Luke Shipman never remembered the nights he was screaming in terror after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Comrades from the Mercian Regiment found him cowering under his bed in his full British Army combat gear. Luke, now 37, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eventually spent several spells as a psychiatric hospital inpatient.
After leaving the Army in 2017, he says exchanging the firing line for film and fashion shoots has helped him rebuild his life and put him in a "better head space". Luke, from Langley Mill in Derbyshire, had his first taste of the spotlight when he entered a modelling competition for tattooed men on his 30th birthday, he said. Now, after featuring in an upcoming comedy drama film, called Hustle and Cuss, he has set his sights on a career in acting.
"It's part-time at the moment but I'd like to earn a living from it," Luke said. "Acting is always something I've wanted to do. "This latest film was just the luck of the draw really; my part needed to be filled because somebody fell ill.
"I decided I wanted to pursue the modelling just before my 30th birthday after I started to overcome my PTSD. I told myself - 'this is going to give me the trigger that I know I'm OK'." Luke joined the Army straight after finishing school and was 18 when he started the first of three front-line deployments in Helmand Province in 2007.
Over years of service, Luke said several close friends and comrades died or were seriously injured while serving alo.