Content advisory: This article contains sensitive material relating to personal health and lived experiences which some readers may find emotionally triggering.
As part of Armed Forces Week, Jim Maskell, Regional Trainer for the NHS Armed Forces healthcare training and education programme, delivered by the Veteran Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA), reflects on his own journey of service, transition, and continued commitment to the Armed Forces community.
I come from a very military family, with many members of my family serving in different Services and Regiments. I am not sure if it was because of this, but I always knew I wanted to join the Army. In 1995, following university, I entered The Royal Military Academy and began my own service. I commissioned into The Corps of Royal Engineers in 1996, and here began some fantastic years. During that time, I spent a lot of time training, and a lot of time preparing for an unknown war, having countless adventures, too. In the time that I served, we were not actively involved in any conventional “wars”; however, we were still actively involved in situations in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and were still very much tied to the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).
Unfortunately, however, my service was hampered by a serious back injury, and I was medically discharged before my career could really take off. My friends and family still joke that I served “less than a cress season”, but I feel that my service went a long way to shaping my life, and I look back always with incredibly fond memories and a lot of pride for my time in service.
I served with some incredibly clever, motivated, professional people, soldiers and officers alike, learning from them. I am, to this day, grateful for the responsibility, honour and privilege of commanding soldiers, particularly at such a young age.
Like many who were medically discharged, my transition from the military was not all plain sailing. Having been an Army “brat” (the child of serving personnel) and then served myself, I was certainly institutionalised. Upon leaving service myself, I felt that I had lost my identity, my direction, my purpose and, most importantly, my “safety net”.
Having been medically discharged, I also had care needs that had to move to the NHS and be managed by them. This was, at best, confusing; I had not accessed these services previously, and I found it all overwhelming. Added to this, the constant lack of my notes following me, changing services every time a doctor changed, led to a very frustrating time. I felt I certainly wasn’t getting the level of treatment I had been used to in the military. An added pressure to all of this uncertainty was that I was also currently unemployed!
My experiences have given me a huge amount of empathy for fellow veterans, and since leaving, I have worked supporting veterans and members of the Armed Forces community in a variety of roles, such as a Case Manager and Prison Liaison Officer for the Royal British Legion. I have always been, and will always be, proud to advocate on behalf of veterans.
In 2016, I went from poacher to game keeper and joined the NHS, working as an Emergency Medical Technician with the London Ambulance Service (LAS). During my time with the LAS, I wanted to improve infrastructure and support available to the Armed Forces community. I was meeting members of the community daily, whether as colleagues or as patients, and was aware there were ways in which we could improve the support available to the community. As a result of this, I supported the trust with signing the Armed Forces Covenant, accrediting as a Veteran Aware trust and gaining the Defence Employment Recognition Scheme Bronze Award.
It seems that I have come full circle now that I work for the VCHA as the NHS Armed Forces healthcare training and education programme Regional Trainer for London. Through the national training programme, we are able to educate NHS staff about the Armed Forces community, giving them the confidence to identify members of the community by asking about Armed Forces status and then to respond as required. We promote the importance of recording this information to support continuity of care and to help personalise care by connecting individuals with the right services at the right time.
When I think back to my time after leaving the military, I can appreciate first-hand how much easier my journey could have been if NHS staff were aware of the unique needs of the community. I think how much less confusing and overwhelming engaging with the NHS would have been, and how reassuring it would have felt to have my service acknowledged.
My journey has brought me to where I am now, and I can say that my life is much more settled now. I live in a very lovely and quiet village in Sussex, I have 2 phenomenal daughters (who make me proud every day!), and I live with Captain Carrot “The Enigmatic Dog” (a dog that doesn’t know he’s a dog!). I work for a fantastic team, and knowing I am supporting NHS staff to provide Armed Forces aware care is incredibly enjoyable and rewarding.
Words by Jim Maskell
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To access information on support available to the Armed Forces community, click here.
If you have a story to share or any story suggestions, we’d love to hear from you – submit yours and be part of this growing collection of voices celebrating the Armed Forces community. Email us at rnoh.vcha@nhs.net
