In 2010, an Ex Gunner/Paratrooper was undergoing treatment at Combat Stress for Complex PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Combat Stress. Whilst being treated, the ex-soldier wrote a simple poem called ‘Blue Apples’.

Those few scribbled lines went on to touch many hundreds of Ex Servicemen and Women at all three of the Combat Stress centres. From these simple beginnings, the poem traveled and was aired on many radio stations throughout the country, also being read by many influential retired officers of all three of the armed forces.

Every person who read the poem, was moved and challenged by it and many of the service users felt that these verses, put into words what they had been trying to say about suffering from PTSD for countless years.

The proud ex soldier who wrote that verse is Mark Smith, and from this grew the Blue Apple Charity that he founded in 2012 to help others suffering from these often very complex conditions.