Abandoning our ex forces

[stihlmadasever]

What the hell is going on?

It seems like every week i hear,read or see on tv a lot of our ex service personel being abandoned on our streets.

Ive lost 1 mate to alcohol and homelessness and im damned if i ll lose another!

Why isnt our government or at least the MOD doing more to address this issue?

We know how ptsd has affected many of our personel so why isnt more being done?

I know from my time in the services that alcohol is deep seated in the forces way of life and it is used as a way to unwind and decompress.Many soldiers coming back from theatre find themselves on civvy street just cant adjust.

Some,if not most,are too proud or embarressed to ask or seek help until they have hit the street dependant on drugs and alcohol,alienating the loved ones, who try too help,but get pushed further and further away because the squaddie mindset it too carry on and make do.

Our lads and lasses are NOT being helped by our government,infact the only help seems to be coming from those ex forces who have suffered themselves and are good enough to put those experiences into use to help others in the same situation,most of these are run with charity contributions.

I dont proffess to have the answers but perhaps if more pressure was applied to our government more would be done.

Im angry,so fuckin angry

[agrimog]

this is a bigger issue than just homlessness, the amount of ex-mill sufferering from ptsd, and other ilnessesis soaring, the last few conflicts involving uk forces have been vicious and dirty and MOD is not preparing, nor aftercareing the young men and woman involved in these........it started with the falklands, and has gotten worse eversince..........recruit them, use and abuse them, then abandon them afterwards............britain has one of the worst records anywhere for vetran support

[Vespasian]

Perhaps the army attracts a higher percentage of young men who would never easily fit into civilian life to begin with..   its why these men join up in the first place..

 

when they leave the services, its the easiest thing in the world to say they're suffering from PTSD..  When in fact they might be better served to tell em to pull their boots up and man up to the job of getting on in the real world..   

 

clean your room, make your bed and get out the door, look for a job....    and by the way, if you leave a job, get sacked from a job, you don't expect your ex employer to keep an eye on you do you..

 

Don't get me wrong I'm all for the army helping out genuine cases of psychologically damaged individuals who've fought on the front lines..  but I think every man and his dog is using PTSD as cover for the shortcomings that they had previous to being in the army to begin with..

 

 

 

[Stumpy Grinder]

When you compare the amount of traumatic stress suffered by a modern day soldier, compared to that of a first or second world war soldier, they are a quantum leap apart! Back then, many suffering from true stress were even shot for desertion! I think it is fair to say that our elder generations were hard as nails compared to their modern day counterparts, as life in general was much harder then. It's all too easy nowadays to just give up and blame society which will then provide a solution. Many servicemen and women join up because it is an easy solution to sort their lives out. They then become institutionalised and then face the same problems when they leave. Continual postings and relatively cheap rental married quarters or single accommodation do not encourage house purchase. Many don't learn a trade as such and therefore have no real skill set when they leave. Resettlement training is very good, but you can't just do a course in Plumbing/Electrics/ Tree surgery/etc...... and then miraculously become one the next day after you leave the forces! Unfortunately, most think you can as they don't know any different. They then become unemployed and sometimes homeless where many are adapted to as they are taught to survive.

Those that serve long enough will have a bloody good pension which they can draw upon on leaving. It is those that serve only a few years that tend to suffer. Retention is a major issue in the armed forces due to relatively poor pay and a very poor quality of life. If you work on those, the forces would be a happier place and less would leave to become unemployed and homeless. It's a job at the end of the day and you are not owed a living at the end of it.

SG

[Billhook]

There is some good work going on for the forces personnel affected by ptsd in the form of helping them back into the community through working with archaeologists.

Here is one site

http://www.breakinggroundheritage.org.uk/

 

We had some archaeology on the farm this year and I was asked if I minded if some of these people joined.  I said they would be welcome but it turned out that the British group were on another dig so we had some Americans who had been in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They came for two weeks initially with their heads down a bit and a bit awkward but left with their heads high and full of enthusiasm.

Some local RAF also became involved and the group Captain who came out initially to observe found himself on his hands and knees digging away.  It was hoped that this sort of  positive activity will be reported back to higher authority and more funding will be available

You would think that perhaps people who had had their mates blown apart would think that the last thing they would want to be doing was digging up human skeletons.  The 1500 year old skeletons were somehow more remote and the important thing was the history and archaeology but perhaps the most important thing for them was the socialising after work which did involve alcohol at the pub, but it was drinking with new friends in a happy situation as opposed to drinking alone to try and cure depression.

It was interesting for us to hear their stories and to see their relief and release I suppose while talking to people who wanted to listen.  The archaeology was hard work with long days but their discipline was good and they did fine work and importantly felt needed.

Next year we are hoping that a group of Danish ex military will join.  It is not just people who have had a very bad experience in battle but also people who have just been institutionalised.

[Boggle4137]

The army does look after you more than you think while serving, once you have left it is a huge adjustment, even years down the line. While thier are charities and government agencies that do help with people's problems it takes a lot to admit you have a problem in the first place. Many of my friends have ptsd and they are under going treatment, but the "best" therapists in my opinion is each other, I chat with my army friends almost daily, mainly banter but we all relay on each other if things are getting difficult.... Either way a 100% solution is never going to exist but honestly they system does work for some.

[Boggle4137]

8 hours ago, Stumpy Grinder said:

When you compare the amount of traumatic stress suffered by a modern day soldier, compared to that of a first or second world war soldier, they are a quantum leap apart! Back then, many suffering from true stress were even shot for desertion! I think it is fair to say that our elder generations were hard as nails compared to their modern day counterparts, as life in general was much harder then. It's all too easy nowadays to just give up and blame society which will then provide a solution. Many servicemen and women join up because it is an easy solution to sort their lives out. They then become institutionalised and then face the same problems when they leave. Continual postings and relatively cheap rental married quarters or single accommodation do not encourage house purchase. Many don't learn a trade as such and therefore have no real skill set when they leave. Resettlement training is very good, but you can't just do a course in Plumbing/Electrics/ Tree surgery/etc...... and then miraculously become one the next day after you leave the forces! Unfortunately, most think you can as they don't know any different. They then become unemployed and sometimes homeless where many are adapted to as they are taught to survive.

Those that serve long enough will have a bloody good pension which they can draw upon on leaving. It is those that serve only a few years that tend to suffer. Retention is a major issue in the armed forces due to relatively poor pay and a very poor quality of life. If you work on those, the forces would be a happier place and less would leave to become unemployed and homeless. It's a job at the end of the day and you are not owed a living at the end of it.

SG

I understand where you are coming from comparing ww1 soldiers to modern day counterparts, however being shot at, blown up or being caught in a situation where lives are being lost, is still traumatic, no matter how you look at it. I'm sure if we knew what we did today, with the services we have now some of those guys would have been looked after.

[Khriss]

Pat Barker wrote a fine ( fiction ) work on this based WW1, very insightful and also how badly shell shock was treated back then . K

[David Cropper]

8 hours ago, Vespasian said:

Perhaps the army attracts a higher percentage of young men who would never easily fit into civilian life to begin with..   its why these men join up in the first place..

 

when they leave the services, its the easiest thing in the world to say they're suffering from PTSD..  When in fact they might be better served to tell em to pull their boots up and man up to the job of getting on in the real world..   

 

clean your room, make your bed and get out the door, look for a job....    and by the way, if you leave a job, get sacked from a job, you don't expect your ex employer to keep an eye on you do you..

 

Don't get me wrong I'm all for the army helping out genuine cases of psychologically damaged individuals who've fought on the front lines..  but I think every man and his dog is using PTSD as cover for the shortcomings that they had previous to being in the army to begin with..

 

 

 

I was beginning to warm to you recently as I found you amusing. You are talking the biggest load of crap ever. You know sod all  what ex forces go through. To say, in your own opinionated, totally ignorant way, that most young men won't fit into civilian life and are left with the option of going into the Forces because they can't do anything else, shows what a complete arse you are. Lots of employers take on ex forces because they will do most things required of them. I can't carry on this rant because I'm getting so wound up. You really are a complete tosser.

[Boggle4137]

2 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Pat Barker wrote a fine ( fiction ) work on this based WW1, very insightful and also how badly shell shock was treated back then . K

Sabastian Faulks wrote birdsong, absolute master piece (again fiction) detailing what the guys went through in the trenches.