Scott Bunfield and Darren Woods served in different battalions of The Parachute Regiment, left the Army a year apart and ended up working for the same gas company in the east of England without either of them planning it. What began as an odd reunion has turned into Beat the Demon, a coffee brand built around the one thing Scott says the system never managed, getting to people before it's too late.
Scott joined the Army in 2004, 17-years-old and bound for the Paras. He turned 18 in time to deploy to Iraq, and less than a year later he was in Afghanistan, a tour he describes as an entirely different experience.
“It was contacts every day,” he says. “I lost quite a few close mates.”
One loss has stayed with him more than most. A close friend, a soldier Scott looked up to as a boxer and natural leader, was killed while out on patrol in the Kajaki area of Helmand province. “He knelt on an IED and it took him out,” Scott adds, “he died there and then”.
What followed wasn't grief, at least not straight away.
“It didn't hit me,” he recalls. “Something wasn't right. Nothing affected me. I didn't care about dying.”
Just Get On With It
Scott married young, had children young and moved from posting to posting, rising through the ranks until he commanded his own section on a second tour of Afghanistan. A soldier in his section was killed by an IED. Again, he simply carried on.
The breaking point didn't come on operations. It came once the tours ended.
“I think it was the fact we stopped going away. That's what kept me going, in a way, the deployments, the training. Then, all of a sudden, it all stopped and it hit me sideways.”
He describes chasing the adrenaline of Afghanistan through drink and fighting, and admits his temper began spilling into how he treated the soldiers under his command. Matters came to a head after a serious incident during a training exercise, which led his chain of command, and eventually his wife, to tell him plainly that he needed help. Around the same time, while still serving, he attempted to take his own life.
“I couldn't accept the help,” he says. “The voice in my head was telling me my family would be better off without me. I wasn't the person I used to be.”
Bounced Between Therapists
Scott was later sectioned under the Mental Health Act, discharged from hospital and, in 2018, medically discharged from the Army after 15 years' service with a diagnosis of PTSD. He received a payout, retrained as a gas engineer and moved between jobs while still carrying the same symptoms that had ended his military career.
“I tried therapy, it didn't work. I tried the medication, that didn't work either.”
Civilian life didn't fix what the Army hadn't and he attempted suicide again. It was the impact of his actions on his wife and family that eventually forced Scott to stop and seek a lasting resolution.
A Chance Reunion
The next part of the story turns on a coincidence. Scott and Darren had both served in the Parachute Regiment in the early 2000s, Scott in the 2nd Battalion and Darren in the 3rd, without ever becoming close. Darren left the Army in 2019, a year after Scott, and the two later found themselves working for the same gas heating company in the east of England, entirely by chance.
“We just clicked,” Scott says. “Having someone else I could relate to, someone I could actually speak to, helped me massively.”
With therapy and medication having failed him, Scott decided to fight his own battle differently. He found his answer in punishing his body instead of numbing his mind, throwing himself into brutal gym sessions and long swims in the cold sea until, for a while at least, what he calls 'the demon' went quiet. He's now been sober for more than three years.
From Gas Engineers to Coffee Company
Scott and Darren wanted to do something for the veterans they knew who hadn't had the same support. They talked about T-shirts, caps, even hot sauce, before landing on the thing they both already loved, coffee.
Beat the Demon launched as a coffee and merchandise brand, but its real product is conversation. The pair have built a WhatsApp community of veterans and civilians who swap what has and hasn't worked for them, and turn up together at markets and events, including one in Bury St Edmunds. The business is entirely self-funded.
“We don't make any money,” Scott explains. “Everything goes straight back into the company.”
The pair also sell a blend named after The Block, Armed Forces Foundation, a Liverpool-based organisation that provides emergency accommodation and mental health support to veterans facing homelessness, donating proceeds and collecting for the charity at their stalls.
'It Might Already Be Too Late'
Scott is careful not to blame The Parachute Regiment for his historic troubles. “I don't want to slag them off. I just don't think they were ready for it.”
What frustrates him is what happened after he left, and the waiting lists he believes are costing lives.
Asked what he'd say to someone who recognises themselves in his story, he doesn't hesitate.
“Just stop. Take a deep breath. You need to think about yourself first. There is help out there. But it starts with you. You need to accept you've got a problem.”
He points people towards the NHS, the Samaritans and Rock2Recovery, a coaching organisation set up by veterans for the armed forces community, but his patience with how long that help can take has clearly run out.
“There shouldn't be a waiting list. These people need help now. By the time they get to speak to somebody, it might already be too late.”
His advice on making that first call is blunt.
“Be honest. Say that you're a veteran, say what's actually going through your head. If you're not honest with the people trying to help you, you're not being honest with yourself.”
Beat the Demon's coffee and merchandise are available at beatthedemon.co.uk, with updates on Facebook and Instagram at @beatthedemon and @beat_the_demon.
If you are a veteran struggling with your mental health, the Samaritans can be reached free, any time, on 116 123. Rock2Recovery offers coaching for the armed forces community at rock2recovery.co.uk.
