What time to you get up? I get up at 4.30am every weekday – I’m rarely home before 6.00pm. If there’s a crisis, it can be midnight!

How does your day start? Every day is different. We are open for customers at about 8. Sometimes the police bring people to us. Sometimes I find someone waiting on the doorstep. They might have drug or alcohol problems. Occasionally we have to deal with violence. It can get quite ugly. Some are long-term street sleepers – others are facing eviction but all are military veterans and we are the main charity for this in the country.

So, are they all ‘heroes’ then? No. Just people whose lives have come unraveled and happen to be veterans.

Who are you dealing with today? A Gurkha who borrowed £9,000 to come to the UK from Nepal after reading about Joanna Lumley. He speaks no English and in the 6 days he has been in the country he slept rough for 4 – until we stepped in. Also a Commonwealth veteran who has slipped through the net and now faces starvation or deportation. A man who drinks 5 litres of vodka per day and an 88 year old who was a solicitor and now lives in cheap hotels.

Are operations in Afghanistan boosting the numbers of homeless ex-Servicemen? No. It doesn’t work like that. People rarely become homeless on discharge. We may see more in time, but there’s no evidence yet.

Describe a typical ‘Veterans Aid’ client? I don’t like stereotypes. Everyone who comes to us is unique. But if there is a typical client it’s a male, ex-soldier, aged around 40, served a just over a year. Few are from the frontline; few have PTSD.

What’s the most unusual case you’ve had to deal with? A murderer who fed the body to a croc? An amputee who had his false leg stolen? An 89-year-old who returned from Australia to die? A gifted artist who lived in a dustbin for 6 months? An officer with an unusual addiction? A man who sells his body for sex? Argentine veterans seeking advice? What’s ‘usual’!

What qualifies you to do this kind of work? I’m a Gulf War veteran, a former RAF officer with 17 years of community support and military welfare issues which provides me with areal understanding of the underlying issues. I have an MA and PhD in military welfare matters specializing in homelessness and chair the Ex Services Action group on the subject. I contribute to published academic research – but I also deal with ‘hands-on’ issues every day having been involved with this charity for nearly 15 years.

So the media have got it wrong have they? There’s a frustratingly widespread belief in a link between military service and homelessness as if service will harm you – nearly all service people make a seamless transition to civilian life. Veterans become homeless for the same reason as anyone else; poverty, relationship breakdown, mental health issues and substance misuse. There are over 5 million veterans in the UK – of course some will end up in prison, or on the streets, but to suggest a cause and effect relationship is nonsense.

What is your biggest frustration? Journalists who exaggerate numbers and causes of military homelessness just to make a story. They often want us to help give their stories credibility – I’ve been asked to appear on TV and to bring along a damaged veteran for the cameras; how sick is that?

There are more than 2000 ex-Service charities. How is Veterans Aid different? We’re ‘operational’ – in Churchill’s words we exercise ‘Action this day’. If you need a roof, we find you one the same night. If you’re hungry we feed you. If you need clothes, we provide them – new clothes, not second hand. Our door is open to all bona fide ex-Servicemen and women.

Women? Yes. And the numbers are slowly increasing.

A depressing job then? Far from it. There are bad moments, but we save lives, turn people around. The military ethos of helping a ‘Man down’ is something we’re proud of. It’s about redemption, not failure.