. I made some connections with local schools during that time and that set me on the right path.
“Unfortunately, I was already at a low ebb and my PTSD had really started to emerge. At the lowest point, I was ready to end my life, but thankfully I did a self-referral to Combat Stress and a six-week residential course with them literally saved my life (around 2014). It was the turning point for me and got me into coping strategies and helped me massively.
“I signed up with an agency as a Teaching Assistant and eventually landed a full-time permanent job in my current school. I kept the PTSD under wraps, only a few people knew what I was dealing with, but people in my various schools have helped me with counselling and support and I’m no longer ashamed of the PTSD. I’m now Head of Year at the Kings Leadership Academy in Woolston. I’m not hiding the PTSD anymore, I’ve done presentations and assemblies about it, which is helping to break that stigma around mental health and the school have really supported my Invictus application.
“I will never be rid of PTSD, it’s part of my DNA now and I accept it. It still affects me quite badly, around Bonfire Night, New Year, Remembrance, it can be horrendous. I have seizures, but I know they’re coming, so I hide it from the kids, I just go upstairs and cope with it away from them.
“On Bonfire Night I try to do something different – last year I wore headphones and a baseball cap, and I went to a display with the boys, I just kept my eyes shut and danced. I did it for the kids, really, I was just fed up of them not having their dad there, so I was having a party in my head for one, just bopping away to the music. I struggle with the flashes and the bangs out of the blue.”
Commenting on his decision to apply to take part in the Invictus games Liam added: “My best mate did it last year and he’s encouraged me – Mark Clougherty – I watched him on TV, which was amazing. We’ve known each other since Hohne in Germany, more than 20 years. Mark was my best man, he’s nine years older than me, and he’s been inspirational. I supported his family when he was in hospital with cancer and we’ve become really close, my kids call him Uncle Mark. We watched him on TV and Adam said: “Why don’t you do that, dad?” and I initially replied by saying “I can’t do that!” It was Adam’s next words of “Why not, Dad?” that were the driving force behind my new challenge.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I was anxious about the application, I didn’t talk much about it to the kids, but when the email came through, I got Adam to read out that I had been selected. I haven’t said too much about it since, because I want them to be surprised and have a great experience out there.
“This is life-changing. I look at the impact that the recent training camps have had on both myself and my family, realising this is only just scratching the surface. Attending the camps has given me a fresh perspective on my future with several medical and health hurdles that I’m going to be able to overcome. My weight has dangerously increased since leaving the Forces, which is down to my physical injury and restrictions. My mental health, but more specifically the PTSD, plagues me on a daily basis, which puts elements of doubt in my mind that I can continue in this fashion. The training camps have already given me a new outlook on life, which I know will allow me to be a better role model, husband and father. I see that I have the potential to be good at a new sporting event, that I can compete against others through sport, that I can hold my head up high and be proud of my past and be excited once again about my future. I have that goal to lose weight and remain healthy to be ready for the Games and be the father, husband and proud person I want and know I can be, to have the honour and privilege to be part of the Invictus family will prove to myself that I can be that person.
“My commitment to my recovery is going to be seen through the eyes of my children, the students I mentor, in the lovely eyes of my wife and every time I look in the mirror. Being part of the camps and part of the Invictus family has opened my eyes on who I want to be. Having the opportunity and goal to represent Team UK and make people proud will be the driving force to become better at the event, encourage others, spread the positivity and key mes-sage that the Invictus Games stands for. Putting my training kit on with purpose, making the positive choice when preparing my meals not let anything come between me and my goal to be the best person I can be. To compete with honour and pride, showing others that no matter what you struggle with, you can still achieve and hold your head up high. I won’t give up when it gets hard, won’t stop encouraging my team mates, will be proud to once again wear a uniform that represents passion and determination. After the Games and no matter what the result, you will have a brother, friend, a voice to encourage others to not give up and be proud to be part of Team UK and the Invictus games.
Liam added: “I have already joined Warrington Athletics Club and I’m training with them twice a week, thanks to the Head Coach there, and I want to go to the forthcoming training camps with a strong preparation. I refuse to let my disability hold me back, I’ll give it a right go. It’ll hinder me, but it won’t stop me. More than anything I want to be part of a team again – when I went to the training camps over Christmas, I was talking to like-minded people and feeling relaxed for the first time in ages. A lot of the other competitors have PTSD, you can tell by their mannerisms, but it felt normal to me, and it’s something I haven’t experienced in ten years.
He will be joined at the Games in Dusseldorf by his wife Lisa, who married 11 years ago and sons Callum (nine) and Adam (12).
The Royal British Legion, the UK’s biggest armed forces charity, is proud to lead a team of veterans and military personnel to take part in this year’s Invictus Games, an international adaptive sporting event www.rbl.org.uk/Invictus
