“The Army Benevolent Fund will always have my support financially. Many ex-soldiers don’t know what to do or where to go next, so helping them is vital.”
A former soldier himself, Ian Price has generously pledged to support the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF) with a gift in his Will.
Ian left the Army in the 1980s following a back injury but soon found himself in a precarious financial position. “The injury meant I couldn’t get fit again,” he said. “I’d been in the Army for nine years at that point, so I thought, ‘I’ll leave now, while I’ve got time.’”
Having found post-Army life difficult to adjust to, Ian understands how important it is to help ex-soldiers and their families in whichever ways they need.
“For a few months after I left, I worried about whether I’d made the right choice,” he said. “I was working in part-time security jobs, panicking about not being able to pay the rent. Luckily, I found a permanent job. But as a newly married man I needed my wife’s help with budgeting and other practical things, that had been taken care of for me in the Army.
“Somebody needs to be there to help ex-soldiers and that’s what the ABF does. It’s an essential service.”
Ian’s parents met during the Second World War. His father had joined the Army in 1937, aged 17. “He was in the Royal Artillery and a Chindit being part of the Burma Campaign,” Ian explained. “But like a lot of his generation, he never told me exactly what went on there.”
“My mother had also served and seen things. I’ve got both of their service records and I’m trying to work through them now, so I can learn a little bit more. It’s far too late, but I’ve always wanted to know what they did.”
Ian was born on a new council housing development in Waterlooville, where his parents had moved to in the 1950s. He got a part-time job straight from school, then joined the Army himself in 1974.
“I did my basic military training as a boy soldier in the Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Armoured Corps,” he said. “Then in 1975, I joined the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own). I spent time in Ireland and Canada, and in Berlin just before the Wall came down. Unfortunately, I injured my back on an exercise falling from a Swingfire weapons launcher.”
Ian then moved into working for the prison service for the next 20 years. However towards the end, his back injury meant he wasn’t able to restrain prisoners when needed.
“I applied for a transfer to the UK immigration service, and my wife and I moved to Dover,” said Ian. “I was part of the only joint mobile freight-search and Passenger Control team in the country, scanning lorries that arrived from France. I then got postings to Greece and Hungary, to exchange ideas and learn how to use different pieces of kit.”
“At that time, Hungary had recently joined the EU and when I chatted to their Border Control staff, armed with my notebook, I found many wouldn’t talk to me. My interpreter explained they were suspicious of an older man in a uniform, taking notes. They weren’t long out of the Iron Curtain and they thought I might be about to report them. It was a different world.”
Ian and his wife later retired to Southampton, before settling in Gosport. “We got the opportunity to move into housing run by an Armed Forces charity,” he said. “The majority of people here are veterans.”
“I’ve faced some hard times in my life,” Ian explained. “I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD due to things that happened in the Army and the prison service, and how I eventually had to leave working for UK Border Force. I’m trying to deal with all that, so I’m particularly grateful for the support I get from my wife, and a few ex-Army friends.”
“Three or four years ago, I met some ex-soldiers who had only just left the Army. They didn’t know where to go or what to do, or whom they could contact for help. It took me back to those dark early days when I had just left service myself. But the ABF provides so much support, and it’s important to signpost that.”
“We must keep spreading the word about the ABF, so the right people can take advantage of the support available. By leaving a gift in my Will, I hope I can help achieve just that.”