Still Serving: Vicky's Story
Vicky McLennan’s military career is extraordinary. She joined the British Army at 19 and went on to serve for 19 years as a combat medical technician with the Royal Army Medical Corps. She deployed to Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, providing frontline medical care in some of the most dangerous environments in the world. She was among the first boots on the ground in Kabul in late 2001, arriving just weeks after the Taliban fell, when the city was unstable, lawless, and desperately short of medical support.
Her final tour in Afghanistan in 2011 left the deepest scars. Vicky spent six months on foot patrols, often under fire, treating wounded soldiers and civilians in the dust and chaos of combat. One day, a bullet missed her head by inches, splintering the tree behind her.
“You go out of the gate every day wondering if you’ll come back,” she says.
The relentlessness of the noise, the fear, and the responsibility stayed with her long after she returned home.
Back in the UK, Vicky tried to keep going. She managed a medical centre, but inside she was unravelling. She became withdrawn, anxious, and began misusing alcohol to numb the memories she couldn’t escape. When her drinking escalated, she lost her job during a period she describes as “the bottom falling out from under me.”
Then came the pandemic. With no income, no stability, and nowhere safe to go, Vicky found herself facing homelessness.
“Female veterans are invisible — people like me get overlooked,” she says. “I felt completely forgotten.”
One day in 2019, driving past the RBVE Village in Kent, she made a split‑second decision to pull in and ask for help.
“I just broke down because I didn’t realise the help was there.”
RBVE responded immediately. Vicky and her partner Sarah were offered welfare support and, soon after, a bungalow in The Centenary Village, a purpose‑built community designed to give veterans and their families stability and a fresh start.
“RBVE didn’t just give me somewhere to live,” Vicky says. “They gave me a sense of familiarity and community. I’ve never had anywhere to call home, and now I do.”
Today, Vicky lives with Sarah and her two therapy dogs, who help her manage her PTSD. She volunteers with Communigrow, a local sustainable food education charity, has an allotment on the Village, and continues to receive wraparound support from RBVE. She is also a visible advocate for female veterans, reminding us that service comes in many forms and that support must be inclusive and lifelong.
RBVE has since opened the UK’s first female‑only veteran house with integrated employment pathways, ensuring women like Vicky are never overlooked again.
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