Showing posts with label UK veteran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK veteran. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

UK:Special Air Service and PTSD

SAS 'suffering from post traumatic stress'
Updated on 26 August 2009
By Carl Dinnen


A former SAS trooper breaks the regiment's vow of silence to reveal the effect that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on the mental health of soldiers.


Ex-Corporal Bob Paxman says servicemen and women are being over-worked, with little time to recover between overseas missions, leading to a rise in cases of post traumatic stress disorder.

He says members of the Special Air Service are suffering particularly badly - and estimates that half of the SAS personnel he knows have serious behavioural problems.
go here for video report
SAS suffering from post traumatic stress

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Britain faces a "ticking timebomb" of mental illness and suicide


GETTY IMAGES

The cortege of hearses passes through Wootton Bassett yesterday



Shocking suicide toll on combat veterans

Tories demand better mental health care for troops returning from front

By Nigel Morris and Kim Sengupta


Britain faces a "ticking timebomb" of mental illness and suicide among young Army veterans who return from hand-to-hand combat in Afghanistan, the Conservatives will warn today.


A lack of mental health care for veterans, combined with the stress of fighting the Taliban, will mean many survivors of the conflict pay a heavy price in psychological problems and self harm, according to David Cameron and the shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

As the bodies of eight soldiers – including three teenagers – killed in a bloody 24 hours in Helmand were repatriated yesterday, mental health experts joined the politicians in warning that not enough was being done to care for returning members of the armed forces.
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Shocking suicide toll on combat veterans

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

PTSD on Trial:James Guthrie

Traumatised soldier threatens pub-goer
Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 07:06

A former soldier traumatised by service in Afghanistan pulled a knife on a man in a pub toilet and threatened to cut his throat, a court heard.
James Guthrie was sentenced to 12 months jail, suspended for a year, after Gloucester Crown Court heard he held Daniel Sollis in a headlock with the knife an inch from his Adam's Apple and then cut his chin and hand in the ensuing struggle.
The 47-year-old, of Sallis Close, Northway, Tewkesbury, who is said to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Sollis and having an offensive weapon in a public place.
Judge Martin Picton also gave Guthrie a six-month mental health treatment order and placed him under an 8pm to 6am home curfew for three months with two years supervision.
He said: "What you did was very serious and very frightening for the victim and, of general concern in terms of public safety.
"But I recognise your behaviour on this night is as a result of your mental health problems, in particular post-traumatic stress disorder coupled with depression."
read more here
Traumatised soldier threatens pub-goer

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Ex-soldiers surviving post traumatic stress disorder

Once were warriors
After the horrors of war, many servicemen and women find themselves facing another battle: post-traumatic stress disorder. But a radical programme involving t'ai chi, meditation and Hawaiian "forgiveness" therapy is helping many of them find peace

• This article appears in Sunday's Observer Magazine
Louise Carpenter The Observer, Sunday 1 February 2009

Peter Stone was approaching the end of a long career in the army when he witnessed an event in Croatia in 1995 that was to ruin the next decade of his life. Walking through a village, he came across three Croatian children, aged 11, nine and seven. A father of four himself, Stone's instinct was to talk to them. He even reached into the pocket of his uniform and offered them some chocolate. Later, passing back through the village, he saw them again. They were lying in pools of their own blood by the roadside, their throats cut - punishment for speaking to the enemy.

Stone was an experienced soldier. He had served in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and Croatia. He had seen death and despair, and he had endured and pulled through explosions himself. And yet it was this singular, horrific event that was to be his unravelling. "Those children were innocent," he says, his voice faltering, "and I could not get the memory of them out of my mind, I could not get the thoughts to go [away] that I was responsible, that if it were not for me, they would still be alive today."

Years later, Stone was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common problem that usually becomes apparent in soldiers years after the experienced trauma. It is often triggered by a second, unrelated trauma. In Stone's case, it was the death of his son in a car crash, two weeks before his son's 21st birthday, in 2001. He had been out of the army for a year then, his marriage having broken down due to the stresses of his job.

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

UK looks at MRI scans for PTSD



MRI testing on PTSD
MRI testing in America has revealed startling differences in the brains of soldiers with combat stress
# January 27, 2009 by admin1


Feeling the pressure: British troops in Afghanistan in 2007 Photo: PA
For the Ancient Greeks, it was a “divine madness” that infected the minds of soldiers. During the US Civil War, it became known as “soldier’s heart”. By the First World War it was called shell shock. Today, the condition is known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The idea that war can inflict deep and lasting psychological wounds is not new. In Sophocles’s tragedies, former soldiers descend into a state of mind that would be all too familiar to modern military psychiatrists. Yet despite the passage of more than 2,400 years, our understanding of PTSD has remained surprisingly unsophisticated: not only are the underlying biological and psychological causes poorly understood, but it is almost impossible to predict which soldiers are the most susceptible.

Now, however, new research from America – triggered by the soaring incidence of PTSD among troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan – has found striking differences in the brain patterns of those suffering from combat stress, raising hopes that we will be able to identify and treat sufferers much more effectively.

At the most basic level, PTSD is the result of a breakdown in the defence system that copes with traumatic and frightening experiences. After such events, most people will suffer what is known as Acute Stress Disorder, which involves symptoms of anxiety and depression. The majority will recover, but a minority go on to develop the chronic mental health problems that characterise PTSD.

“They get stuck in a cycle whereby recollections of a traumatic event are triggered by a particular situation they encounter,” explains Professor Simon Wessely, director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. “This triggers the symptoms, and they then try to avoid the situation that triggered the recollections – but that just means that the symptoms get worse the next time they encounter the same situation.”

“Those who develop PTSD are not necessarily the most vulnerable,” adds Professor Roberto Rona, a lecturer at King’s Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry Division. “Ideally, we would want to start treatment as soon as possible by separating those who are going to recover normally and those who will have a problem after a traumatic event.”
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

UK:NHS failing 'soldiers with post traumatic stress'


NHS failing 'soldiers with post traumatic stress'
Western Morning News - Plymouth, England,UK

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 10:00

THE NHS has been accused of failing armed forces personnel suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

New information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the leader of the Teignbridge District Council, Alan Connett, revealed that mental health trusts throughout the country are not aware of new Government rules demanding that injured armed forces personnel are given priority treatment.

Coun Connett e-mailed 74 trusts in England with a set of 11 questions and was surprised that the majority were not aware of the Government guidelines.

Coun Connett's findings revealed many trusts do not even record if patients are, or have been, in the armed forces.

He said: "During the First World War, people would get shot for being shell-shocked.

Nowadays they don't get shot, thank God, but it seems people still don't care about our armed forces and all the stress they suffer from. We haven't learned the lesson."

In the Westcountry, only the Cornwall Partnership Trust has a £70,000 pilot programme in place to help veterans.

Other partnership trusts have nothing specific in place or did not even respond to Coun Connett's request for the relevant information.

Lisa Whyte, 34, wife of Scott Whyte, 30, a former lance corporal in the 38 Engineer Regiment, who suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder after an eight-month tour of Iraq, said her husband had only been properly diagnosed a few weeks ago after the Royal British Legion stepped in to help.

Mrs Whyte, who lives in Uffculme, Devon, said: "I'm not surprised with these findings. The NHS has been useless. It's falling apart in this country."

On December 12, 2007, NHS chief executive David Nicholson wrote to all NHS trusts telling them about the new priority for veterans, which came into effect on January 1this year.

However, in their responses to Coun Connett's request, only 48 mental health trusts out of 74 made any reference to the new guidance. Most also confirmed they would not give any priority to treating service personnel or veterans or did not routinely ask if PTSD patients have served in the armed forces.

Coun Connett added: "As we reflect on those who have paid the ultimate price for their country, many who have fought in previous wars continue to bear the wounds, both physical and mental, of their service.
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

UK:PTSD on trial Traumatised veterans' fight for care

Traumatised veterans' fight for care

By Paul Burnell
BBC File On 4


Darren Wright looked destined for a successful military career, decorated for bravery in Afghanistan and an army boxing champion.

Instead he is serving an 11-year prison sentence for the violent kidnap, with five other men, of a wealthy businessman from Glasgow.

His family has no doubt the war hero became a criminal owing to a lack of effective care and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by horrific scenes he witnessed in Afghanistan.

"He got this idea in his head he'd got to protect his family so he slept downstairs as if on guard waiting for the enemy to arrive," his stepmother Mary Costigan told BBC File On 4.

The Ministry of Defence on Tuesday reported diagnosing almost 4,000 new cases of mental illness among forces personnel last year, with those sent to Afghanistan or Iraq most likely to be traumatised.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7706163.stm

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Military covenant to those who serve


This is from the UK but it should apply here as well.


Military covenant

The annual Remembrance Sunday, organised by the Royal British Legion, honours British troops

Britain has a 'duty of care' to its armed forces. This began as an unspoken pact between society and the military, possibly originating as far back as Henry VIII's reign. The pact was formally codified as a 'covenant' in 2000. It is not a law but is reinforced by custom and convention.

The covenant only officially applies to the army, but its core principles are taken to extend to the air force and navy too.

Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices - including the ultimate sacrifice - in the service of the Nation. In putting the needs of the Nation and the Army before their own, they forego some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces.

In return, British soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals, and that they (and their families) will be sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service.

In the same way the unique nature of military land operations means that the Army differs from all other institutions, and must be sustained and provided for accordingly by the Nation.

This mutual obligation forms the Military Covenant between the Nation, the Army and each individual soldier; an unbreakable common bond of identity, loyalty and responsibility which has sustained the Army throughout its history. It has perhaps its greatest manifestation in the annual commemoration of Armistice Day, when the Nation keeps covenant with those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in action.


Army Doctrine Publication Volume 5
The 'duty of c are' to troops includes paying towards healthcare, which can be physical care for injuries or mental support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other problems. The Ministry of Defence also provides support for bereaved families.

The law gives the government 'combat immunity', which prevents soldiers from claiming compensation for injuries they received in combat except under official compensation schemes. Because soldiers cannot take the Crown to a civil court, the covenant is viewed as important in protecting soldiers' rights to compensation.


go here for more


http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/overview/covenant.shtml

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

UK:Ex-soldier thankful after overdose drama

Scott Vaughan

Ex-soldier thankful after overdose drama
29 October 2008 12:35

A FORMER soldier from Ipswich today thanked a civil servant for helping to save his life after a drug overdose.

Scott Vaughan, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, tried to kill himself earlier this month by taking the anxiety drug Diazepam.

But he also made a call to the Department for Work and Pensions in an effort to sort out his incapacity benefits and quick-thinking Suffolk call-taker, Annette Moorhouse, dialled for an ambulance once she realised what was wrong.

Mr Vaughan, 35, of Schreiber Road, said: “If it wasn't for her I would have completed my mission to kill myself.

“I wasn't with it on the phone and she asked what the matter was. I apologised to her and said I couldn't go on any more.

“I didn't think it would be worth me filling in the form because hopefully I wouldn't be waking up very soon.

“She must have called an ambulance and by the time it got here I was on the verge of collapse.”

Mr Vaughan was taken to Ipswich Hospital and the next thing he remembers is waking up in the town's St Clement's Hospital.

He said he was now determined to turn his life around with the help of medical professionals and the support of his loving fiancée, Angela Carey.
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Sunday, October 5, 2008

Armed forces facing 'explosion' of mental illness

Armed forces facing 'explosion' of mental illness
Britain is facing an "explosion" of psychiatric disorders amongst serving and former members of the armed forces.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:33AM BST 05 Oct 2008

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that ex-servicemen's charities have seen a 53% increase in the number of veterans seeking help since 2005, a rate which threatens to "swamp" them within a few years.

The Ministry of Defence's own figures show that up to 2000 members of the armed services are being diagnosed every year with a psychiatric condition after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Former service personnel who fought in earlier campaigns stretching back to the Second World War are also coming forward for treatment after psychological problems have emerged years, sometimes decades, later.

Those problems include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), manic depression, mood swings, and drug and alcohol dependency. It has also emerged that up to seven service personnel have committed suicide either during or after active duty in Iraq.

Details of the size of the problem were revealed by a senior MoD official speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said: "We are facing an explosion of psychiatric problems not just from serving military personnel but also from those who served in campaigns dating all the way back to the Second World War. It is a huge problem and something which requires a cross-governmental solution."

The official's comments were supported by Combat Stress, the ex-services mental welfare charity, which has seen an increase in the number of referrals of veterans rise by 53 per cent since 2005.

In 2000, the charity saw just 300 new patients who had an average age of 70. So far this year, the charity has seen 1,160 veterans, with an average age of 43. Of those, 217 saw service in Iraq and 38 fought in Afghanistan. The youngest veteran being cared for by the charity is just 20.

Robert Marsh, the director of fund raising for Combat Stress, said his organisation was working at full capacity.

He said: "There is a strong possibility that we face being swamped by new veterans seeking our help. There has been a 53 per cent increase in the number of veterans seeking our help in just three years. Lord knows what we are going to be faced with in five or 10 years time. We need to develop more capacity for the future because we are already creaking."

The charity, which has three regional treatment centres in the UK - in Surrey, Shropshire and Ayrshire - has 8,490 ex-service personnel on its books of whom around 4000 are currently receiving treatment.

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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Life after war: when the guns fall silent

September 13, 2008

Life after war: when the guns fall silent
Special Air Service veteran and writer Andy McNab talks about the internal battle that begins when the fight is over
Robert Crampton
“The first time I killed a lad,” says Andy McNab, “it was 1979, I was with the Green Jackets in Northern Ireland, I was 19, and he wasn’t far away, I could see his eyes. I was absolutely sh****** myself. But you can’t say you were scared.” Did he talk to anyone about his feelings? “Absolutely not. It wasn’t the done thing, you’re worried about peer pressure and promotion and being down as a fruit. Besides, nobody wants to know about any failings, it’s a success, it’s what you do. It says in the manual, ‘The role of the infantry is to close with and destroy the enemy.’ The Army calls it ‘being kinetic’, which means blowing things up and killing people.”

When McNab passed selection for the Special Air Service in 1984, there was, he says, among his new elite comrades, more honesty regarding the dangers of combat. “You’re older and more confident, so you do talk about it more, mainly, ‘F*** that, I don’t want to do that again.’ But there was no system, no counselling, although a couple of lads used to sneak off to a charity in Wales for help. Delta Force [the US equivalent of the SAS] used to have an in-house psychologist. We would take the p***, but actually, it was a good idea.”

After McNab led Bravo Two Zero, the SAS patrol behind enemy lines during the first Gulf War which later gave rise to his 1994 bestseller, he had a couple of sessions back in Hereford with Dr Gordon Turnbull. “His claim to fame was he’d looked after the mountain rescue teams who were at Lockerbie. He talked to us about post-traumatic stress, what the symptoms were and so on. At the time I didn’t think I got a lot out of it.”

But as McNab has grown older (he is now 48) and wiser, he has become fully converted to the idea that some, not all, soldiers suffer post-traumatic stress and need help. His new book, his first work of non-fiction (many novels have intervened) since Immediate Action, the sequel to Bravo Two Zero, deals with the consequences of such stress on several of his former SAS colleagues, the members of Seven Troop of the book’s title. In particular, McNab tells the story of Frank Collins and Charles “Nish” Bruce, both of whom committed suicide several years after leaving the regiment, in 1998 and 2002 respectively.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

PTSD:Thousands of war veterans locked in British prisons

Thousands of war veterans locked in British prisons
One in 11 prisoners serving time in UK jails is a former member of the armed forces, a new report reveals.

By Ben Leach
Last Updated: 6:26PM BST 30 Aug 2008



War veterans make up around nine per cent of the prison population Photo: GETTY IMAGES


More than 8,000 veterans are currently behind bars, many of whom have served their country in Iraq or Afghanistan, researchers found.

A high proportion of the convicts interviewed in the study had suffered some form of post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the forces. Often their convictions were for drug- or alcohol-related violence.

Ex-services charities said the findings highlighted the difficulty which many former soldiers face in making the transition to civilian life.

The National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO), which carried out the research, called on the Government to do more to tackle mental health problems suffered by people who have fought in war zones.

It said that around 24,000 veterans are either in jail, on parole or serving community punishment orders after having been convicted of crimes. They make up around nine per cent of the prison population.

Opposition MPs and charities called the findings another example of ministers breaking the 'military covenant' – the guarantee that soldiers receive fair treatment in return for putting their lives on the line.

They claimed that if the Ministry of Defence properly screened those discharged from the military for mental illnesses, problems could be identified earlier.

NAPO's conclusions are based on the findings of three separate studies: MoD research at HMP Dartmoor, a survey at eight jails by the Veterans in Prison support groups last year, and a series of Home Office research projects between 2001 and 2004.

In addition, probation officers provided case histories of 74 individuals so that researchers could assess the factors that drove ex-services personnel to commit crimes.

The report concludes: "Most of the soldiers who had served in either the Gulf or Afghanistan were suffering from post traumatic stress. Little support or counselling was available on discharge from the forces.

"Virtually all became involved in heavy drinking or drug taking and in consequence involvement in violence offences, sometimes domestically related, happened routinely."
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The UK has the same problem we do, except we have a lot more wounded veterans in jail instead of in treatment.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

PTSD Videos from the BBC


US troops struggle with post-war trauma

One in five American soldiers returning from Iraq suffers trauma or depression according to new surveys.
18 May 2005


Legal challenge over Iraq trauma

Soldiers who suffered stress after returning from Iraq are preparing to sue the government for failing to treat them.
28 Jan 2006


Police payout for Lawrence friend

The surviving victim of the racist attack which killed Stephen Lawrence has been paid £100,000 damages.
10 Mar 2006


7 July survivor recalls day's events

Passenger Michael Henning was on a Circle Line train near Liverpool Street when a bomb tore apart the carriage in front.
5 Jun 2006


Former officer homeless

Former Met police officer Aphra Howard-Garde is homeless, living in a car, battling post traumatic stress and depression.
14 Dec 2006


Care for traumatised soldiers

A Midlands' home has been helping former armed service personnel suffering from post traumatic stress disorder to overcome the condition.
12 Apr 2007


'Stress risk' for army troops

Long periods of deployment are putting forces at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, research suggests.
3 Aug 2007


Gulf War syndrome story told

The wife of a soldier who developed post-war traumatic stress disorder has written a book.
26 Nov 2007


Bridges Day Centre - Simon's story

For Simon Cracknell, the Rethink Bridges Day Centre is a vital part of life. Simon copes with his post traumatic stress disorder through the centre's open door. but what about...
17 Jan 2008


Rise in traumatised veterans

The number of ex-service personnel suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is increasing and is expected to rise further.
12 Mar 2008


Veteran recalls nightmares

A former soldier has described how he developed post traumatic stress disorder years after he left the service.
12 Mar 2008


Soldiers' fight persists post-war

Nearly half the US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from post-traumatic stress, the US military says.
28 May 2008

Friday, August 1, 2008

UK Gulf War Vet:Learning to cope with trauma

Learning to cope with trauma
8:50pm Friday 1st August 2008

GULF War syndrome (GWS) sufferer Dick Hilling has organised a post-traumatic stress (PTS) conference to help victims of the invisible injury.

Dick, 59, of The Prinnels, West Swindon, says he helped arrange an event at the Marriott Hotel yesterday to help sufferers find relief from a condition he says is similar to GWS.

The 59-year-old worked in the Royal Air Force as a mental health nurse for 28 years.

He says during his six months serving in the first Gulf conflict from October 1990 to March 1991 he was forced to take nerve agent pre-treatment tablets called Pyrostigmine and believes this has led him to his current condition.

He said: “When I began taking these pills I could not sleep – my patterns went all out of whack. I then developed a lot of digestive problems.

“After about five years of being back I began to forget things and ended up having to give up my career and driving licence because I could no longer focus.

“I didn’t know what was happening. I still have a poor memory and this affects me daily.

“I just hope this conference can help others from suffering from what one doctor close to me calls the invisible injury.”

Dick believes people need events like the conference to spend time with like-minded people and to educate themselves on the causes and effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He says it was only after retiring from nursing, and retraining in stress management, that he got his life back on track.

Now he is volunteering at Learning For Life, a mental health charity, and wants to help more people, partly because he likens PTSD to Gulf War syndrome.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

UK:Homeless veterans still sleeping rough

Homeless veterans still sleeping rough

Alexandra Topping
The Guardian,
Wednesday June 25, 2008
The number of homeless ex-forces veterans in London has dropped dramatically, but the group remains vulnerable and hard to reach, according to new research. The percentage of former service personnel in London's homeless population has dropped from 22% in 1997 to 6% in 2007, according to a study by York University. The number of homeless veterans remained significant, however, with an estimated 1,100 non-statutory homeless ex-service personnel living in London on any given night.

Only one in six homeless veterans cited problems adjusting to civilian life as the cause of their difficulties, and only a small minority suffered from military-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. But a military background had an impact on how veterans experience homelessness, with many considering themselves better equipped to deal with the hardships of street life and less inclined to seek help.
go here for more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/25/housing.communities?commentpage=1

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

UK has to pass law to stop discrimination against troops?

Discrimination against military to be outlawed
· Shops that ban uniforms will face legal sanctions
· Ministers want more cadet forces in schools

Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday May 20 2008

Shops, hospitals and other public institutions will in future be committing a criminal offence if they refuse to serve armed forces personnel in uniform, ministers announced yesterday.

An offence outlawing discrimination against the wearing of military uniforms is among 40 recommendations designed to promote greater protection and understanding of the armed forces. They include promoting cadet forces in schools.

The proposals are contained in a report, National Recognition of our Armed Forces, ordered by Gordon Brown and drawn up by Quentin Davies, the former Conservative MP who switched to Labour last year. Davies called yesterday for a "new era of greater openness and public involvement of the [armed] services".

The armed forces minister, Bob Ainsworth, said the government was engaged in discussions about how the new law could be introduced, since discrimination against personnel in military uniform was "totally and utterly unacceptable".

The report cited a number of cases of discrimination, including a Harrods security assistant in 2006 preventing an army officer from entering the store after a Remembrance Day ceremony.

Staff at Birmingham airport last year told troops returning from Afghanistan to change into civilian clothes, and troops passing through Edinburgh airport were directed away from public areas.

Patients from the armed forces rehabilitation centre at Headley Court in Surrey were subjected to abuse by members of the public at a swimming pool, and abuse levelled at RAF personnel in parts of Peterborough led to restrictions on their wearing uniform in public.

Davies proposed the appointment of a "cadet ambassador" to liaise with schools.

Yesterday's report noted that of 6,400 secondary schools in the UK, only 260 had combined cadet forces and all but 60 were grammar and independent schools. However, there must be "no sense of compulsion at all", Davies said.
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linked from ICasualties.org

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

UK PTSD veteran turned away from help climbed City Hall to jump


David Mottershead, 27, climbed the scaffolding at City Hall on Sunday at 4am, and he says it was post traumatic stress disorder he got from entering minefields while on duty that led him to attempt suicide. Photo: Simon Finlay



Norwich Evening News - Norwich,England,UK



SAM WILLIAMS
14 May 2008 11:00


A former soldier diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder today told how he scaled 60ft to the top of scaffolding at City Hall as a desperate cry for help.

David Mottershead had to be talked down by police after clambering seven-storeys of scaffolding with the intention of taking his own life.

Officers spent more than an hour negotiating with the 27-year-old in the early hours of Sunday morning before he finally agreed to come down.

Today, Mr Mottershead told how he climbed the scaffolding after becoming frustrated in his attempts to receive help for his condition.

He claims he is one of thousands of former military service personnel to be diagnosed with PTSD but unable to get the support needed to make them better.

He was diagnosed with the illness three years ago after serving in the Territorial Army for two-and-a-half years.

This two tours of duty as a peacekeeper in Kosovo in 2000 during which his life was put in grave danger after entering three minefields.

Mr Mottershead, who grew up in military bases in Germany and across the UK, said the disease had left him suffering bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies, in constant fear and suffering recurring nightmares.

He was unable to keep down his former job as a manager in Glasgow nightclub and split up with his fiancée. He has now been living in emergency hotel accommodation in the city for about eight months after moving here to be close to his brother and the former RAF Coltishall airbase, where he lived for a time in his childhood.

On Saturday night Mr Mottershead recognised a worsening in his symptoms, and fearing he would harm himself pleaded with police at Bethel Street Police Station to lock him up for the night or get him sectioned. Officers drove him to Hellesdon Hospital, but medics refused to section him.

Police were forced to release him, but within hours he had clambered to the top of the scaffolding at City Hall, triggering an alarm.
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

UK: A wife's story of living with PTSD husband

How one wife coped with her soldier husband's post-traumatic stress
As told to Justine Smith 6/05/2008

Sue's story: Choking back the sobs, I watched my husband sleep. Where had my big, strong soldier gone? And who was this frightened little man in my bed?

I had just picked him up from a psychiatric hospital where he had been for 23 days.

I could still hear his screams and see the fear in his eyes as he was dragged off by armed police.

After years of strange behaviour and wild mood swings Carl and I had needed a break from each other so he'd gone to Greece in the summer of 2006 to try to set up a home for us - it had always been our dream.

But he suffered total meltdown after yobs beat him up when he tried to stop them picking on a tramp.

He went missing, reappearing days later in flip-flops and shorts, burned to a crisp with his feet covered in hideous blisters. We got him back to England but he was beyond my help. So he was sectioned, released, and now here I was, lying next to my broken husband.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

UK PTSD: David Bradly 4 life sentences for killing family



Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

By Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 7:43pm BST 09/04/2008



A former soldier who executed four members of his family with a smuggled handgun has been jailed for at least 15 years.

David Bradley, 43, shot his uncle, aunt and two cousins with the silenced 7.65mm pistol he obtained from a Croat in return for a pack of cigarettes while serving in Bosnia.


Bradley was taken in by his victims at 17

He was said to have been left mentally ill as a result of serving during the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Bradley, who became a cannabis-smoking loner, will only be transferred to prison once doctors deem him sane enough to leave a top security mental hospital.

A judge imposed four life sentences today before the Home Secretary ordered Bradley be detained at Rampton for indefinite treatment.

The severity of his illness means it may never be safe for him to be released.

Bradley, a bachelor, was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder when carried out the five-hour killing spree at the family home 21 months ago.

He was said to have been plagued by nightmares and flashbacks of atrocities he witnessed while serving as a private with a Royal Artillery unit in Ulster.

Paul Sloan QC told Newcastle upon Tyne Crown Court, he was exposed to then common-place shootings and bombings during a tour of duty.



He said: “He was the target of bricks and stones thrown by rioters. On one occasion a grenade was thrown at his squad but failed to explode.

"He witnessed the gruesome mutilation of a rioter when a bomb exploded in hand before it was thrown. And later in Bosnia he came under fire.”

Bradley never told military authorities about his problems but found himself living in constant fear, unable to sleep and resorting to solo binge-drinking and smoking cannabis to relax.

He was discharged from the Army in 1995 with an exemplary record but was unable to find a job.

He sought medical help but failed to take prescribed drugs.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

David Boulton, Falklands War Vet, kicked to death

Man killed Falklands War veteran

Christopher Jones admitted manslaughter
A man who kicked a veteran of the Falklands War to death has been jailed for six years at Swansea Crown Court.

Christopher Jones, 31, from Milford Haven, admitted the manslaughter of David Boulton, 59, from Hakin.

His plea of not guilty to murder was accepted by the prosecution on the grounds that he had not intended to kill or to seriously injure Mr Boulton.

Jones' uncle, Joseph Vlietstra, 60, was jailed for nine months for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Vlietstra, who admitted the charge, had arranged for Jones' clothes to be washed immediately after the attack, the court heard.

Mr Boulton was attacked on 30 April last year but died on 1 June.

Shoe marks

Judge Mr Justice Saunders said there had been disputes between neighbours at a block of flats in John Lewis Street, Hakin, and both Mr Boulton and Vlietstra had made complaints to the police.

On 30 April Jones visited his uncle and got into a row with Mr Boulton and then went into his flat and assaulted him, the court heard.

As he left Mr Boulton followed him, but Jones grabbed hold of his legs, pulled him down a flight of stairs and kicked him to the head and stamped on him, leaving shoe marks on his body, the court was told.
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