A FORMER soldier will be sleeping rough on the streets as part of a new charity’s bid to help homeless veterans.

Rob Dennis from Grange Road, Dovercourt, spent 16 years in the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment.

He did five tours of Ireland and went to Afghanistan, but left in 2004 after getting married and having two daughters.

The 52-year-old now works for Network Rail and is part of a new charity called Veterans for the Homeless in UK.

He said: “A friend of mine started it in Norwich in February and then about three weeks ago we did a rough sleep in Cambridge.

“The main aim is to get ex-soldiers off the streets.

“What they have learnt from these sleep-outs is when you find these veterans, it is hard to get them to admit where they have come from.

“It helps with us being vets, it’s something bred into you.

“When you come across a homeless veteran, you can kind of tell when you see them, their kit will be squared away.

“We found a guy in Cambridge - he wouldn’t admit he was a veteran and he didn’t want anything we were offering him.

“He just wanted batteries for his head torch.

“We found out he had been in prison and was still wearing the same boots he was released in.

“He has since had new boots and a sleeping bag.

“A lot of it is embarrassment and pride.

“A lot of these people feel let down by the system.

“In the Army, everything is done for you, you can get paid on Friday and be skint on Sunday, but you still have a bed.”

Rob said some veterans struggle to adjust to civilian life, including coming home from operations abroad and fitting back into a family home.

Others struggle to find housing and jobs - nationally it is estimated there are about 7,000 former servicemen and women homeless.

Rob says the charity is hoping to help homeless veterans across Essex, including in Colchester and Tendring.

The new charity hopes to help find them and offer food, clothing and sleeping bags as well as helping them get onto support schemes and off the streets.

Rob added: “I wanted out of the army and realised I had spent most of my adult life learning how to fight and how to protect others.

“Unless you get into security there is very little for you.

“I had done a carpentry and joinery course but you have no experience so it didn’t really mean anything.”

Rob will be taking part in a rough sleep event in Colchester on July 14.

They hope to have a stall in the town centre from about midday and stay in the town through the night.

To donate towards the charity’s work visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/matthew-page-2?utm_id=107&utm_term=Pvm8zadaE or for information find Veterans for the Homeless UK on Facebook.