Ex Royal Marines rowing Atlantic in aid of charity that helped them cope after injury
Video report by ITV News Meridian's Sally Simmonds
Two former Royal Marines are rowing the Atlantic to support the charity that has brought them back from the brink.
Will Schweppe from Brighton and Juniour Mcilhiney from Hamble, were injured in Afghanistan and suffered anger and depression.
The Royal Marines Charity helped them to cope, so now they're trying to raise £100,000 in return.
Will and Juniour have teamed up with two serving Marines to complete the challenge, leaving Gran Canaria on December 5, to row 3,000 miles to Barbados.
Will Schweppe was shot by a sniper in Afghanistan in 2011. Unable to hold a weapon, he was out; a man who'd always wanted to be a Marine lost his focus, and lost his friends.
He says: "The first few years after I left were the worst. I had this sense something was going to go wrong, I was always on edge, it made me angry. Marines are the only people who understand and I had cut myself off from them."
Juniour was thrown out of a vehicle when an IED exploded on his second tour.
"The injury for me, I found it pretty tough. I had massive guilt issues for allowing myself to be injured, and leaving my friends out in Afghanistan."
It has been seven years since Will was discharged, but it was only in 2019 that he asked for help.
He says: "Up until then I'd bottled it up and it would just come out in negative ways. But it's important to talk."
Together with serving marines Sam Edwards and David Bruce the Cockleshell Atlanti endeavour team are aiming to raise the cash sum, so that anyone who ever needs a leg up, knows help is there.