2011
07.03
Mar 2 2011
by Tom Duffy, Midweek Visiter
SAS hero and best selling author Andy McNab was the guest of honour at Formby Rotary Club’s fund raiser for wounded war heroes.
The Gulf War veteran turned author entertained a 200-strong audience with the story of his life, helping the Rotary Club raise £1,202 for Help for Heroes.
The glittering event, billed as an “Evening with Andy McNab”, took place in a marquee within the grounds of the Tree Tops Hotel on the evening of January 27.
Jeff Howard, Vice President of the Formby Rotary said: “It was a great evening and I would like to thank all those who supported the event and helped us to raise such a large sum of money for a very worthy cause.
“Thanks also to Tony Higginson of Pritchards Bookshop, who also helped us organise the event.”
Southpark Visiter website Thanks Angel for sending this
2011
11.01
More Tour Dates – Andy is really busy this month!
Manchester 26/01/2011
Waterstone’s Manchester Deansg
7:00PM
£3, available from the shop and redeemable against the purchase of the book on the night
Further details: 08432908485
Go here for more details
Formby 27/01/2011 Thanks for alerting us Angel 
In conjunction with the Formby Branch of Rotary Club and Help for Heroes
The event will be ticket only at Treetops Country Hotel, Liverpool Rd, Formby
Go here for more details
Hertforth Heath 31/01/2011
Haileybury. A charity fundraiser for Help for Heroes
Adults: £10. Under 18s, over 65s & military personnel: £6
Group reductions for 10 or more.
Booking: books @ Hoddesdon 79, High Street
Hoddesdon EN11 8TL 01992 442290
Go here for more details
Other Tour dates (for details see our earlier post):
25/01/2011 Bookmark, Spalding
28/01/2011 Bishopswood House Bishopswood Ros-On-Wye
01/02/2011 Rainham Library
2010
08.12
We at Grey Man’s Land support our soldiers and we certainly support the fight against PTSD. Organisations such as Help for Heroes and Talking 2 Minds rightfully do everything they can to help serving and ex-soldiers battle Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a more worthy undertaking is hard to imagine.
In our haste to honour and help soldiers, however, we often forget the innocent victims of war, the civilians who are killed, maimed, and made to suffer in ways far worse than what most battle-hardened soldiers ever have to endure.
Good soldiers, both British and American, inadvertently kill or cripple civilians on a regular basis — it’s war, and collateral damage is a part of it. I’m not blaming the soldiers, but at the same time I have enough human decency to consider the lives of the civilians equally worthy and the PTSD of the survivors just as real.
So, this Christmas season, I implore our readers to look beyond the military charities we regularly mention here and give a little to help the truly innocent victims.
The International Red Cross does so much to alleviate the suffering of civilians in war zones, and as McNab can attest, they help soldiers, too. Please continue supporting our troops and the organisations that help them out, but let’s give a hand to the often-forgotten civilians as well.
Cheers.
2010
06.10
A comedian, TV chef, SAS action man, art critic and children’s writer will be joining a big cat expert in a Hoddesdon book shop’s Meet the Author season.
Novelist and former military man Andy McNab, who wrote Bravo Two Zero, will talk about his change of career at Broxbourne Civic Hall on Monday, November 29, at 7.30pm, in aid of the Help for Heroes charity.
Tickets cost £10-£12 (£6-£8 for over-65s and under-18s)
Source: Mercury - Hertfortshire News
2010
11.08
Published: August 11, 2010
“I am delighted to announce that IMHX 2010 has chosen Help for Heroes as its charity for this year’s event,” comments Rob Fisher, Exhibition Director for IMHX. “We are very pleased to be working with this highly commendable charity especially as the logistics industry can trace its roots back to the military, and there remains to this day a very strong synergy between our industry and the armed forces, with many ex-servicemen choosing it as a career.”
Rob explains: “We will be looking to organise a number of fundraising events at IMHX in support of Help for Heroes and are hoping that our exhibitors and visitors will dig deep.”
Help for Heroes is a charity that raises money to support wounded servicemen and their families. It was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry after a profoundly moving visit to Selly Oak Hospital in the summer of 2007. Bryn and Emma met some extraordinarily brave young people who had been badly wounded and they wanted to do something to help.
The charity was launched in October 2007 and, with the backing and support of celebrities, including Jeremy Clarkson, Andy McNab, James Blunt, Sir Ian Botham, the Royal Family, the media and countless ordinary people, it has raised over £44 million since then.
For further information about the charity and the work it does, please visit its website at: www.helpforheroes.org.uk
Information regarding IMHX 2010 can be found at www.imhx.biz
Source: PressOnShD
2010
23.07
I’m tempted to say, ‘serves them fucking right,’ but an objective analysis demands we understand that these are psychologically-wounded men and women who, for better or worse, followed what were presented as lawful orders. And they’re back home now, part of our society, so like them or not we’re all better served by treating these people and making sure it doesn’t happen again.
As posted on alternet.org:
The Department of Veterans Affairs has finally recognized that it’s not just events during combat that can cause Post-traumatic stress disorder, but any number of the horrors of war. It is a much-needed change that brings the VA up-to-date not just with the current medical research, but with the nature of modern warfare, in which violence extends far beyond the combat zone. To qualify for PTSD related benefits soldiers no longer have to prove that they went through a specific combat event. The fear “related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity” is enough.
But there is another cause of trauma that should be added to that list: the witnessing or participation in detainee abuse. Even though unrelated to combat, the torture and abuse that happened at prisons like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are a form of “hostile military activity,” which we particularly rely upon in the War on Terror…
Read the full article here.
And please, if you have anything to give, help out organisations that are working hard to treat PTSD and to help these deeply-wounded soldiers heal:
Talking 2 Minds — Our favourite charity here at GML, run by people who understand PTSD in a way one who hasn’t experienced it simply cannot.
Help for Heroes — Another great organisation that helps wounded soldiers every day in every way possible. Andy McNab is a big Help for Heroes supporter, and you should be, too.
