Haven’t written for a long time, mainly because I have not known what to write. Nothing has really happened and what has happened has either been something that I would not want to share or things I cannot. One thing that I can put down as text is that on the 31st of April I ceased officially to be part of the British Army. Now the fact that I had not been allowed to parade for a reasonable amount of time did piss me off a little but knowing that the Air Corps wanted me to continue to train their new recruits gave a little light of hope at the end of the tunnel. It was however when I read that my unit had not made an attempt to even request my being kept on which would have meant that I could have applied to transfer to the unit that was my Company before the change that I knew my days were numbered. Knowing this is one thing but when you recieve a call from Battalion to essentially check that you are aware that the next day will be your official end of service date is something else. I will not lie, I am gutted. I am, I guess, upset. But this is not the end of it, there are other emotions and feelings that swim around and pop up at random times. I do miss it. I miss the going away on exercise, the banter, the challenges and the being able to pass on knowledge. My no longer being part of the military has however shown me somethng elese, something which does upset…no….piss me right off, and that is those who I regarded as close friends, I have not seen or heard from since December of last year. A wake up call maybe?
Two weeks ago my Brother drove me to collect my Overlander after it had some modifications, the biggest was my having an extra pair of Lithium batteries fitted to effectively double the amount of time I can run it. In the kids half term I will be attempting to reach the top of Snowdon which is the highest peak in Wales. I hope that some of my actual friends from the Army will accompany me. After Snowdon, later in the year I will be travelling to Scotland to attempt to reach the top of Ben Nevis and then down to the Lake District straight afterwards to attempt Scarfell Pike. Why am I doing this? Well, life is for living isn’t it? And I am alive and in a better position than a lot of other people who physically are unable to even think about trying to reach the tops of the three highest mountains in the UK so I am doing it for them as much as for me. I am trying to raise money for some of the military charities that have assisted me and so I hope that people will donate as much as they can so that the money raised can be used to assist another injured person from the military. If it was dark and you dropped a pound in a car park how many would genuinely try to find it? So if you could lose a pound then please donate one (or more) to my fundraising page. I was set up to do it last year but due to an emergency I was unable to do it. I am not one to say things I do not mean and so this year, instead of last, I am attempting the peaks instead.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Giving-Back
Please give as much as you can.
Goodnight all.