But this, as he acknowledges now, was both a “help and a hindrance”. The 59-year-old, who lives in Kelvindale, began struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nine years after leaving service. He began his time in the Army on the war-torn streets of Belfast and Armagh. The camaraderie among his fellow soldiers kept Alan going while he was in the Army but it was the things he saw which came back to haunt him once he began suffering attacks of PTSD in his dreams. He said: “I would have a dream about past incidents. A sleeping PTSD episode was a terrifying ordeal for Alan. “It is noise, sweat, your heart-rate goes, everything, but I could cope with that,” he said.