Dr. Watson’s PTSD

Ask anyone and they will have a pretty good idea what sort of a bloke Sherlock Holmes is. He’s clever — sometimes too clever — erudite, shrewd, eccentric, a bit of a babe magnet but above all a winner.  He always comes out on top even with the ghastly and dastardly Moriarty. Holmes is a hero.  But what about Watson? Sometimes he’s a slouch and other times he’s a swashbuckler, it depends on who has written the story or who is playing him. In any event we are never quite certain about him.
 
But the facts upon which he is modelled are fascinating. First, Conan Doyle was a doctor in general practice and we know that he toyed with going into the army. That, of course, is exactly what Watson did and despite the fact that some of the events are a bit contorted, his military service seems to be based on that of Dr Alexander Preston, who was wounded in Afghanistan during the horrible melee at Maiwand in July 1880.