From Royal Engineers combat deployments to a life-changing injury in Afghanistan, addiction, homelessness and eventually rebuilding his life, Stuart Mendelson’s story is a brutally honest look at what can happen when the uniform comes off.

In this episode of Frankie’s Pod, Frankie Dunn sits down with Stuart to trace his journey from growing up in Stevenage, through joining the British Army and training as a Royal Engineer, to deployments in the Falklands, Cyprus, Germany and Afghanistan.

Stuart talks about the camaraderie, the sense of purpose the Army gave him, and the reality of life as a combat engineer in Helmand — including route clearance, bridge-building and working in an environment where danger could be around the next corner.

Then came the IED blast that changed everything.

Stuart shares what happened when he suffered life-changing injuries, including blindness in one eye, and the rapid transition from serving soldier to civilian. What followed was a downward spiral involving addiction, homelessness, anger and a struggle to find the right support.

He speaks openly about being turned away from services, being told he was “too complex”, and the frustration of trying to get help when the systems designed to support veterans don't seem to understand what they are dealing with.

But this is also a story about recovery.

Stuart explains how Tom Harrison House, equine therapy and veteran-focused support helped him begin rebuilding his life — and why recovery is about far more than simply getting clean. It's about rebuilding identity, purpose, confidence and connection.

That belief in connection eventually helped lead to the creation of The Muster Point CIC, the veteran community Stuart co-founded in Stevenage with fellow veteran Steve Black.

What started with a simple idea — somewhere veterans could meet, grab a brew and talk to people who understand — has grown into a community supporting veterans, serving personnel and their families.

And then there's the unexpected stuff: Stuart also tells the story behind We're Still Here, a Christmas single created by members of the Armed Forces community.

This is a conversation about military service, injury, addiction, recovery, identity, camaraderie and the long road home.

Most importantly, it's about what happens after service — and why sometimes finding your people again can make all the difference.

Pull up a sandbag, grab a brew and listen to Stuart tell his story in his own words.

ABOUT FRANKIE'S POD Long-form conversations with veterans and service personnel about where they came from, why they joined, what they saw, and what came after. Hosted by Frankie (Andrew Dunn), Royal Artillery, 1985–2012.

Website ▸ https://frankiespod.co.uk

YouTube ▸ https://www.youtube.com/@FrankiesPod ──────────────────────────

SUPPORT THE SHOW I make Frankie's Pod on my own, in my own time, and fund it myself. If an episode has meant something to you, you can buy me a coffee: ☕ https://buymeacoffee.com/FrankiesPod If a coffee isn't possible, subscribing, leaving a review or sharing an episode helps just as much. Cheers. ────────────────────────── MUSIC CREDIT "Battlefield Resolve" and "Sentinel" — composed and performed by Gregory Ratcliff, trading as G4H Music. Used by Frankie's Pod under a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence granted 31 August 2026. Copyright and ownership remain with G4H Music. "Battlefield Resolve" — the track at the top of every episode — was written specifically for Frankie's Pod. If you like it, hear more of Greg's work on his album "Rising": 🎵 https://open.spotify.com/album/2NDEgqNET6CTobhUO9nTrI ────────────────────────── #FrankiesPod #Veterans #MilitaryPodcast #RoyalEngineers #Sappers #9Para #BritishArmy #VeteranStories #HelpForHeroes #TheSapperProject

Chris Yates, known online as The Sapper Project, joins Frankie Dunn for a brutally honest conversation about military life, serious injury, recovery, mental health, autism, writing, and rebuilding a life after service.Chris takes us from growing up as a military child across Germany, Cornwall and Yorkshire, to joining the Royal Engineers as a plant operator, to an unexpected posting with 9 Para. He's open about the fitness, the camaraderie, the drinking culture and the pranks — what life inside the Army was actually like, not the recruitment-poster version.Then it turns. Chris describes the accident that changed everything: a tailgate falling from a four-tonne truck and crushing his back. He talks through the years that followed — chronic pain, mobility problems, morphine dependence, his mental health, and the long grind of being medically discharged.He also talks about receiving an autism diagnosis as an adult, and how much of his childhood and his military career suddenly made sense in hindsight.Along the way: growing up in a military family; the Royal Engineers and plant operations; 9 Para; recovering from a devastating back injury; pain medication, mental health and medical discharge; support from Help for Heroes; the challenges of resettlement; writing science fiction as therapy; veteran surfing with Sea Veterans at South Shields; and rebuilding a life through work, writing, family and community.Frankie and Chris also get into the changing culture of the military, mental health stigma, and why ordinary service stories deserve to be heard every bit as much as the ones from the front line.A powerful episode — honest, dark-humoured, and ultimately hopeful.──────────────────────────CHRIS'S BOOK"The Beginning: Book One in the Humanity Series" by Chris YatesUK ▸ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F1DFSJCQUS ▸ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1DFSJCQBook Two is on the way.──────────────────────────ABOUT FRANKIE'S PODLong-form conversations with veterans and service personnel about where they came from, why they joined, what they saw, and what came after. Hosted by Frankie (Andrew Dunn), Royal Artillery, 1985–2012.Website ▸ https://frankiespod.co.ukYouTube ▸ https://www.youtube.com/@FrankiesPod──────────────────────────SUPPORT THE SHOWI make Frankie's Pod on my own, in my own time, and fund it myself. If an episode has meant something to you, you can buy me a coffee:☕ https://buymeacoffee.com/FrankiesPodIf a coffee isn't possible, subscribing, leaving a review or sharing an episode helps just as much. Cheers.──────────────────────────MUSIC CREDIT"Battlefield Resolve" and "Sentinel" — composed and performed by Gregory Ratcliff, trading as G4H Music. Used by Frankie's Pod under a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence granted 31 August 2026. Copyright and ownership remain with G4H Music."Battlefield Resolve" — the track at the top of every episode — was written specifically for Frankie's Pod. If you like it, hear more of Greg's work on his album "Rising":🎵 https://open.spotify.com/album/2NDEgqNET6CTobhUO9nTrI──────────────────────────#FrankiesPod #Veterans #MilitaryPodcast #RoyalEngineers #Sappers #9Para #BritishArmy #VeteranStories #HelpForHeroes #TheSapperProject

He crewed Challenger 2s in Iraq. Now he treats the damage war does topeople — including his own.Gareth Evans grew up in Hereford, served on multiple tours in Iraq andAfghanistan with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, then moved into the Army Welfare Service and later trained as a hypnotherapist. In thisconversation he's honest about what army culture does to a person, whythe stigma around mental health held on so long, and what recoveryactually looked like for him — not the tidy version.We cover the reality of soldiering on tour, army culture and what itrewards, the point at which self-awareness stopped being optional, whattherapy did and didn't fix, and the tools he's building now to help otherveterans rebuild after service.An honest conversation about survival, identity, and finding a purposethat isn't the uniform.#veterans #PTSD #BritishArmySponsor: https://www.kscivilsandgroundworks.co.uk/Support the channel :https://paypal.me/FrankiesPodhttps://buymeacoffee.com/frankiespodPodcast, Veterans, British Army, Veterans Stories

She serviced fighter jets on the deck of the USS John C. Stennis. Oneaccident, and everything changed.

JM Balbuena was a US Navy aviation electronics technician with two combat deployments aboard the Stennis. After a flight-deck accident left herdealing with chronic pain, PTSD and insomnia, one night of proper sleep

sent her down a road she never expected — into advocacy, authorship, and a fight to get medical cannabis to terminally ill patients in American hospitals.

We talk about carrier life, 12-hour shifts and the culture below decks; what the military actually does with people in pain; Ryan's Law and the

campaign behind it; and why she wrote Green Renaissance.

📖 JM's book, Green Renaissance: https://amzn.eu/d/00B6QLsS

🔗 JM online: jmbalbuena.com

What happens when a young soldier discovers that some battles don't end when you leave the battlefield?

In this episode of Frankie's Pod, Frankie Dunn sits down with Wayne Ingram MBE MCPara — former soldier, reconnaissance specialist, paramedic, fundraiser and author — for one hell of a journey through military service, war, trauma, friendship and the extraordinary power of simply deciding to help someone.

Wayne joined the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment at just 17, beginning a military career that would take him from the Cold War in Germany to Northern Ireland and Bosnia. He later moved into reconnaissance with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, where soldiering meant far more than driving around in armoured vehicles.

But Wayne's life took a completely unexpected turn during a tour of Bosnia in 2003.

That's where he met Stefan Savic, a four-year-old Bosnian boy born with a devastating facial cleft. Wayne could have walked away. Instead, he made a promise.

What followed was a remarkable 13-year mission to raise the money needed to give Stefan the surgery he desperately needed. Through fundraising events, challenges and sheer bloody-minded determination, Wayne eventually helped raise more than £160,000 and changed a young boy's life forever.

And perhaps unexpectedly, Stefan changed Wayne's life too.

In this incredibly open conversation, Wayne talks about joining the Army, the reality of being a young Tankie, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, leaving the military and finding himself in a completely different world as a paramedic.

We also get into the things that aren't always easy to talk about — trauma, PTSD, identity, the transition from military life to civilian life and the scars that don't necessarily show.

Wayne's story doesn't stop there. His post-military career has taken him into emergency medicine, remote and offshore work, Iraq and Africa, as well as some seriously outrageous fundraising challenges.

He's now an MBE, a paramedic, an author and a man who has spent much of his life trying to make a difference to other people.

But perhaps the biggest lesson from Wayne's story is a simple one:

Sometimes changing someone's life starts with refusing to walk away.

This is Wayne Ingram's story — from Croydon to the Royal Tank Regiment, from soldier to paramedic, and from one encounter in Bosnia to a lifelong friendship that changed two lives.

Pull up a sandbag. This one's a belter.

Frankie's Pod — Uncorking the Unforgettable

What if the thing keeping trauma alive is not the event itself, but the single piece of information your mind refuses to let you see? Sean McCallum reveals the surprisingly simple logic behind Traumatic Incident Reduction, and why so many people get stuck for years before they finally get relief. Frankie Dunn sits down with Sean for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from a rough childhood on the Lamington Estate to homelessness, recovery, joining the fire service, and eventually mobilising to Iraq with the TA. Along the way, Sean explains how real-world experience, identity, and survival instincts shape the way we cope with danger, loss, and civilian life.You'll discover:

• Why Sean believes trauma is rooted in repression, not just the incident itself
• How Traumatic Incident Reduction works through repetition, attention, and reaching an endpoint
• Why EMDR, hypnotherapy, CBT, and other approaches can help some people but not others
• How moral injury, grief, and even a single detail in a scene can become the real source of pain
• What life in the fire service and the reserves taught Sean about discipline, challenge, and mutual respect

Frankie and Sean also dig into the huge gap in mental health support for firefighters, police, ambulance crews, and responders, plus the promise and risk of using AI as a mental health triage tool. Frankie shares his own hard-won lessons from grief and therapy, while Sean offers the perspective of someone who has spent years helping others process critical incidents. This is essential listening if you care about veterans' mental health, first responder wellbeing, or the deeper psychology of why some experiences heal, and others keep replaying. Honest, practical, and surprisingly hopeful, this episode leaves you with one powerful idea: healing is possible when the missing piece finally clicks

In episode 136, Clarence Heal shares his remarkable 24-year journey through the British Army, from growing up in Bristol and joining the Army Cadets to deployments in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Cyprus, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He opens up about military life, brotherhood, loss, leadership, and the impact of conflict, while also reflecting on his post-service work, writing, poetry, and support for fellow veterans. It’s an honest, funny, and deeply human conversation about service, resilience, and finding meaning beyond the uniform.

In this episode, Frankie speaks with journalist and author Simon about his military experience, his book The Changing of the Guard, and the deeper story behind how the British Army evolved through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They discuss accountability, institutional culture, recruitment, media scrutiny, and the tension between nostalgia and reality inside military life. Simon also shares how his brief time in the army gave him an insider’s understanding of its language and culture, while his work as a journalist gave him the distance to write honestly about what changed — and what didn’t. It’s a thoughtful, candid conversation about service, responsibility, and the pressures on modern institutions.

In this powerful episode, Ian Bailey shares the story behind his long battle with trauma, addiction, and self-destruction after military service. From childhood hardship and bullying to combat experiences, PTSD, gambling, and homelessness, Ian opens up about the moments that shaped him and the turning point that finally pushed him toward recovery. Honest, raw, and deeply human, this is a conversation about survival, accountability, and learning how to move forward.

What if the people we love could continue sharing their stories, wisdom, and personality long after they're gone?

In this thought-provoking episode of Frankie's Pod, I sit down with Miles Spencer to explore how Reflector is using artificial intelligence to preserve the voices, memories, and personalities of loved ones. By combining decades of photographs, voice recordings, videos, and family stories, Reflector creates remarkably lifelike digital versions that allow future generations to reconnect with the people who shaped their lives.

But with technology this powerful come important questions. Together, we discuss the ethical challenges surrounding privacy, consent, authenticity, and the emotional impact AI could have on grief, remembrance, and mental health.

Is this the future of preserving family history, or are we entering unfamiliar territory? Join us for a fascinating conversation about how AI is reshaping legacy, storytelling, and what it means to remember the people we love.