By Elfyn Llwyd MP - 9th July 2010
These last few weeks, the total number of British service deaths in Afghanistan has surpassed well over 300 – more than we lost in the Falkands war and more than died in Iraq.
Many more have been wounded and it is a sobering reminder that while these brave young men and women are not the architects of UK foreign policy, it is they and their families that are paying a very heavy price for it.
The war has become unwinnable, just as we always knew it would be. It is costing us £7.2m every single day just to keep our troops out there and in harm’s way. Of course they deserve our support, but I have made no secret of my belief that the best way of showing them our support would be to bring them home.
Unfortunately, when our soldiers do come home that is not the end of the story.
Over the past two years, I have campaigned in Parliament for greater support to be shown to veterans of the Armed Forces, because when they leave the forces, many encounter problems adjusting to normal life after being in conflict.
Many experience difficulties, and some suffer from depression and reliance on drugs or alcohol after they leave the structured environment of military life and return home. A much smaller, but still significance number suffer the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder - PTSD.
In the worst cases, ex-soldiers become completely cut off from society and fall into a vicious circle of trouble with the criminal justice system. Recent research conducted by Kent Police has revealed that thousands of former soldiers are being arrested in Britain each month, many for violent crimes.
Over the last two months, 232 ex-service personnel were arrested in Kent police force area alone. A third of these arrests were for violent offences, and almost 40 per cent of those detained were unemployed.
If the same pattern in Kent proved to be true for the 43 police forces across England and Wales, as many as 60,000 ex-service military personnel could be being arrested annually.
The figures might even be an underestimate, since former military personnel who stand to lose their pensions if convicted could be reluctant to reveal their service record.
The statistics are shocking. Sadly, though, it is not surprising that so many veterans of the Armed Forces are ending up in prison or on probation.
This cannot be just the military’s fault – there is a responsibility on all of society to support our soldiers, both when they are fighting, and when they return home. But clearly we are not spending enough time preparing our soldiers for life after conflict before they leave the war zones.
We spend months training these men and women to fight in the most dangerous environment imaginable, where every day they could lose their lives. Why then do we not invest as much time and effort into debriefing them before they return home?
Many will require counselling, and most will need advice on how to take their lives forward, be it through debt management, help with constructing a C.V., even life skills and training courses – we should be offering this help to all our soldiers, regardless of whether they ask for it.
David Cameron has spoken of his wish to renew the Military Covenant. As a long-term campaigner for more welfare rights for veterans, I of course welcome this renewal. As yet, though, it is unclear how he will fulfil this.
In the past month, Operational Allowance – the money awarded to soldiers serving in conflict – has been doubled. But in order to fulfil the obligations of the Military Covenant, more money and research need to be directed towards helping soldiers after they have returned home.
I have also argued that there should be a thorough and separate review into resources spent on veterans – similar to the strategic defence review being promised.
This week, the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group presented an action plan on cutting veteran offending and re-offending to the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence.
As Chair of the group, I sincerely hope that the relevant ministries will take heed.
As a matter of priority, counselling and advice facilities should be available during and immediately after service to minimise the chances of individuals entering the criminal justice system.
But strategies should also be developed to ensure support and advice is available to those who do enter the criminal justice system to avoid re-offending.
Public and parliamentary awareness of the problem is certainly far greater now than it was when I began campaigning for it.
But a lot more has to be done to ensure more men and women are not left to this same downward spiral after leaving the forces. These, at least, are war casualties that could be avoided.
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