10 years ago, while everyone was getting ready for Christmas, the Royal Marines were out if Afghanistan.
On Christmas Eve 2007 Royal Marines Commandos were on patrol. Mark “Rammers” Ormrod was about to have his life changed forever.
The first triple amputee to survive his injuries and pioneer the way for others that would unfortunately follow.
It was an absolute privilege to be his Physiotherapist at Headley Court after he survived an Improved Explosive Device (IED) whilst in Afghanistan.
Happy “Bang-aversary” to quite simply, the most inspirational man I know.
I interviewed Mark awhile ago and this is his inspirational story:
What motivated you to join the Royal Marines in the first place?
When I was about 15yrs old & approaching the end of my compulsory education I had a sudden realisation that once I had taken my GCSE’s & the exams were over that I had a huge choice to make, that choice was to either continue my schooling with further education or go out into the big bad world & start earning a living.
At that point I was pretty much done with school, not because I didn’t enjoy it or I wasn’t any good at it (I got 9 GCSE’s A-C & 1 D) but because I wanted to be out there earning & gaining an education in life. Now the problem that I had was that I really didn’t know what it was that I wanted to do, I knew that I didn’t want to be in a suit working a 9-5 but I wasn’t really sure what all of the wider options were. After lots of thought, research & seeking advice from others eventually I narrowed my options down to the Fire Brigade, the Police or the Army.
As a 15yr old I really had no idea just how much the Fire Brigade actually do & assumed that all they did was put out fires (I now know much differently) & back then that didn’t really appeal to me and so I scratched that off my list.
Joining the Police didn’t materialise either as I thought that maybe that could be something I’d look at when I was a bit older & had a bit more life experience & so in the end I decided to join the Army. So one day I went down to the careers center, spoke to the guy in charge & came home with all of the relevant paperwork. Once my parents found out my plan my Dad took me to see an Uncle of mine who unbeknown to me had been a Captain in the Royal Marines. He talked to me about the differences between the Army & the Royal Marines & told me a little bit about his career, after that I went back to the careers centre and spoke with the man in charge of recruiting for the Corps. I sat down with him & had a chat, watched the standard recruiting video & that was the moment that I made my decision that I wanted to become a Royal Marine’s Commando. What appealed to me was that these guys were so flexible & could deploy to any environment in the world, arctic, desert, jungle, woodland & they could do it by land, sea or air, it seemed like the complete package & I knew that by joining it was going to make me grow enormously as an individual. I also did a lot of research & found out just how hard the training was & so I thought to myself “might as well go all in & push myself to see if I have what it takes”
What kept you going at Lympstone (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)?
I think what kept me going through my training initially was my ego & pride. I was only 17 at the time & one of the youngest in the troop & so I felt like I had something to prove, it also made me sick to my stomach the thought of quitting because it was too hard or being kicked out because I wasn’t good enough.
As the weeks went by I watched people quit & get kicked out & I imagined how bad they would feel being on that train on the way back home & having to face their friends & family & tell them that they didn’t make the grade, I couldn’t handle the thought of that being me & so I used that to push me on through the tough times. Even if we were doing things like speed marches, yomps or any other kind of physical test as hard as it was & as much as I wanted to quit (even at times throwing up as I was running) I couldn’t bare the thought of getting back trooped & having to go through that pain again in two weeks time with another troop. It would feel like all of the pain I was going through was for nothing & I remember always thinking to myself “well I’m already in pain, it already hurts so I might as well get a reward from it” & so I continued to push.
Of course there’s also the rest of the lads that are around you. Everyone has their strengths & everyone has their weaknesses & when a member of the troop is struggling the rest of the lads rally around to help him through & then later down the line he usually repays the favor, that’s how the military works.
There was of course also the thought of becoming a fully trained Royal Marines Commando by the age of 18! That really spurred me on. I remember thinking how cool would it be not only to have passed the longest & hardest regular forces infantry training in the world, but to have done it by 18 would have made me a stud! (Well in my mind anyway)
What motivated you after the success of getting your green beret?
After I got my Green Lid what motivated me was standards. I had an absolutely incredible training team when I went through Lympstone and every single one of them always held themselves to the highest professional standards at all times, they were men that I respected & looked up to & men that I wanted to be like.
There was also pride. Training to become a Royal Marine is world renowned for its difficulty & so when people see that Green Lid or those Commando flashes or that Globe & Laurel tattoo they know what you’ve been through & what kind of man you are. Now I don’t necessarily mean a tough guy/steely eyed dealer of death etc… but the kind of man that holds himself to a high standard & pushes himself to be better & who never quits & always finds a way around things, that’s what I wanted people to see when they looked at me & that motivated me even more to be all that I could be. I also had visions one day of being on a training team myself & having other young, raw recruits look up to me the way I looked up to my training team.
How you felt after you got injured?
After I got injured I felt the same way I guess most people felt. I knew deep down that my career was over & I had no idea what I was going to be able to do to support my family. I thought my days of being physically fit & able to train were over (boy was I wrong!), I knew my days as a Thai Boxer were over which was hard to take & I really had no idea what the future held.
The early days during my recovery were turbulent & like most people I’d have good days & I’d have bad days. Some days I felt suicidal like everything I had ever worked hard for had been taken away from me & I’d have to start again from scratch to rebuild my life but then I’d think “OK well I’m 24yrs old so there’s plenty of time to rebuild.”
It was tough trying to figure everything out & it was an emotional roller-coaster for everyone that was involved but there was so much help & support on hand that it helped me & everyone around me to focus on the positives & the little wins & get through the hard times.
What inspired you to keep going with your rehabilitation?
To keep me going through my rehab & to keep me moving forward I had a mindset shift & started to look at things differently & tried to pull all of the positives out of my situation. I started to look at my situation as a challenge just like when I was a 17yr old going through training with the odds stacked against me except now I was the UK’s first triple amputee from Afghanistan with no path to follow & I just thought “well if I can get through training I can get through this”. Again pride played a huge part in my recovery
If you were to change the way the Military trains its personnel, how would you change it?
I’m not sure to be honest its hard to say as the training needs to be brutal, it needs to push you mentally & physically to your breaking point because when you’re in a combat zone you need to know you have what it takes when the lead wasps start flying in your direction.
I think after training it would be really useful to have mentors/coaches available to help guide people through their careers as when you’re a young man/woman it can all be a bit overwhelming & sometimes people aren’t always aware of what is available to them, I know I certainly wasn’t.
The biggest change I’d like to see is more support during the final 12 months of people leaving the services. This may have changed now but I remember situations where friends had put in there notice to leave & during their final 12 months they were sent out on 3-6 month exercises on the other side of the world rather then focusing on things like re-training, re-settling their families & preparing themselves for civvy street.
How do you motivate yourself and what lesson can we learn from your example.
I motivate myself by given myself mentors & role models to aspire to be like & by constantly setting myself goals in all of the areas of my life which are important to me.
The only advice I can give is to not get stagnant & to pro-actively keep moving forward & setting yourself goals not matter how unobtainable they may seem or what anyone else thinks of them. You have to make a choice to focus on the things you want in life, cut out the drama & things that aren’t important & keep heading towards what it is that you do want.
Mark Ormrod MPSA
Director: Mark Ormrod Ltd
Thank you Mark, you are an inspiration to us all.
The Bulletproofbodies Team salute you.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/matteeeism
Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/matteeeism
