Insights :: Interview with Capt. Martin Hewitt

Achieving the Incredible: an interview with Capt. Martin Hewitt of Walking with the Wounded

Capt. Martin Hewitt was a commissioned officer in the Parachute Regiment until he was wounded in action in 2007. He is now Expedition Manager of Walking with the Wounded, a UK-based charity dedicated to raising funds for the re-education, re-training and empowerment of wounded servicemen and women.

Capt. Hewitt was a member of the successful North Pole 2011 challenge team. In April 2011, a team of wounded servicemen, two of whom were amputees, traversed a distance of roughly 160 miles across the frozen polar ice-cap to reach the Geographic North Pole. It took them a mere 13 days, considerably faster than many an able-bodied team. A documentary detailing the challenge was aired on BBC1 on 30 August 2011.

Capt. Hewitt is currently leading the charity's Everest 2012 challenge to put wounded servicemen on top of the world! In July, Carers' Sanctuary Magazine (just about...!) caught up with Capt. Hewitt between a team training session in Chamonix and their 'practice' assult on Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world.

CSM: You just got back from France last night?

MH: We did. I've got a new team. We're doing another challenge next May to climb Mount Everest.

CSM: Were you training?

MH: Exactly. We were training because none of the team has ever climbed that altitude before. I've done some mountaineering but I've never been to anything like that altitude. We were basically learning how to. Some of us were revising and many of the guys were learning from scratch on the mountain.

CSM: Quite a challenge...

MH: It was a really good week and the team's done really well. They're coming together really quickly.

CSM: Is it a new team?

MH: It is. Jaco van Gass and myself from the old team and seven other guys who are all new.

CSM: Could you please tell us more about Walking with the Wounded?

MH: The charity is designed, in essence, to promote the capability of soldiers post-injury. When you get a severe, disabling injury, it has a huge impact on your life. What the charity's hoping to do is to place injured service personnel in austere and remote locations to demonstrate what can be achieved post-injury.

The first thing was an expedition to the Geographic North Pole in April. We broke a world record for being the first amputees. In doing so, we're hoping to raise money, awareness and the profile of injured soldiers. The money raised will go towards the re-education of injured servicemen and women.

CSM: How were you wounded and what is the nature of your injury?

MH: I was shot through the shoulder whilst I was attacking an enemy position in Afghanistan. The bullet severed my brachial artery and severed all the nerves to my right arm, which rendered the arm paralysed.

CSM: How has your life changed overall since you were wounded?

MH: It had an enormous impact. I'm learning to do everything with one hand. I'm now left-hand dominant; I was right-hand dominant. Everything from learning to write and use a computer with my left hand, learning to dress with one hand... All very simple things but they're quite time-consuming initially. As time evolves, you develop techniques and purchase items of equipment to speed things up and become more effective.

Obviously, my career's now been completely destroyed. You're not much use as an officer in the Parachute Regiment with the use of one arm. I was effectively commanding operations, so I'm now no longer going to be serving in the army and I'm looking for a new career.

I was very fortunate in that as soon as I was injured, I made a rapid transition to competitive sport. I've been racing with the Combined Services and the British Disabled Ski Teams professionally for the past two years.

CSM: So, you're going towards competitive sport as a career?

MH: I have been doing that for the past two years. I've raced on the international circuit. I was injured four years ago. The first two years I was racing at national level and for the final two years I've been racing at international level. I still race for the British Disabled Ski Team but I'm not doing it full-time anymore. I'm now making a transition into adventure and world record attempts.

CSM: Skiing with one arm! That must have taken quite a bit of learning with balance?

MH: Exactly! The biggest issue there is core stability and adapting your posture to accommodate your injury, so my arm was constantly tied into my body.

CSM: When you were first injured, did you imagine you could accomplish such an enormous physical and mental challenge as going to the North Pole?

MH: To be honest with you, it's not something I thought of at first. I was just concentrating on making the best recovery possible. The thing with nerve damage is that the limb is still there. It's not amputated. I was looking at myself thinking, “Well, surely I'll make a full recovery, as the limb's still there,” without realising just what an extensive injury I'd received.

As time goes by, you realise the paralysis is what it is. At that point, you start looking for other avenues and new challenges. So, I can't say I immediately thought of walking to the North Pole but it came further down the line.

Initially, it was one step at a time. The focus was on trying to maximise my recovery and maintain physical and mental fitness, which I focused on competitive sport to achieve. Thankfully, I made a transition into that and achieved a level of competition I never thought I would, [thanks to] good coaches and a good level of commitment on our part.

We knew we were racing for the country at international level and when you're racing at that level it's all-consuming. It's very much like the military; it's a way of life. I was constantly immersed in ski racing and I was training and racing all year round: in the northern hemisphere during our winter and in the southern hemisphere during their winter.

CSM: Chasing winter round the globe!

MH: For two years! It was quite a commitment. Then this opportunity came up to walk to the North Pole and I saw it as a new challenge: taking things one step further, a new focus.

Then, of course, I read into what the charity was trying to achieve and having had a number of friends and colleagues killed and injured and realising myself that I'm very fortunate... I had an academic background before joining the military. I had a degree. I had some work experience and I'm a commissioned officer, which will hopefully make me fully employable outside even with the disability, whereas many soldiers are not in that fortunate position.

Many soldiers under my command come from non-existent or broken family backgrounds, with no GCSEs, no qualifications of any kind. They join the army to better themselves and achieve qualifications and a trade. But, unknown to them, at the age of 18 or 19, they are losing a leg or two legs or three limbs and they haven't been in the army long enough to get that education and to achieve those trading standards, which means they now need to be focused on achieving a transition into the civilian world, which will hopefully be fairly smooth.

Once they've dealt with the physical impact of their injuries, they need to realise that life goes on. They need to retrain and become re-educated to realistically get a job in a new career. That requires a great deal of resources on the individual's part and on the system's part: to retrain them and provide them with re-education whilst they've got financial security.

CSM: Is there any place in the army for people who have been injured like this?

MH: There is indeed. I'm by no means an expert on it but there are administrative tasks. I know some injured soldiers do carry out administrative tasks but many soldiers, especially in my regiment, join to soldier. To be forced to stay in the military in a completely different role ... many would rather retrain into something different in civilian life.

Ultimately, the army has a role – a very important role – and you need to be able to function in that role. If we kept every single injured soldier in service, you'd get to the point where you couldn't function as an army. Ultimately, whilst there are many roles in the army, first and foremost everyone's a soldier, so you've got to be able to conduct that task, which is why the army has a specific physical requirement for those joining.

CSM: What gave you the strength to overcome your disability and walk to the North Pole?

MH: I think it was a combination of many things. I was very fortunate. I've got a very supportive family. First and foremost, without them I wouldn't have been able to do anything. They've been great and by far the greatest impact on my ability to carry on.

After that, I've had good support from the rehabilitation system in Headley Court [the British armed forces' dedicated rehabilitation centre] and at my unit, which assisted me in maintaining focus in the early stages and making a physical recovery.

And then after that, it's a case of drive and being part of a team again. The team we had for the North Pole got on pretty well. They worked hard together. Every one of them was a highly motivated individual and they complemented each other. It was that teamwork that contributed to our success on the actual expedition.

CSM: What was the most difficult part of the expedition?

MH: There were two key incidents, really. The first day we were dropped, we knew that because of the distance we wanted to cover within the time frame that we had, we had to average just over 10 miles a day. On the first day we were dropped into a really difficult area of rubble. Lots of ice boulders. It was -40°C and we covered something like six miles in that first day.

Pitching the tent that night with Jaco and Guy, my two tent buddies, we just sat there and said, “Have we taken on more than we can realistically achieve here? Is this actually feasible? We worked as hard as we possibly could today and we're all physically tired and we've only covered six miles.” And that was purely because we were located in such an inhospitable part of ice.

As time went by on the expedition we improved our technique. As good as our training was, the North Pole is a unique topography and it can't be replicated anywhere in the world, which is why it's got the reputation it has. So, whilst we trained to the best of our ability and tried to replicate the conditions as much as we could, it's physically impossible to replicate because of the nature of the place you're going to. With time and a bit of thought, our technique on the ice improved rapidly. We acclimatised and became accustomed to the conditions we were in and that improved our efficiency. Before long, we were averaging significantly greater than 10 miles a day, which is why we finished six days early.

CSM: That's amazing! When you think about the terrain and the cold and misery of the climatic conditions...

MH: On any expedition of this nature, there's always an element of luck involved. And we were lucky. We were lucky that we had favourable weather conditions. Whilst it was cold and windy, it wasn't sufficiently windy that we had to be grounded for several days. We had sufficient visibility to be able to walk every single day. We never had a day off until we got there, which improved our speed and our progress significantly.

We all took a number of tumbles and falls over ridges and rubble fields. There was one, in particular, when I landed face-first on a huge slab of ice and heard a crack in my neck. I thought, “This is it. I'm going to get evacuated from this point.” But luckily, after a minute of taking stock and moving my arms slowly to ensure nothing was broken, I stood up and I was OK. So that was very fortunate. The nature of the terrain there, it's like falling on concrete when you fall on those ice blocks. Any one of the plethora of falls we had could have ended it. So again, we were lucky we weren't injured on any of the falls we took.

CSM: What would you say you've learnt from your experience of going to the North Pole?

MH: I think, for me, the key thing I learnt was in myself: the satisfaction I gained from the challenge and, in particular, from working as part of a team. I always worked as part of a team in the military, albeit in a leadership role. When I made the transition to competitive sport, whilst I was on a team, sport at elite level is actually quite selfish. Many of the athletes, whilst they are in a team, are focused on their own performance because you've got to in order to achieve success at the highest level.

Whilst I enjoyed skiing and racing, I very much preferred my time with the team: being part of a team and working to each other's strengths and [helping] each other in our weaknesses, which is why I'm now making the transition into this professionally.

I'm leading the expedition to Everest. I've got a new team that I'm managing and training and I'm running that expedition, so I'm now in a position where I'm doing similar things to what I was doing in the military but in a completely different context.

It's all about leadership, managing people, managing assets, managing resources, managing a budget. Being part of that North Pole team was the first time I was in a position of responsibility like that – in a team trying to achieve a common end state – since I was shot four years ago. I think it has enabled me to get back into my own way of thinking. I'm doing what I enjoy doing.

CSM: So you will be working full-time for Walking with the Wounded?

MH: I'm the Expedition Manager. The charity has asked me to organise this expedition and manage it for them, which I've done.

I started by reading a great deal about Everest, about the companies that operate out there, about the climbers, about the mountain itself, about preparation. Then, over the course of six weeks, I put together a professional team.

We've now got a head guide, a number of guides, Sherpas. We've got a logistics infrastructure in place out there through a company called Himalayan Experience, which is led by a very experienced mountaineer called Russell Brice. We interviewed several climbers and decided that Russell was the best man to go for.

I then interviewed a whole host of injured soldiers and whittled them down to a team of 14 to take on the initial selection weekend to Snowdonia. We did a series of physical tests, climbing tests and endurance work to see how fit the guys were, how their injuries impacted their ability to climb, and how robust they were physically and mentally, and then whittled the team down to nine.

I've just returned from a week in Chamonix. We climbed Gran Paradiso at 4,061m and did a lot of ice climbing, belaying, rope rock climbing, fixed rope work and abseiling – all as part of our preparation. The initial intent was to whittle the team down to six but the guides suggested that all nine of us are capable of going on to the next step. We think we've got the makings of a really well-formed team. I'm going to take all nine to Manaslu, which is the eighth-highest peak in the world in the Himalayas, at the end of August. We're going to make a summit attempt of Manaslu, which is 8,061m, I think. [For an update, go here and scroll down to posts on Manaslu.]

CSM: It seems to require so much mental strength - more than anything, would you say?

MH: I'd agree. Challenges of this nature, especially when it's not all you do. I mean, we are not high-altitude mountaineers! I'm a bit of jack of all trades, master of none in the adventure world. In the sporting world I was very much the same. I excelled at skiing and managed to represent my country but I've always had a history of being in numerous things at a half-decent standard. The only thing I've really specialised in, I suppose, is leadership.

CSM: Which is so important, though.

MH: Yeah, especially in hostile and inhospitable environments. I think when you're in those conditions, mental robustness is the key to success. It's something you develop with time and exposure. The more you immerse yourself in austere environments, the more you learn to deal with them. Accept the environment, adapt to the environment, and hopefully perform in that environment. But you've always got to remember that you take on the biggest challenges in the knowledge that 'the biggest challenge' is for a reason! You need an element of Lady Luck on your side, no matter how good your preparation is.

CSM: In my own life challenges, the support of family and friends has been everything.

MH: Without my family I wouldn't have been able to do anything.

CSM: Support is vital to recovery.

MH: It is. The key is support. I was offered a couple of jobs in the city on very good money but I turned them down because I believe greatly in what I'm doing with the charity because of what I've experienced.

I've been very fortunate to have a great support structure around me. Many soldiers from different backgrounds don't have that support structure. I found it difficult enough to adapt to life with the use of one arm and a great support structure. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be for those who haven't got a family, of which there are many in the army who are now disabled.

Five soldiers I know are triple amputees and it's beyond me how they exist from day to day, let alone try to achieve some of the things they do. The key to that success is support. The service charities are currently doing as much as they can to try and provide that support when they haven't got it at home.

CSM: So there are structures in place for former soldiers in that position?

MH: There are. They're not there yet but they are very much improving. There has been a certain amount of criticism in the past about the treatment of some injured soldiers but that's improved a great deal and is continuing to improve. [This is] my little bit, if you like, towards making things a bit better for a few of them.

CSM: What are your plans for the future?

MH: One thing I've learnt from my military experience is that you can't plan life out 20 years in advance. When I was younger, I thought that was that. I joined the military and I intended to stay in it for the rest of my career. Then, obviously, situations transpire and you realise that doesn't happen. Since then, even in this relatively short time-frame, I've started racing at international level and am now starting to do world record attempts, so it's almost like I've had three careers in the space of five years.

The mindset I've got now is very much that I enjoy the adventure. If I can make a career out of becoming an adventurer, then I will. I'd love to try and do what we can and hopefully incorporate the media into what we do to send out positive messages to people. I very much hope we can use every aspect of the media to promote success – in our case through world first events and through what people would deem to be difficult expeditions.

CSM: Is there any advice you could give to others who have been disabled or wounded, either in a military context or due to a stroke or other means?

MH: All I can say is what I've experienced myself. Psychologically, you go from a mindset of being extremely active and busy – as I was in operations when I was younger, with a certain amount of responsibility managing paratroopers in operations – to lying in a hospital bed where your only focus is survival. Huge culture shock.

I've managed to move on and I'm still managing to move on. I'm by no means 100% recovered yet. I'm still adapting to life almost four years later. The key is attitude. I very quickly realised that no one's going to do this for me. I've got to get up and make the most of it myself. Windows of opportunity I had in the military have closed because of my injury and others will only open if I open them.

You've got to go for it yourself. You've got to be the one that creates new opportunities and works hard to achieve them. I'm not the kind of person who's going to stand there and say you can do anything, because I don't believe you can. I don't believe I can! I can no longer command paratroops and operations because I've got a paralysed arm. But there are still a great deal of things that I can do. You can adapt. You can improvise. And in doing so, you overcome many of the limitations of a disability.

CSM: Is there anything you feel is important to add?

MH: I think the key is: don't quit! Keep going.

If you maintain a positive attitude and you maintain drive, eventually someone somewhere will notice and give you a new opportunity. That will only come if you maintain focus and maintain motivation in something.

It may not be what you did before you were injured. It may be in something else. But you just need to keep on. You just need to say to yourself, every day, “Is what I'm doing now going to contribute to something constructive in the future? Is it going to assist me in improving my CV? Is it going to assist me in getting a new job?”

And it's not just disabilities. We're in the middle of a very severe recession. People are having a hard time financially, job-wise. I judge people by their actions. I listen to what people say but I judge them by what they do. It's only through getting up off your backside and moving on and creating opportunities for yourself that you are going to succeed.

CSM: Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?

MH: The disabled community, so to speak, is a special one. I've met many other Paralympians and many other disabled athletes. I've been humbled by many of them and introduced to a new world and humbled by it.

The passion and determination of athletes I've met on the ski side of things and injured soldiers through the adventure side of things is great! I'm just very fortunate and very lucky that I'm in a position where I can do what I enjoy doing and hopefully encourage others to do the same.