Billy Drinkwater joined the Royal Anglian Regiment in August 2002. Shortly after training at Catterick he was sent to Iraq and he later did two tours in Afghanistan. It was during the second tour that he was injured in an IED explosion on 31st January 2010. He immediately lost the sight in one eye and a  percentage of sight in the other. He also sustained an injury to his hand, nose and face. He was casevaced to RCDM Selly Oak/Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he underwent surgery to save the some sight in his remaining eye. He then went to Blind Veterans UK Rehabilitation and Training centre in Brighton where he learnt the skills to live with loss of vision. He found out about software programmes that were available to him. He took inspiration from his fellow veterans. He went to the gym to maintain his fitness and is now running his first marathon. He is running on behalf of Blind Veterans UK, as he says quite simply that the charity helped him to rebuild his life. They were there for him at the beginning when he was fresh from the battlefields of Afghanistan and they will be with him for life.

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