An arts project in Dundee is aiming to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to express themselves through drama.

Working with wounded, injured or sick former service personnel, Stand Easy brings to life their voices in a play based on their experiences of war.

It looks at the recruitment and training of the fourth battalion of the Black Watch in Dundee in the run up to the First World War.

Supported by veterans organisations and charities, the creative project aims to assist in the recovery of ex-service personnel suffering from PTSD, helping them to reconnect with family and friends and return to work using the power of dramatic storytelling.

Two of the participants, Billy and Richard, have shared their struggles with PTSD and how the project is helping to change their lives for the better.

Billy Girdwood has been declared unfit for work for almost 15 years.

"When I first left the army it didn't really have an impact because I was working all the time, I was working sometimes 16 to 18 hours a day and it kept my mind occupied," he explains.

"But, unfortunately, around 2002, I was deemed unemployable due to injuries. That's when the crap happened in your head and reliving what you went through, reliving incidents you weren't even involved in but you could see, and it was quite daunting to start with."

The 47-year-old, who lives in Friockheim near Dundee, first began his military service with the Royal Signals, transferring to the Royal Highland Fusiliers later in his career.

He says: "The first Gulf War we were involved in, we were there to do the prison camps and all that. But unfortunately the prison camps turned out to be more than we expected.

"The first day we arrived in Saudi Arabia, for example, the area around us was being hit with scud missiles so, needless to say, the first day there you are panicking like hell and you are having to put your respirators and all that on. It was quite an eye-opener, to be honest."

Billy was then stationed for around six months in Ireland, saying he witnessed "unexpected things".

He then travelled to Bosnia for a peacekeeping operation for Nato.

"During that, I ended up getting sent back home because I had a stroke," he says.

Billy was then eventually diagnosed with PTSD after a session with a psychiatrist.

"It's not the nicest thing to get and sometimes you don't know you've got it because I didn't," he says.

"Ever since then I've been getting some treatment down at Hollybush House (combat stress treatment centre in Ayrshire) and other places but to be honest, this (project) has been a really big impact in my life.

"Doing acting, being somebody that you're not and having fun, it's one of the best laughs I've had for a long, long time."

A member of the British Army for seven and a half years, Richard Caffrey has been in the armed forces since he was old enough to join.

"I was always a happy child, my dream was always to be a soldier," the 23-year-old explains.

"I'm happy that I've fulfilled that dream but ever since I came back it feels like I've hit a brick wall.

"I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and ever since I've returned from Afghanistan, things just haven't been the same. I've found it pretty hard to fit back into normal life."

Returning home to Dundee, Richard struggled with the idea that his family and friends were continuing their lives while a war he had been a part of raged on thousands of miles away.

He says: "Everything was just going on as normal, my mum was going to work, my dad was going work, everybody was just laughing and joking and I was just kind of saying to myself over and over: Do you not understand that there is a war going on in Afghanistan?

"I found that really difficult to mellow back into, just being able to have freedom and do what you want, whereas over there you were having to wear your helmets every day, your body armour, you were constantly on edge and everybody is just laughing and joking back here."

Richard says he struggles with daily tasks since returning home, recently being signed off work by his doctor.

To help keep active, he recently got a puppy, which encourages him to leave the house on a daily basis for dog walks and is supported by veteran agencies in his recovery.

He explains that the drama project has had the biggest impact on his life.

Richard says: "It's been fantastic. Actually being involved with something, having a purpose in life instead of just sitting in the house everyday doing nothing.

"This has been a life-changer, definitely. I've tried to do a few serious things to myself, I wouldn't be here today. This [is] a new chapter in my life."

Inspired by a similar project in England, Stand Easy was devised by former drama teacher and community theatre practitioner Alan Cameron, whose own father had served in the army during the Second World War.

"When he came back, he would talk about things but he would not talk about things if you understand me," he says.

"It was very difficult for him to talk about the emotions of it at all and I felt that people who had given a lot of their life to their country, whether wounded, injured or sick when they came back, really needed to be understood and be looked after by the community."

Alan explains the drama project helps veterans to relax, meet new people and develop new skills during their recovery.

Working with a series of charities and organisations such as Legion Scotland and Combat Stress, half a dozen former service personnel are brought on board with the project and are encouraged throughout its two-week run to help transition into civilian life through theatre skills.

Alan explains: "We've got a basic group of actors who are veterans, we've also got four professional actors who are ex-students of Dundee and Angus College, who have been working with them and myself and Sandie Jamieson, who is a film-maker who will be documenting the whole thing."

At the end of the project, a performance will take place at Menzieshill Community Centre on Friday in which the whole cast will perform.

Since joining the project, both Richard and Billy have noticed marked differences in their lives thanks to the confidence boosting skills they have acquired.

Richard has picked up the bagpipes for the first time in years, while Billy says it has given him a new sense of hope for the future.

"I've seen a difference when I do go home, these last few months I've found myself being really distant," Billy says.

"Being somebody you are not and just having a general good laugh brings everything back from what you did in the army.

"It's generally what happens when you get involved with other veterans, it's just like being back in the army.

"You click, you have the same sense of humour that a civilian wouldn't understand. And it just happens instantly.

"Because it is a good life and I would recommend it to anybody. If I had a chance I would do it all again.

"But unfortunately I now have to live with the fallout from that (but) doing this has helped so much."

For Richard, the opportunity to build up his confidence and meet new people has been life-changing.

"One of the guys who is on the project with me is dealing with [something] similar to me but he's older and it's been good to relate with him and seeing what he's getting out of it," he says.

"It's mostly meeting and laughing with each other. I can't remember the last time I've laughed this much. I've been going home at night with sore cheeks."

Richard says his anger issues after returning home have affected his relationship with his partner but since taking part in the project his mood has changed for the better.

He says: "She's said she's seen a difference in me doing this because every single time I'm coming home I'm always laughing and joking and I've always got something to talk about.

"So it's helping to build the relationship between me and my partner back up again. Like we're starting all over again, it's good."

Although he is still signed off work, Richard adds that at just 23 he is keen to return to work at some point and, through Stand Easy, believes he may have found a completely new career path.

He adds: "Being part of this project, I never really knew what to get involved in as a job.

"This has given me an insight into drama, it's something I would never think of going near but I think I'm actually going to look into a college course to become an actor because I'm quite enjoying it."

Stand Free will be performed at Menzieshill Community Centre, Dundee at 6.30pm on Friday, May 27.For more information, head to the Stand Easy website