An RAF veteran who was injured in the Gulf War is set to compete in the Invictus Games in the Netherlands this month with the simple aim of making his daughter proud. Nathan Huddy, 42, a former RAF Regiment Gunner originally from Cornwall but now living in Pontypridd, will compete in three events at the Hague: indoor rowing, powerlifting and the 50m freestyle swimming.
Like many of his contemporaries competing in the fifth Invictus Games, it’s not about medals – it’s a staging post on the road to recovery. Nathan seriously injured his left foot and received shrapnel wounds in 2003 when the Land Rover in which he was travelling mistakenly entered an Iraqi minefield just a few days after his deployment.
He was medevacked back to the UK and to Headley Court for rehabilitation – the first of three stints at the former Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre. “It was there I got told I was no longer fit for service. Off you trot. See you later,” he recalled. “I started suffering from depression and anger and, although I was never diagnosed with PTSD, looking back, I think I did have it, both when I left the RAF and the time just after. Yeah, from what I’ve read about it, I’m sure I had it.”
