I thought Id repost this again for you all to read to give you an understanding for my reasons behind the dive.
VIA started in 2008 amid the growing concern of veterans who suffered after leaving the services due to illnesses such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression or veterans who found the transition to civilian life difficult.
VIA looked into past conflicts such as the Falklands War and found the results shocking and disturbing that very little had been done to prevent the fallout from this very short war.
Of the 30,000 task force that went to the Falklands 255 British Service lives were lost and with 777 wounded. It has been estimated that up to 300 veterans who served in the Falklands had taken their own lives with many more seeking help from service charities such as Combat Stress or suffering in silence thus; the Falklands War holds the ignoble but common characteristic causing more British suicides than combat casualties.
VIA used this as an example as to what could happen with the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not forgetting all the wars that have happened in between times such as Gulf War 1, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and of course our longest war in recent times Northern Ireland.
It has now been estimated that up 200,000 service personnel have served or are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or both and by many of these are returning with mental health issues.
Combat Stress estimates that it can take up to 14 years for the symptoms of PTSD to manifest although this usually means that it can take up to this length of time for the veterans to seek help for the issues they are living with.
During that period of time many fail to integrate into society and to become a part of the community they once belonged to, becoming more and more isolated which exacerbates what they are going through due to their service.
Many turn to drink or drugs as a way of self-medication seeing the illness as a weakness rather than to seek professional help they need. This can start to become a cycle which is very difficult to break unless the get medical help from charities such as Combat Stress, RBL, SSAFA, all the Benevolent Funds and many other veterans charities that have been set up in recent years such as Veterans In Action.
VIA looked at the cycle that many veterans find it difficult to get out of due to their illnesses or not being part of a community which is something they valued so much during their service and self-medication can often lead to a breakdown in family life and veterans serving a custodial sentence due to getting involved with some form of criminal activity or living on the street.
VIA are working towards opening its first Veterans Community Centre in the NW and a lot of work has been put in to the statistics from this one are which figures are below and these figures could be used as an example of what is happening in other areas where high recruitment is done by the forces and where there is little prospect of employment once service personnel resettle in the areas.
Many veterans leave the armed forces do so with little difficulty, but 4% leave with PTSD relating to service and a further 19.7% with depression.
• 30% of all service leavers settle in the North-West, around 6000 per year.
• There are 8000 veterans in prison, in the North-west it’s around 7% of the prison population.
• There are 12,000 veterans on probation.
• Veterans under the age of 24 are at particular risk of suicide (Early service leavers).
• More veterans die after conflict than during conflicts due to mental health.
• Research released by the Royal British Legion on 18th May 2011, estimates that by 2020 1.8 million people in the Armed Forces Community will be living with long-standing illness, 800,000 will be isolated socially, having little contact with family or friends, and 700,000 will be living below the poverty line.
• The veteran community comprises 57% veterans, 24% spouses/ partners, 16% dependant widows and 2% dependant 16-18 year olds (RBL Survey November 2005).
• 31% of the veteran community live alone, compared with 19% of the adult population.
• 14% of the total population in the North-west is a member of the veteran community.
• Thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home as alcoholics and depressives. It is believed 27 per cent (46,000) of returning servicemen have mental health problems and 18 per cent (35,000) have a drink problem (Shellshock October 2009).
• More veterans have died following the Falklands conflict through PTSD than all those killed on active service during the conflict.
• Combat veterans are reported to suffer for an average of 14 years before seeking help for the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. (Combat Stress)
Please meet Kaz Smith. Last year Kaz and a few other ex Royal Engineers (Sappers) decided to plan an event called Sapperfest.
