Soldier turned Carterton businessman is celebrating success after taking a leap of faith out of the military. Damion Pointin, 29, has just started to break after starting his own company.

The father-of-one, who is expecting another baby in June, said it took time to adapt from military into civilian life.

But his gamble paid off when his IT firm It Happens started turning a profit this month.

Having served in Iraq with then Grenadier Guards and been involved in the rescue of an injured colleague during an attack on their base at Abu Naji, in the southern Maysaan province in 2006, Mr Pointin decided to leave the Army in 2011.

But he admits that at first struggled to cope without the regimented lifestyle of a soldier.

He said: “It was quite a challenge to leave the Army and run my own life. Going from an infantryman to being a civilian is not easy, but it has been really rewarding to set up my own business and great to be getting there now.”

It Happens provides IT supplies and support to businesses and residents in Oxfordshire.

Mr Pointin was helped by the Royal British Legion, which runs the Government-funded Be the Boss training and mentoring programme for former armed forces personnel embarking on new careers. He now employs two staff and is recruiting another.

He added: “It is important for other soldiers to know there’s help out there for whatever you want to pursue when you want to leave the Army — you can make the transition. The hardest thing about leaving the military is setting up your own structure.

“In the Army, you always have a boss. You are given orders and you follow them. So it can be quite difficult to plan for yourself, but it is going really well now, the business is taking off.”