Growing up in Essex, Pen Farthing was an incredibly lonely child, running his first half marathon at the tender age of 13 and the very same year joining the Army Cadets where he took every opportunity to get out and about on the weekends, especially if there were mountains involved! Pen’s life has been marked by a series of coveted accolades. At 16 he traveled to Canada for the Banff Annual National Cadet Camp for six weeks where he was named best overseas cadet; at 18 he received the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, being presented it by none other than HRH Prince Philip himself at Buckingham Palace; to name just two. Watching the Royal Marines on the BBC news every evening during the Falklands campaign had a lasting impression on Pen. He knew exactly what he wanted to be when he left school: a Royal Marine Commando. Following this, Pen passed the toughest infantry training on earth age 18 to be awarded the coveted green beret whilst also being awarded the highest honour of the King’s Badge for the best all round recruit. During Pen’s career he would never let leave periods go to waste and was always planning overseas climbing expeditions. He climbed and mountaineered all around the world, gaining his Mountain Instructor Award and International Mountain Leader qualifications along the way. Pen’s 22-year career saw him gain his parachute wings as a member of the elite Commando recon troop for 40 Commando where he undertook courses in escape and evasion and resistance to interrogation. Pen served as part of a four man team during the 1991 Gulf war. Pen was deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Herrick 5 with K Coy, 42 Commando Royal Marines in the town of Nowzad. During an incredibly hard-hitting tour of duty the Royal Marines held the town from a determined enemy. Tragically two of the Royal Marines did not come home and five were seriously injured. This is where the course of Pen’s life changed forever when he met a fighting dog called Nowzad, who subsequently became the catalyst for the Nowzad charity and the start of animal welfare in Afghanistan as we know it. Pen Farthing left the Royal Marines as a Colour Sergeant Physical Trainer Class One in 2009.
Animal rescue
During his deployment to Afghanistan in 2006 as part of the Royal Marines in 42 Commando Royal Marines, Farthing and his troops broke up a fight between two dogs in the town of Nawzad. Following this, one of the dogs followed Farthing and they ended up spending the following six months together, with the dog named Nowzad after the town. After the end of his deployment, Farthing sought to bring the dog home to the UK. This inspired him to create the nonprofit charity Nowzad Dogs, a charity which seeks to reunite servicemen with the dogs and cats who befriended them, and humanely control Kabul's stray dog and cat population through a TNVR program. The charity also aids animal welfare in Afghanistan, and built the first animal rescue centre in the country. In addition to reuniting ex-servicemen with dogs and cats they knew from Afghanistan, Farthing through Nowzad has rescued animals to be adopted by members of the public once they are brought to the UK. Among these was a dog named Wylie, who was adopted by Sarah Singleton. The dog competed at Scruffts 2014, the non-pedigree competition run by The Kennel Club in the UK, where he was named dog of the year. Farthing later wrote a book about Wylie, entitled Wylie: The Brave Street Dog Who Never Gave Up, which was published in 2014. Farthing was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daily Mirror and RSPCA Animal Hero Awards in 2013. For his work with the Nowzad charity, he was named CNN Hero of 2014" by CNN.
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In addition to Nowzad, Pen Farthing also adopted a second dog from Afghanistan called Tali during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2006. Sadly, Nowzad the dog died in 2015 from old age but Tali is still going strong today.
