From hidden battalions in the Syrian civil war to a private battle with Complex PTSD, Graham Paul Roberts' memoir reveals what happens when a soldier survives the enemy abroad only to face the hardest fight of his life at home.

Amid the olive groves of Syria, Graham, from Gwynedd, lay hidden behind a tree which no wider than his leg, with bullets whizzing past him, an inoperative radio in his hands, and a firm belief he would never see his children again. He made it out alive, but the war didn't stop there.

Released on 3 July, the Welsh Guards veteran and private security officer’s memoir, ‘Echoes in the Silence’, details the life of a man who was not supposed to live, born six weeks early and weighing just two pounds, who would go on to fight on fronts throughout the world and find out that his worst enemy was himself. Readers follow Roberts from Sandhurst, where he was a respected teacher, through the ruined cities of Iraq and the trenches of Syria.

When he returned, the war became internal. Suffering from nightmares, hallucinations, and serious Complex PTSD, Roberts started falling apart. His marriage failed because of his trauma, he became an alcoholic, and he started thinking about committing suicide in the forest next to the hospital where he was born.

This memoir includes all of his dark times, which include the fear of seeing the demon-like face in each of the rooms of his house, a result of his trauma. It talks about how he was arrested when he was drunk, the feeling of guilt he feels due to losing both his mother and sister to cancer when he himself is already broken, and the heaviness of carrying death.

"It wasn't cowardice that made me fall to my knees," writes Roberts.

"It was exhausting. I was running in survival mode for years, and once the fight was over, my brain didn't know how to stop thinking. It went cannibalistic on itself."

Roberts has been trying for years to silence the ghosts on his own. Only when he turned to other people for assistance did he finally get better. With the help of the intervention by Veterans Wales, therapy conducted by his counsellor Karen, psychiatric treatment at NHS using Quetiapine and Sertraline, and the support from his family, Roberts started rebuilding his life. The book captures the exact moment when Roberts understood that he was recovering as he watched the scary face that was dictating to him for so long fade away.

His life took a turn when he had his first child. Even though it set off horrible flashbacks, it gave him the reason for which to continue living. Roberts is now working as an Additional Learning Needs teacher in North Wales and helps young adults with learning disabilities gain confidence and freedom.

"If even one person reads this book and calls to seek help, it makes every word I have written worth it," he added.

‘Echoes in the Silence’ is available on Amazon.