by Craig Clarke (first published in The Times, Thursday January 18th 2001)
A GULF War pilot who survived two months of torture in an Iraqi jail has set up his own stress management company.
John Peters was beaten and starved after being captured when his Tornado fighter was shot down over Iraq ten years ago yesterday. The former RAF pilot and his navigator, John Nichol, spent seven weeks in captivity and were paraded on Iraqi television. Mr Peters, 39, is drawing on his ordeal as he carves out a new career.
He has set up a management development company with Rory Underwood, the former England rugby player and a close friend, to help businesses to deal with stress. The company, UPH, began operating last year.
"I admit I don't have a background in business", he said. "But people recognise that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to stress management and making decisions quickly".
"Partly that's my training in the Armed Forces. But obviously my experiences ten years ago add to that".
A surface-to-air missile turned his Tornado into a fire ball on his first daylight raid of the war.
When they parachuted into the desert behind enemy lines, the fighter lieutenant and his navigator were surrounded by 15 armed Iraqis who fired at them from 30 yards away until they surrendered.
An initial week of beatings followed and pair were then put into solitary confinement in a series of stinking Iraqi jails. They barely survived, eating a tiny square of pitta bread and half a cup of gruel a day.
Mr Peters said he was "very frightened" but kept his head. During his ordeal his mind went into work mode. "Because of your training you look at everything as a problem and try to work out how it can be solved", he said. "But there were times when I though they were going to shoot us. The worst point was being paraded on TV. I had a feeling of complete dejection".
They were eventually released at the end of the Gulf War and transferred to a military hospital in Cyprus.
Mr Peters now lives near Worcester with his wife, Helen, 38, and children Guy, 12, and Toni, 10. Mr Nichol, 37, runs corporate motivation courses. He earns up to £5,000 a time delivering after-dinner speeches, having taking voluntary redundancy from the RAF in 1996, Mr Peters left the service last year.
