Post traumatic stress disorder is rife in the British army and we are failing soldiers, says journalist Matthew Green. He argues that the government needs to be honest about the toll that military service takes on the mental health of armed forces personnel. Only then, he says, will real change happen
Post traumatic stress disorder is rife in the British army and we are failing soldiers, says journalist Matthew Green. He argues that the government needs to be honest about the toll that military service takes on the mental health of armed forces personnel. Only then, he says, will real change happen
I loved the army. It gave me a structure and a sense of camaraderie I will never forget. I could just about deal with the racial abuse I experienced at the beginning of my army career and I came to see it as family. But I wasn’t prepared for the impact those years of service would have on the rest of my life.
I served in Northern Ireland and Cyprus. Army life gave me a structure that I think I took for granted at the time and when I left the army I struggled. I don’t know why, but I know what it felt like – I was like a boat without a sail or a rudder. People talk about the transition from the armed forces to civvy street as if it is always a really smooth process but that’s not true for everyone. It wasn’t for me.
I spent some time in Germany. When I returned to England I felt completely lost, like I had no future. I tried a few different jobs but I struggled to adapt. I now know that I was trying to live a “normal” life while dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The memories and flashbacks kept coming. My behaviour became erratic. Keeping work going was a struggle. I fell out with my wife. Then everything collapsed. I was homeless, camping down in the bin areas of blocks of flats. Getting by on people’s leftovers. Hanging round market stalls for the throwaways at the end of the day. My behaviour was getting more and more out of control and I ended up being sectioned.
I look at myself now, serving customers at the Veterans’ Kitchen, running a social enterprise – and I have to pinch myself. When I was homeless I didn’t trust anyone, let alone be able to serve them jerk chicken.
Initially, it was the charity Combat Stress that helped me out and put me in touch with Stoll, a charity with a few hundred homes for veterans. Stoll provided me with a flat in west London and made sure I had the support I needed at the time to get back on my feet. I now have a place I can call home; I have my sail and rudder back and a life to look forward to.
I am one of the lucky ones. I trained up as a chef at the Veterans’ Kitchen and when Bob, the previous owner, retired he passed the business on to me. I now run the Veterans’ Kitchen, next door to Chelsea Football Club. Having a stable home and being able to run our little cafe for veterans and the local community has helped me get back on track.
One of the hardest things for us military people to do is to ask for help. We are trained to be tough and independent. But my advice to anyone coming out of the armed forces is always ask for help.
This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2016 is psychological first aid and the support people can provide to those in distress.
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More than 32,000 British troops failed a key basic fitness test within the last three years, according to new figures that raise fears of an Army obesity crisis.
All soldiers are expected to undergo the personal fitness assessment, which involves press-ups, sit-ups and a run against the clock, twice a year.
But 29,600 male and 2,819 female troops have failed the test at some point in the three years to March 2014, according to figures first disclosed by The Sunday Times.
Soldiers suggested that poor diets were partly to blame, as separate figures showed that more than 22,000 troops were deemed to be overweight and at risk of health problems.
The figures reportedly make some allowance for the fact that soldiers who are heavily muscled may show up as technically overweight under commonly-used body mass index measures, even though they are fit.
One soldier claimed many of his peers had an “appalling” diet involving cooked breakfasts every day and chips with lunch and dinner.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed the figures. He said: “This figure represents 11 per cent of the Army serving in that period and many of those who failed will have subsequently passed their fitness test.
“All personnel are provided with the support and training necessary to meet the Army’s physical standards, with additional help for those personnel who fail to meet this criteria. Personnel who remain unable to meet the standard could ultimately be discharged.”
The latest figures follow the disclosure earlier this month that increasing numbers of soldiers are being discharged from the Army for being overweight.
There were at least 50 cases between January 2002 and March 2013 where soldiers were released for being obese. In 2011 alone, 13 soldiers were discharged in cases where obesity contributed to their ill-health.
Tam Fry, a board member of the National Obesity Forum, described the findings as “deeply worrying” and warned British troops were now facing the same problems as the US military.
In America, nearly half of all soldiers on active duty are overweight, with 19 per cent obese, according to an official report published last year.
Mr Fry said: “It should be as concerning to the taxpayer as to the military that British personnel are being discharged because of obesity.
“The forces have every opportunity to keep their men and women in shape – that’s what boot camps are for – but they appear no better than civilian governments in maintaining their population’s fitness.
“It should be no comfort to us either that, from figures released this month, the same problem confronts the US military.
“In Washington generals are dubbing the crisis a national emergency.”
The latest figures have been released just months after it was revealed the Royal Regiment of Scotland is blighted by unfit soldiers.
Troops serving within the prestigious regiment have failed fitness tests 630 times in the past three years.
The Royal Highland Fusiliers were the worst hit, with soldiers failing tests involving timed runs, press-ups and sit-ups, 170 times.
The Black Watch were the next worst affected, with soldiers failing the two-minute tests 120 times.
The MoD said troops who fail are told to take more physical training. Only in extreme cases does failure result in discharge from the army.
A spokeswoman for the MoD said it is a condition of service that all solders are healthy and fitter than the general public.
She said: “Overall obesity levels within the army are consistently lower than in civilian life. All individuals are assessed on their ability to carry out military activities rather than on their weight.”
She added that information of soldiers released on medical grounds would be published next month.
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RVS spokesman Steve Smith stated: “Local authorities have lower back on social care in the final few years and we know that austerity is here for a couple of many years to come.
“When you add to that the reality that the number of in excess of-80s is going to rise from three million nowadays to eight million by 2030, there is going to be an increasing role for the voluntary sector to step in and plug the gaps.
“Older men and women are going to be an escalating component of that, by delivering meals on wheels, day centres or other providers that would have been offered by the welfare state in the past.”
Local authorities minimize paying on adult social care by two per cent in real terms between 2012 and 2013, according to the Wellness and Social Care Data Centre. Nevertheless the need to have for social care continues to rise sharply.
When the NHS was set up in 1948 practically half of Britons did not reach retirement age. In contrast a little one born nowadays has a one particular in three chance of residing to be 100.
In addition, the informal “social glue” of households and neighbours seeking after OAPs has fragmented, with relatives more and more moving away from their parents and grandparents to find work and a million pensioners feeling unable to contact on neighbours for help, in accordance to a latest survey.
But the RVS is keen to get across the message that pensioners are not a burden on society: a current report advised that above-65s created a net contribution of £40 billion to the economic system via taxes and investing, a figure expected to rise to £77bn by 2030.
The figure is far larger if the hidden worth of volunteering is additional. More than-60s contribute the equivalent of £10bn in unpaid operate each and every yr, the RVS says.
They include Alan Alford, 74, from Bristol, who will be 1 of 12 Diamond Champions presented with awards by the Duchess of Cornwall at Thursday’s reception.
He clocks up an average of 25 hrs unpaid operate per week by pushing a snacks trolley around Frenchay Hospital, driving pensioners to day centres and volunteering at a regional hospice.
Since he offered his burglar alarm business and took early retirement in 1997, he has contributed much more than 22,000 hrs of unpaid work.
He stated: “When I was 21 I had a significant motorbike accident that left me in hospital for 9 months, and I received this kind of fantastic care I usually stated I desired to give something back a single day.
“Volunteering gives me such fulfillment, simply because you see the big difference if helps make to people’s lives.
“Just the other day a lady in hospital asked if I could arrange for her phone to be topped up, and when I had finished undertaking the trolley I received her a new card and took it to her. She hugged me and burst into tears, just for undertaking one thing as straightforward as that.
“I also drive a chap who is blind and has Parkinson’s to a day centre once a week, and he’s a distinct man or woman when he will get there. It’s fantastic.”
Scientific studies have proven that as well as benefiting people who are getting assisted, volunteering improves the psychological and physical health of volunteers.
It can also decrease the charge of hospital admissions. “We discovered final 12 months that 150,000 older men and women got no help when they returned property from hospital,” stated Mr Smith. “Nationally there is a 15 per cent re-admission charge within 28 days of discharge amid in excess of-75s.
“We carried out a task in Leicester and made positive men and women had support when they acquired back residence, like producing confident there was food in the cupboards and the heating worked, and the rate of hospital readmissions halved in six weeks.”
