IN the heat, the horror and the uncertainty of the Gulf War, an unexploded bomb - one of many stockpiled by British soldiers - suddenly went off. A bomb disposal officer was caught so fully and horribly in the blast that his body was never found.

"He just vaporised. There was nothing left," recalls his colleague, Clinton Sandall, his eyes staring into space but speaking matter-of-factly. "We were all pretty close friends so, yes, it was quite disturbing."

Such understatement comes from having lived close to injury and death during a 23-year career in the Army, which included five tours of Northern Ireland, service in the Gulf, and the aftermath of the Falklands War.

It comes from doing a job which must rank among the most stressful of all professions - bomb disposal.

Now, the Army has been left behind, and Clinton has embarked on a new career which he hopes will relieve stress for others. Clinton, 41, who is now living in Darlington, has just returned from a two-month trip to the Far East to complete his training as an acupuncturist, Chinese physiotherapist and Thai bodywork practitioner.

He was already a qualified sport and remedial masseur, and aromatherapist, having trained under Richard Wegrzyk - masseur and acupuncturist for the British Lions and England Rugby Union squads - at St Mary's University College in Twickenham.

But he wanted to develop those skills further so wife Hazel - a paramedic with Cleveland Ambulance - was left behind for eight weeks as he jetted off to Wat Po School of Traditional Thai Massage in Bangkok to discover the secrets of Chinese physiotherapy and Thai medical massage.

That was followed by more study, this time of acupuncture and physiotherapy, at The Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing.

"To put myself in a position where I could forge a career, I needed to be taught by the masters of the art, and that meant going to the Far East," he explains.

Brought up in the South Wales fishing community of Cardigan, he joined the Army as a 17-year-old, serving initially as a bricklayer with the Corps of Military Engineers.

After stints in Hong Kong and Germany, as well as the postings to Falklands, the Gulf and Northern Ireland, he ended up at Lodge Hill Camp in Kent, where he trained as a bomb disposal officer.

He has learned to live with pressure. In Northern Ireland, a 1,000 lb home-made culvert bomb exploded 30 metres away, killing the occupants of a car, and throwing Clinton and his colleagues to the ground. When his Army career approached an end, he had to face the difficulties common to many servicemen - readjusting to civilian life and finding a new direction.

He turned to his love of rugby and began coaching a local team in Essex and it was this which sparked his interest in sports physiotherapy and also complementary medicine.

"I was just taken by the philosophy of healing and wanted to find out more and more," he recalls.

His training enabled him to start working voluntarily with CHARMS - an organisation supporting victims of multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and ME - in Chelmsford.

Earlier this year, he moved to the North-East for family reasons and has launched his own business - COAST Therapies (Complementary and Sports Therapies) - offering acupuncture, Chinese physiotherapy and medical massage.

He specialises in musculoskeletal injuries, lower back pain, hypertension, female disorders and stress management. He also hopes to be able to help people with HIV, cancer and fibromyalgia.

He has hired a room at Remedies health centre in Duke Street, Darlington, but can also travel to clients, and has registered on the British Register of Complementary Practitioners.

"I know there are cynics out there but I also know that there is scientific proof of the benefits of acupuncture and Chinese therapies. They have their place alongside orthodox medicine," he says.

For Clinton Sandall, the heat, the horror and the uncertainty of the Gulf War are, thankfully, a distant memory. And the hands trained to defuse deadly explosives are now ready to help defuse the stresses and strains of modern life.

* Clinton Sandall can be contacted on 0790 5016465 or by e-mail cfsandallgeneral public that greed is permeating our society to