Boots on the Ground Profile
Jay Benbow served 6 years as an Infantry soldier in the 1st Battalion The Devon
& Dorset Regiment seeing operational duty in Northern Ireland and Bosnia
before leaving to study a degree in criminology at Southampton Solent
University. He then went on to study an Msc in Terrorism studies however
during that time he enlisted into Military intelligence as an intelligence
operator. He then deployed with specialists units to Afghanistan on three
operational tours and served for a further 9 years. Jay left the forces in 2015
and decided to offer his services to the private military contracting industry
and deployed to Iraq for 9 months.
4 months ago Jay was unfortunately diagnosed with PTSD himself. The charity
Boots on the Ground was already established and the diagnoses only pushed both
founders to push the charity even further.
Based in the New Forest the charity mission statement is simply to support
soldiers and veterans and family members when help is required. We run small
activity weekends for veterans and their families and offer life support, back
to work programs, sign posting and other support services. The charity was also
founded in memory of a former soldier Wayne Passmore who took his life after his
return home from Bosnia.
