Veterans hike through London to raise awareness of forces' mental health issues
A group of veterans accompanied by their friends and family have hiked around London in their silkies to raise awareness of veterans' mental health and suicide.
The 19-strong party began the walk outside the US Embassy in the September sunshine.
The hike then went onto Horse Guards Parade before heading to Trafalgar Square and, after that, the throng of people visited HMS Belfast. Then, following a quick pitstop, they trudged to the London Eye and circled back to the US Embassy.
Irreverent Warriors is a charity that aims to bring veterans together using laughter and camaraderie to help their mental health and stop veteran suicide.
Paul Phelps, Irreverent Warriors local co-ordinator in the UK, told BFBS Forces News that veterans do not like to talk about their mental health.
"I believe British veterans, they don't really like to talk about it [mental health] very much and they [won't] do much about it," he said.
During the walk, a mixture of British and American veterans chatted with one another and took photos at the historic landmarks around the capital as music blasted out of a veteran's rucksack.
One participant said that the hike allowed people to voice their varying points of view.
"Everyone comes from different parts of the country, and I really think that it allows people to share different cultural views and everything like that," they said.
It comes as the Veterans Minister said he was "super encouraged" after he visited a base delivering specialist mental health services to ex-personnel.
Al Carns went to see the work of Op Courage, the NHS mental health and wellbeing service created in 2017, specifically for the Armed Forces community.
The Birmingham Selly Oak MP said: "There's been over 30,000 individuals referring to Op Courage since its creation.
"That's a superb level of support that we have now. It's a fantastic mechanism to support anyone in an hour of need."
However, Mr Phelps added that he thinks that the British Government's response to the mental health of former personnel has "gone a bit slow".
"There are so many veterans out there in the UK who are suffering," the 42-year-old said.
Thirteen per cent of UK Armed Forces personnel were seen in military healthcare for mental health concerns in the last year, according to MOD data.
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