'Veterans are younger than people think'

Lee Jones tells Stevie Hope about The Salvation Army’s Lifehouse dedicated to supporting veterans.

Who you are and what do you do?

I’m the service manager for Tŷ Dewr in Wrexham, which is a Lifehouse for UK armed forces veterans. I’ve been here for eight years, starting as an assistant support worker. I served more than 20 years in the armed forces, doing two tours of Afghanistan, three of Iraq and four of Bosnia. 

I injured my back slightly in an IED blast in Afghanistan. This led me to change my role slightly, and I ended up as a senior non-commissioned officer in the welfare office. I saw a side of the forces that I’d never seen before, and my current role is kind of a continuation of that.

How does your background in the forces impact your work with other veterans?

There’s always an instant connection with people. We take referrals from all across the UK – not just Wrexham – and, sometimes, people don’t know anyone in the area. That can be quite intimidating for them. With a connection as veterans, though, you’ve instantly got something to talk about.

Why do we need a Lifehouse specifically for veterans?

In the forces, everything is done for you, and you know what you’re going to be doing for the next five or six years. Every single day is planned and everything’s mapped out. If someone is doing a full career – like myself – when they leave is planned. I knew I was coming out on a certain day, and I knew what I was going to do from then on. But when people leave due to medical discharge or something that’s unexpected, they find themselves having to do things they’ve never done before, such as paying rent or booking medical appointments – especially if they joined the army straight from school. We’ve got a good relationship with Employment Plus, and one of their workers comes here and goes through programmes around budgeting and tenancy sustainment.

What kind of people do you see at the Lifehouse?

The people who come to us are very similar to those you would get at any other Lifehouse. People might think of veterans as older people, but veterans can be younger than people realise. The youngest person we are supporting at the moment is 19.

To be a veteran, you only have to do one day of service, but a lot of veterans don’t class themselves as veterans, perhaps because they never went to Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia or Northern Ireland. But I know people who served for the same amount of time as me who, for various reasons, didn’t end up deploying. Just because someone didn’t deploy, it doesn’t mean they’re less of a veteran.

How does the shared background affect the dynamic between service users?

The veteran community is pretty close-knit. When people move on from here, we still hear from them and hear about them. Quite often, we get people coming back to visit, which is always good. They all look out for each other. Even if they didn’t particularly get on with someone, they would still step in and help that person if needed. There is a lot of looking out for each other.