Darren Swift spent 10 years serving with the Royal Green Jackets before his military career was brought to a shattering halt by the IRA.
Whilst on deployment in Belfast, he was the victim of a homemade bomb that killed a colleague, blew off his legs and caused a series of other serious injuries.
It was May 25th, 1991 and a day he remembers vividly.
“It was 5:25pm on the Saturday night and me and ‘Geordie', who was the Arms Explosive Search Handler, decided we were going to feed the dogs early because there was a lot going on in Belfast at the time,” Darren explained.
“We’d just finished and I was about to take the empty dog food tins to the skip when two members of the IRA came out into this wrought iron fire escape about 50 feet above us and literally dropped what known as a MK15 coffee jar bomb which landed on my feet and it went bang.
“Geordie was killed instantly and I went from being 6ft 2” to 4ft 6” in the blink of an eye.
“He was lying dead next to me and then I looked down and my right leg was hanging on by skin and tendons and my left leg was blown about 20 metres away over a wall.
“I also lost two fingers on my right hand and my left arm was also ripped open and there’s still shrapnel in there now.
“I thought that was it and I was going to die."
Darren’s dog Troy had been hiding behind a kennel wall and he ran around to the guard room to alert Darren’s colleagues - an act of bravery which earned him a Canine Defence League Bravery award.
Once the team reached him, they used what they could to wrap around Darren’s stumps to stem the bleeding.
He was ten rushed into the back of a civilian Ambulance that happened to be driving past at the time of the explosion that left him facing the rest of his life as a double amputee.
“I was put into a coma for four days in Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and that’s when the nurse said to me ‘do you know what you’ve lost?’
"She then followed that up with 'you've lost everything'."
“That was the start of my recovery really and I went on to spend 18 months in hospital and rehab.”
“I’d been a soldier for 10 years and that was all I knew, so I had two choices…sit on my arse and let other people look after me for the rest of my life or get on with it.
“I chose to get on with my life.”
Since his injury, 'Swifty' has taken on a variety of physical challenges, become a qualified snowboard instructor and appeared in numerous TV shows, films and stage shows.
Military charities have been instrumental in giving Darren the opportunity to live a fulfilling life and he thanks the Veterans’Foundation and players of the Veterans’ Lottery for their support, which helps fund the work of those organisations which have helped so many other veterans just like Darren.
The Veterans’ Lottery is now the UK’s Largest single-charity lottery and is a key funding stream for the Foundation’s grant programme.
If you’d like to be in with a chance to win up to £75,000 you can sign up to play the Veterans’ Lottery today.
You’ll be joining a family and a movement that has helped raise more than £30 million for over 500 charities to deliver vital services addressing key challenges such as mental health, homelessness and unemployment.
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