A WAR hero turned businessman is celebrating success after taking a leap of faith out of the military.

Damion Pointin, 29, has just started to make a profit after starting his own Carterton company.

The dad-of-one, who is having another daughter in June, said it took time to adapt from military to civilian life.

But his gamble paid off with his IT firm It Happens.

While serving in Iraq with the Grenadier Guards the ex-sergeant carried an injured friend to safety.

He and three friends braved mortar fire from insurgents to get Lance-Corporal Karl Dobson to the medical centre in their camp.

L Cpl Dobson was badly injured during the attack on their base at Abu Naji in the southern Maysaan province in 2006. He was hit by a piece of shrapnel that passed through his shoulder into his chest.

The four men checked the severity of the wound and agreed to carry the lance corporal across the camp.

But after eight years in the Army, Carterton resident Mr Pointin decided to move on from military life.

Instead, he set out to start his own IT business, but struggled to cope without the regimented lifestyle of a soldier. He said: “Experiences like the one in Iraq have meant it was quite a challenge to leave the Army and run my own life.

“Going from an infantryman to a civilian isn’t easy, but it has been really rewarding to set up my own business and it’s great to be getting there.”

Mr Pointin’s business, set up in September 2011, provides IT supplies and support to businesses and residents around Oxfordshire.

But he said he might not have managed it without the help of army charity the Royal British Legion, which runs the government-funded Be the Boss training and mentoring programme.

The ex-infantryman added: “It is important for other soldiers to know that there is help out there for whatever you want to pursue.”