Upon leaving the Armed Forces me and my wife have been homeless twice. We left in 2012 after 5 years of service as a Combat Medical Technician when the recession was at its peak. After four years of struggle my wife Amy is a fully qualified Dental Nurse, and I am working at KFC while trying to secure a deposit to go to college to become a Barber, and become self employed.

The Plan!
Go to college and become a barber. Work for 1 year to gain experience. Open a Barber shop in Catterick Garrison for soldiers called VETERANS. We will employ 2 qualified barbers as NVQ trainers. We will look for soldiers who are leaving the armed forces with full re settlement to come and train as Veteran Barbers. We will put together a course syllabus that conforms with City and Guilds so Veterans gain an NVQ 2 in Barbering.
We will teach Veterans to become self employed, and therefore self sufficient, to try to eradicate Veteran homelessness. The first place I would look to recruit Barbers is from "The Beacon" a care center for single homeless veterans in Catterick set up by the government.

Me and my wife know how hard the job market is nowadays with no skills, coupled with no experience of civilian life. And from reading about soldiers from World War 2, soldiers struggling from leaving the armed forces has been continuing to present day, and will always continue, without a pro active approach to the situatuion.

It frustrates me that charities have been set up, for this cause, when all that is needed to keep OUR service personnel off the streets is a smoother more conditioned transition to civilian life.

I believe if soldiers were to train towards an NVQ within a civilian occupation, around a military setting, that this would be the soft transition to civilian life that soldiers need, and one day set up in Portsmouth for the Navy, and Brize Norton for the Air Force.

Let soldiers go back to their home town with a skill set that they can belong as part of their community