Hi my name is Paul Vice MC. I joined her majesty’s Royal Marines at the age of 16 in the year 2000 straight from school and embarked on what has been the greatest, hardest and most emotional ride I have ever been on. I was awarded my green beret in November 2000 and I was posted to 45 commando in Scotland. I have had the privilege of serving at all three commando units and had the bigger privilege of going on operations with both 40 and 42 commando. My first operational tour was to Afghanistan in November 2001 with 40 commando and since then I have been on five more tours of duty including two tours of Iraq and a further three of Afghanistan .

Throughout my career I have pushed myself to the limits both professionally and personally. I became a Royal Marines sniper in 2003 and was promoted to Corporal in 2005, which in turn gave me the chance to be an instructor at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) training new recruits in the many subjects covered in commando training. From there I was given the opportunity to command on operations in Afghanistan in 2008-09 and in 2011 and still to this day has been the highlight of my career.

Unfortunately in August 2011 my life took a turn for the worse when I was blown up by a command wire IED (improvised explosive device) which tore my body to shreds and gave me multiple injuries and actually killed me twice. I had 400 shrapnel pieces removed, nerve damage to my left leg (which had to be amputated), partially sighted in my left eye, severed carotid artery, broken neck, right arm paralysis and brain damage. But even though this sounds like it would be the end of me it has actually changed my life for the better.

I now live my life to the absolute full and even feel guilty about how many years of my life I wasted not doing so. I have been fortunate enough to have been part of amazing charity endeavours, had my service efforts recognised and excelled in disabled sport. I have sky dived and rode a bike hundreds of miles raising thousands for local charities . I was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry at Buckingham palace, been selected and shot for Team GB at the World Cup in London and now have had the opportunity to represent my country again in the sporting arena at the Invictus games in London which I won a gold medal in the cycling circuit race.

I then had a new challenge in front of me when after years of surgery to save my badly damaged leg the decision was made to amputate in October 2014. I looked at this situation as I do anything else; positively. I set goals which were tough but attainable, to be walking unaided by Christmas, to run by March and to play football again by the end of the season in May. I achieved all these goals in good time and then explored my new body further trying to find its limits. Which then found me at be summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in September and setting a world record of the fastest summit of the mountain post amputation of 11 months. I have recently returned from the invictus games in Orlando with 7 medals and the most successful male athlete from the games.

I now live my life by a simple rule: “You can’t worry about things you can’t control”. I now want to help people who have had troubles in life to see that there is always a way forward and that you can be and do whatever you want if you persevere. My goal is to help people unlock their fullest potential and to achieve the things that matter to them most.