SAS Australia drill sergeant Jason Fox has spoken about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after his horrific experiences on the battlefield.
In his book Battle Scars, the former British Royal Navy commando revealed he was medically discharged from the military due to mental health issues in 2012, after fighting in some of the world’s most dangerous territories.
After returning to the UK, he started working for a company called Sodexo, but he struggled to adjust to civilian life and considered killing himself in 2013.
Troubled past: SAS Australia drill sergeant Jason Fox has spoken about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression after his horrific experiences on the battlefield
Fox admitted he hated his day job and was struggling mentally after being discharged from the military.
He said he felt he had ‘no purpose’ in life because he had ‘failed as a fighter, a father, a son and a friend’.
He wrote: ‘My spirit was crushed and the resolve I’d shown throughout my toughest moments in jungle training, or during the harshest of battles, retreated.
‘Throwing myself off the edge would end the pain I’d sucked up for the best part of three years, all those dark thoughts and periods of worthlessness finished forever, my loneliness gone.’
Military: In his book Battle Scars, the former British Royal Navy commando revealed he was medically discharged from the military due to mental health issues in 2012, after fighting in some of the world’s most dangerous territories. Pictured during his military days
Fox also recalled another occasion when he’d called a colleague and told her that he was planning on taking his own life, but couldn’t remember the incident days later.
‘I’d been at the emotional extreme on the verge of suicide, a moment in life that most people would have been scarred by. And yet I couldn’t remember any of it,’ he wrote.
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He also spoke candidly about his road to recovery and his therapy sessions with clinical psychologist Dr Alexandra Lagaisse.
‘It was only then that I realised the importance of raising a hand of calling for help, of saying, “I’m not okay”. But more of us should be thinking that way,’ he said.
‘Whatever you do, don’t stay silent. I did and it very nearly killed me.’
‘My spirit was crushed’: After returning to the UK, he started working for a company called Sodexo, but he struggled to adjust to civilian life and considered killing himself in 2013
TV role: In 2015, Jason joined the cast of British TV series SAS: Who Dares Wins, alongside Ant Middleton, Matthew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton, Mark ‘Billy’ Billington and Jay Morton
In 2015, Jason joined the cast of British TV series SAS: Who Dares Wins, alongside Ant Middleton, Matthew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton, Mark ‘Billy’ Billington and Jay Morton.
He is now one of the instructors on SAS Australia, and is putting celebrities through their paces as they attempt to pass the selection process to join the Army’s elite Special Air Service.
The SAS Australia contestants include 2018 Bachelorette Ali Oetjen, sporting great-turned-reality TV flop Nick Cummins and former Ironwoman Candice Warner.
If you or anyone you know is struggling, contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue
Challenge: He is now one of the instructors on SAS Australia, and is putting celebrities through their paces as they attempt to pass the selection process to join the elite Special Air Service
Source: Daily Mail
