The 180pp book, titled Enduring Freedom, aims to raise £10,000 for the Combat Stress Enemy Within Appeal, which will help those affected by the often debilitating effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Arctic Paper donated 1.8 tonnes of its Munken Polar 100gsm text and 300gsm cover paper, sufficient to print all 5,000 copies of the book, while Manor Creative subsidised the cost of production.
Enduring Freedom, which was printed last month and published by Eastbourne-based FireStep Publishing to coincide with Remembrance Day, has an RRP of £12 and is available from all good bookstores. A donation of £2 will be made to Combat Stress for every copy of the book that is sold.
The book contains a large proportion of new poetry inspired by events and operations relating to the past decade of war, particularly in Afghanistan, and features a foreword written by the former head of the Territorial Army, The Duke of Westminster.
The introduction has been written by the former Poet Laureate, 1999 to 2009, Sir Andrew Motion, who is an active supporter of HM Forces. Publisher Ryan Gearing, who compiled the anthology, said that book had been produced with the full support of the Ministry of Defence.
"Poems have been written by serving personnel of all ranks, veterans, families and friends," he added. "These poems all have one thing in common - they speak from the very soul of our Armed Forces of which we are so proud."
Graham Brownett, chief executive of Manor Creative, said: "We are proud to be associated with such a high profile book and Combat Stress and wish the project well in raising funds for our veterans' welfare."
Neil Cox, communications manager from Combat Stress, said: "Enduring Freedom is a powerful collection of poetry, which explores war and its effects from a variety of different perspectives: serving personnel, veterans and their loved ones.
"We hope that this new book will open a new generations' eyes to the sacrifices our brave fighting men and women - and their families - make in our name. We'd also like to thank Ryan Gearing and FireStep Publishing for kindly agreeing to donate a percentage of their profits to Combat Stress.
"Some of the contributors to Enduring Freedom are Combat Stress veterans and we hope that reading this anthology will give an insight into the mental health effects of war. Combat Stress relies on the generosity of the British public to fund much of its work, and we hope that, through sales of this book, more veterans with mental health issues will be able to get the treatment and support that they need."
