‘Forgotten’ Iraq and Afghan war heroes ‘left homeless and resorting to crime’
Half are out of work and 70 per cent suffer service-related long-term physical or mental health conditions
BRIT veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are being “forgotten” by the nation and reduced to homeless, crime and even suicidal thoughts, a study claims.
Half are out of work and 70 per cent suffer service-related long-term physical or mental health conditions.
Sixty per cent of veterans suffer from clinically diagnosed mental health conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Ex-soldier David Swift, who joined the Army aged 17, found it near-impossible to adjust to civilian life when he left and ended up living on the streets.
He said: “In the space of a year I went from being a healthy young man in a great regiment to someone sitting in a park wondering what the point of my life was.
“You need help, but your pride is too important to you.
“Sometimes you think your family would be better off without you.
“You feel worthless.”
Many live off less than £14,000 a year — the average two-child family income is £31,000 — and have to rely on food banks.
Military charity SSAFA surveyed 1,000 veterans aged 16 to 65 for its study The New Frontline: Voices of Veterans in Need.
They served the UK in war zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the Falklands.
Most believe the UK does not give enough support to veterans.
More than half have not even heard of the Armed Forces Covenant, a 2011 government promise to treat current and former military personnel fairly.
The study also revealed over four in 10 veterans who fought in Afghanistan reported being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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That number rises to one in two for Gulf War veterans, revealing a far bigger issue with mental health problems than has previously been admitted.
Now many veterans, who should be in work, rely on food banks while some end up homeless, in prison, or contemplating suicide.
Toby Southgate, 43, who served with the Royal Corps of Transport, and served in the first Gulf War, told how he is now homeless after a prison stretch for dealing drugs.
He said: “I’m alone a lot.
“I feel like no one’s got my back.
“You don’t have the comradeship, and you’re never likely to have it again.
“In civilian life everyone is too scared of losing what little they have.
“They’ll walk all over you.”
One unnamed 24-year-old Afghan veteran – who was injured in an IED blast and suffered PTSD - told SSAFA he could not get sick pay from his cleaning job when he needed an operation on his knee.
SSAFA is now calling for welfare screening of vulnerable servicemen and women before they leave.
And a new government-funded mentoring scheme for the first year of life on Civvy Street.
They have also demanded the MoD improve its discharge process to ensure service records of the most vulnerable are shared with healthcare professionals.
Former Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal the Lord Guthrie, said: “This report from SSAFA makes for sober reading.
“It identifies a group of veterans who feel undervalued and under-appreciated, who are slipping through the net when we, as a society, could prevent that happening.”