They don't have to kill you to take your life away. The words of an ex-serviceman, reported in The Herald last year, eloquently describe how engagement in combat zones can have psychological as well as physical consequences for the armed forces. The psychological impact can be devastating. The ex- serviceman was one of some 1000 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases helped by Combat Stress, the charity that provides residential care for eligible veterans suffering from severe psychological problems. According to the charity, there has been a 26% increase in such cases in the past four years. It warns that it could be swamped by the number of cases unless there are the necessary resources to keep pace with growing demand.
There was recognition, of sorts, of this yesterday when Derek Twigg, the Armed Forces Minister, announced a phased, near-50% increase in residential grants to Combat Stress. The announcement, while welcome, confirms what the charity and other organisations involved in caring for the pyschological casualties of combat have been saying for some time: that they were underfunded by government. Ministers have been accused of breaking the military covenant by not caring for those it puts in harm's way by its policies.
The willingness of Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, to intervene with force abroad, most notably and misguidedly in Iraq, brought with it its own responsibilities: to care for those whose bodies were broken and minds damaged by front-line duties. Mr Blair failed to live up to these responsibilities as they applied to PTSD, and it is only now that Gordon Brown's government is beginning to accept the scale of these duties. The dismantling of Britain's military medical network began under the Tories in government and continued under Mr Blair, despite the paradox of an aggressive foreign policy being pursued at the same time.
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Deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan involve almost 25% of the British Army each year in rolling, six-month tours of duty, each involving 12,000 soldiers. In both theatres, the enemy are insurgents who can strike at any time and are virtually indistinguishable from local civilians.
Six month tours while our troops are expected to do 15!
