General Chat

Being an army wife I see what goes on first hand..We have lost friends in Afghan and seen friends badly injured...I am proud to be an army wife and proud of our guys and girls..I just wish they would all come home as I don't believe we will this war! Hubby could be deployed at any time..

Jules x

Thanks for that, Rambling Rose. My OH was invalided out in 1955, and suffered ever since with nerve trouble in his back. Was given no help except a green card which entitled him to ajob suitable for a disabled person. Al it did was to exclude him from employment. Me being less self-effacing, soon saw that he got a decent job, but I shouldnt have had to do it. He has had more support since he was 65, but the worst damage is done, and he suffers from Neuropathy almost every part of his body and is in pain always, but still doing all the work he can. I think the back-up is a little better now, but not much and people need to be voiciferous about it.

I couldn't decide whether to put this on a seperate threador post it at all in fact, but following on from what Jean has just said about mental stress I thik I will... it was on news early today

" LONDON (Reuters) - More than twice as many former British servicemen are in prison, on probation or on parole than are serving in Afghanistan, the Guardian reported on Friday.

According to probation officers' union Napo, some 20,000 veterans are in the criminal justice system, with 8,500 of them in jail, making up almost 10 percent of the prison population, the Guardian said.

"There is overwhelming evidence that support is not available of sufficient calibre when soldiers leave the service," Harry Fletcher, Napo's assistant general secretary, told the newspaper.

"The preponderance of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression is also alarming."

The Napo survey of 90 cases of convicted veterans found nearly half suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression as a result of their experiences in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The proportion of Britain's prison population who are veterans has risen by more than 30 percent in the last five years, according to the report.

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren; editing by Andrew Roche) "

This is from US last year
"There are almost 200,000 homeless veterans in America. Let me introduce you to one" : ( * that equates to one third of homeless being ex serviceperson)

"Less than a year after serving with the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, twenty-five year old Herold Noel found himself unemployed, homeless, and unable to provide for his wife and four children.

As a homeless Iraq veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and living out of his car in Brooklyn, Herold was not greeted by a support system for veterans. Instead, he met resistance from the Housing Authority, the VA, and New York’s city shelter for families, filling out form after form and added to waiting list after waiting list.

According to Herold, “I thought New York was going to look out for me, I just got back from war. I felt like I’d been stabbed in the back.”

Herald is not alone. Already, an estimated 1,500 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are homeless or at risk for homelessness. They are joining the increasing ranks of veterans who are homeless."


It seems that neither the US nor us are offering the right sort of support for servicemen after they leave the army , the forgotten heroes..... once out of uniform and in the street do we recognise that young man who looked so 'in control ' in the young man with maybe anger or depression, with nightmares we can't even guess at?

www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

( sorry for rant, it's just something that is on my mind a lot at the moment... probably because I see a few youngsters round here getting ready to join up or be posted)

In the 50's we had Military hospitals all over Britain, which specialised in looking after servicemen, and a lot of the treatments used today were pioneered in them. As an army nurse we saw medical and trauma patients, also ex prisoner-of war personnel.These last were from the Korean war and they were captured by Chinese soldiers. I do not now tell anyone about what they told me of their treatment, ecept to say it was horrific, and I would imagine that some would still be suffering today. Taking nothing from what has been already said, but the mental stress is often ignored.

I watched it with tears in my eyes and pride in my heart....Once again the youngsters of this country show that in general we have a great country with great youngsters willing to serve. The bravery of the two soldiers featured are testament to my personal view that the vast majority of British youngsters are brave determined individuals ready and willing as volunteers to make the ultimate sacrifice.

When I worked at Birmingham airport a couple of years ago, I was amazed and very concerned at the sheer number of flights arriving for Selly Oak Hospital in the early hours all carrying wounded service personnel

The programme is on again tonight-BBC 3 at 9 pm (or 21.00. hours !)

I am one of those people who thinks we should have never gone to Afghanistan in the first place and I so wish we could bring all our troops home now, but recently I watched an interview with the parents of a young soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. They said that to bring the troops home now, would mean that their son died for nothing and that the only thing to do now is get on with the job and sort the Taliban out once and for all. It breaks my heart to see our young people injured or killed but I think that parent is probably right and they know better than me. So I now pray for the safe return of all our troops and hope that the job gets finished very very soon. God bless them all!

Lainey

Those young lads last night are heroes, to face life with such zest in the face of the most appaling injuries is amazing. They have my utmost respect as do the other people involved in the Armed Forces.
Claire x

Yes I watched it and felt humbled by the sheer determination of those young men,I expect their attitudes are what makes them good soldiers in the first place.

I was also moved by the mother of the Irish lad,she was so positive although I suspect it was very hard to be

One of the young Afgans interveiwed at the "jungle" camp at Calais actually said he left because he might have to go in the Army-perhaps Afganistan needs some conscription ?

What a brilliant programme.So moving to see those young lads being so strong and positive.Many others would have just wanted to give up.I had to watch it by myself as OH said he couldn't.Not because of their injuries but because of the fact they lost limbs and sight in a war he feels they should never have been in(he was quite emotional )

We watched it and were both in tears at times. I know it's their job and they signed up for it but I wouldn't wish such terrible injuries on anyone. Poor things.

If you didn't see it, then there is an article on BBC on line.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8244110.stm
Well worth reading/watching.
Brian(i)

Lainey,

I have only watched the pre-news part of the programme so far and was amazed at the determination of the young man working towards walking for his medal parade. I shall watch the second part when I have a little time.

Being a medic on the front line must be horrific, dealing with the terrible injuries, but without their fast response these boys would not have lived.
The expertise of the medical services involved in the recovery of these severely wounded servicemen is awesome.

We all need to ensure we support the Help for Heroes campaign to give a little help to the wounded and their families, and give thanks that we have such wonderful armed forces.

Elisabeth

Did anyone else watch this wonderful documentary about 2 soldiers who were blown up in Afghanistan and their recovery and rehabilitation process? Ben lost both legs and an arm and Andy lost both legs and most of his eyesight. These 2 courageous and very young men fought back both with their own personal goals. Ben wanted to walk on his new legs at his medal parade and Andy wanted to get better to see his newborn son and return home to Ireland. These are 2 truly remarkable young men. I am so proud of them and all our servicemen and women, but also the staff at the hospitals who worked tirelessly to help these young men reclaim their lives. You are all true heroes!!

Lucky Lainey

P.S off to work soon but will be back later so please accept my apologies if I do not answer till later.