PRIVATE Matthew Woollard, who celebrated his 19th birthday last week, deserves
to feel like a hero. Five months ago he was on duty with the Royal Anglian
Regiment in Afghanistan when he stepped on a landmine, losing his foot and
much of his lower right leg and suffering shrapnel wounds to the rest of his
body.
Since then Woollard has endured a below-knee amputation, spent nine weeks in
Selly Oak hospital, Birmingham, and a further three months at Headley Court
in Surrey, the services’ specialist rehabilitation unit. Shrapnel is still
coming out of his body.
Headley Court is the first target of a new charity, Help for Heroes, to be
launched tomorrow with the backing of The Sunday Times. The charity has been
set up to raise extra funds for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to “directly
support the wounded from the current conflicts” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Help for Heroes’ first goal is to raise between £5m and £8m for a new gym and
swimming pool at Headley Court. Its patrons will be Jeremy Clarkson, the
Sunday Times columnist, and his wife Francie. “I was pretty weak after I
came out of Selly Oak,” said Woollard last week after a weights session in
the existing gym at Headley Court. “I’d dropped to 8½ stone. Now I’m feeling
much better. I work out maybe three or four hours a day.
“I’ve put on loads of weight [he is now 12½ stone] and I’ve been able to see
welfare officers and all of that while I’ve been here. It’s a good place.”
Woollard is not the only soldier to think Headley Court is a good place. The
rehabilitation centre, which deals with the injured from all three services,
has an excellent reputation in the armed forces.
The property is housed in a Jacobean mansion in the Surrey countryside, once
owned by a governor of the Bank of England. The facilities at Headley Court,
according to Wing Commander Steve Beaumont, its commanding officer, help
patients to be “rehabilitated in a way that encourages team spirit and a
military way of thinking”.
It has gyms, a hydrotherapy pool, outdoor pitches where the patients can play
sports and wards divided into “ambulant” and “high-dependency” patients. It
has 66 beds and sees 4,000 outpatients a year.
There is a world-class prosthetics department, where ex-aircraft engineers
adapt and modify artificial limbs for ampu-tees. The most advanced
computerised arms and legs - which cost £10,000 each - can be moved
wirelessly by a Bluetooth controller in the patient’s pocket.
Satisfied as most of the patients are, the facilities are not perfect. There
is, for instance, no swimming pool - the patients take a half-hour bus ride
to a public pool in Leatherhead - which means those who cannot do
load-bearing movements have limited access to cardio-vascular exercise.
“Good old army,” said Bryn Parry, founder of Help for Heroes, to which readers
are invited to donate using the internet link or coupon below. “They always
say, ‘We’ll make do’. I say, making do isn’t good enough. Obviously the MoD
can’t blow its budget on this - it has other more urgent priorities. Where
we come in is that we can help to raise the funds so our soldiers get really
excellent facilities.”
The charity is the brainchild of Parry, 51, a cartoonist and former member of
the Royal Green Jackets, and Sarah-Jane Shirreff, wife of General Sir
Richard Shirreff, former commander of British forces in Basra.
Through its website it will also allow the public to “help a hero” in any way
they see fit - perhaps by offering tickets to football matches or funding a
meal out. Already this aspect of the appeal has been kickstarted by
retailers - Dixons has donated 1,000 MP3 players and PC World has provided a
number of combined television-computers.
The Clarksons became involved in the cause of Britain’s war wounded last year
when they met Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson at Selly Oak hospital - where a
military-managed ward, albeit with beds for only 14 patients, gives primary
care to injured service personnel returning from combat zones. When a
landmine exploded under Parkinson’s Land Rover in Helmand province,
Afghanistan, he lost both legs, injured his spine, pelvis, skull and spleen,
and suffered brain damage.
Parkinson’s case highlighted the poor treatment often accorded to veterans by
the authorities. He was awarded just £152,150 from the Armed Forces
Compensation Scheme - a sum intended to cover medical costs for the rest of
his life.
A review of compensation, partly prompted by outrage at Parkinson’s treatment,
is under way, although the MoD would not confirm last week whether its
changes would be retrospective to include Parkinson.
According to official figures, 805 service personnel had been wounded in
Afghanistan or Iraq by the end of August, of whom 282 were categorised as
seriously or very seriously injured.
“My impression was that the guys were getting good initial care,” said Francie
Clarkson of the couple’s first visit to Selly Oak hospital. “But it was when
they needed care beyond that where we thought they weren’t top of anyone’s
list of priorities.
“If, for instance, someone needed more treatment from the NHS, they didn’t go
top of the list - they just waited in line with everyone else. Also, the
families weren’t looked after. Ben Parkinson’s mother, Diane, who was at his
bedside every day, had to stay in a B&B. There were no facilities for
the families to be put up. How could that be?”
Jeremy Clarkson wrote about what he found at Selly Oak in a column last year
in which he called on Tony Blair to find the money for military-only wards
and more accommodation for families. Clarkson found himself in tune with a
large section of the British media and the Royal British Legion’s
high-profile “Hon-our the Covenant” campaign.
The legion has made significant progress by reminding the government and the
country of the military covenant, the understanding by which soldiers, in
return for risking their lives, are promised appropriate service and respect
at home by the government and the country.
“It’s important to realise that these people, our troops, have been to hell
and we need to make their passage back as smooth as possible,” said
Clarkson. “I’ve got involved with Help for Heroes because our soldiers do
something extraordinary and we should give them something extraordinary in
return.
“It doesn’t matter to them what their political masters tell them to do - they
just do it. When every successful returning sports team gets a parade, why
do our troops get nothing?”
Since the pressure began to mount last year, there have been some advances in
care for injured soldiers. Selly Oak is cleaner and will soon have better
facilities for families.
Near Headley Court, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association
(SSAFA) provides accommodation for 12 visiting relatives, despite having
first to overcome planning objections from local residents.
Parry, whose son has just joined the army, sees Help for Heroes as a charity
“with no political edge”.
After the Headley Court appeal, he says it will move on to other causes to
ease the plight of the wounded and other service personnel and their
families.
“At the moment people say, ‘I don’t approve of the war but I want to help’,”
he said. “We can either give direct, to a place like Headley Court, or we
can give to a service charity.
“Once we’ve raised money for the swimming pool and gym, I hope we can go on
and tackle other problems. I want us to become like a fire extinguisher,
putting out fires where they emerge.”
There are many fires to extinguish. Research by the Army Benevolent Fund has
shown that generosity to service charities has waned. During the Falklands
war, the South Atlantic Appeal for service charities raised £11.5m. Special
appeals in the Gulf war of 1990-1, meanwhile, raised £3.5m. So far, appeals
by service charities for the Iraq war have raised less than £500,000.
The money is needed more than ever. Not only are there more physical
casualties coming home, but the number of troops with posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric problems has risen steeply. Many slip
through the net.
When Lance Corporal Justin Smith was medically discharged from the Coldstream
Guards last August suffering from PTSD, he felt abandoned. On his second
tour of Iraq, Smith saw his best friend, Ian “Molly” Malone, killed in front
of him and has since suffered nightmares and flashbacks.
On discharge from the army, he was faced with an unsettled housing situation -
the expensive temporary house for which he paid £177 a week was so mouldy
and damp-ridden that it was barely habitable - and inadequate medical care.
“I see someone from the NHS about every two months,” said Smith, who has
relied partly on more effective help from the legion. “I haven’t had therapy
for over a year. I’m still working as a labourer, but it’s been a struggle.
“I’m short-tempered with my kids and my relationship with my wife has
suffered. I sleep on the settee. Sometimes I’ll get three hours’ sleep. On a
good night I’ll get five.”
After Smith harangued Tony Blair on the Westcountry Live programme on ITV in
February this year, he was moved into more suitable accommodation. But he
still feels, like many PTSD sufferers, that he has been “stuck on the scrap
heap”.
“Nothing’s changed,” said Smith. “Soldiers are still getting shafted.”
The case of Corporal Tom Eckersley, who served in the Royal Military police in
Northern Ireland and Bosnia, has taken longer to surface. Eckersley left the
army in 1997 after he had worked in Bosnia, finding mass graves and
numbering the dead. His duties caused him profound psychological distress
and he was soon experiencing flashbacks and nightmares. On returning to his
home in Manchester, his life crumbled.
“It was harrowing,” said Eckersley, 39, now a British Legion welfare officer.
“There were babies and OAPs in [the graves]. The smell - I can still smell
it. It hit you right in the back of the throat. Yet all the time I was doing
that work, no one said to me, ‘Are you all right?’
“I started to have nightmares about being chased by dead babies and dead OAPs.
“When I was 33, I told a friend I couldn’t sleep and he gave me cannabis to
smoke. I’d grown up in Wythenshawe, on one of the roughest council estates
in the country where there’s a dealer on every street, but I tried drugs for
the first time when I was 33. Cannabis helped me sleep, so I started smoking
and drinking heavily. I slept rough. I tried to commit suicide twice.
“Luckily for me the legion found me. They saved my life. No one in the army
ever told me that if I encountered problems later in civilian life, I could
talk to people like Combat Stress. I feel very bitter about it. Gordon Brown
says he’s so proud of his troops. Well, he needs to look after them.”
Dr Walter Busuttil, medical director of Combat Stress - which is part-funded
by the MoD - believes the NHS does not know how to deal with military
trauma. But with the demise of psychiatric centres for the forces, the NHS
is the only option.
“I have heard cases of ex-servicemen who have been put in NHS group therapy
sessions,” said Busuttil. “When they have tried to talk about their
experiences in Afghanistan or Iraq, they have been told, ‘You can’t talk
about those things. You’ll traumatise the other patients’.”
Cash raised by Help for Heroes may well be directed to PTSD-related causes in
future.
Money, though, will not cure everything. A frequent complaint against the
services is that they are capable of gross insensitivity. Lianne Seymour -
whose husband Ian, an operator mechanic with 3 Commando brigade, was killed
in a helicopter crash on the first day of the Iraq war - knows this better
than most.
Lianne, an accountant, was 27 when she became a widow with a three-year-old
child. Her first experiences with the MoD after her husband’s crash would
set a pattern that has continued to this day. “I received a letter from the
army which said that because my husband had died 10 days before pay day, he
had been overpaid in error for 10 days’ work,” she said.
“They said I would have to repay that money. I was shocked but I didn’t
initially do anything about it. But I told a friend who got in touch with
her MP - the matter was raised in parliament and the demand was very quickly
retracted.”
Since then, Lianne’s clashes with the authorities have continued. She was told
to leave her accommodation within six months; she discovered after her
husband’s funeral that part of his remains had been retained by the MoD;
inquiries by the American and British authorities into the crash have taken
four years and until they are finished no inquest can begin.
“I’ve seen three secretaries of state for defence now,” she said. “They have
all told me to write a letter to someone else.
“I will always remember when Ian passed out from his training. A senior
officer gave this fine speech about how we were all in this big family and
how everyone is brothers in arms. And I think we all believed it . . . But
that’s just not the case. So many people are abandoned.”
How to donate
The easiest way to make a donation is to visit www.helpforheroes.org.uk
and click on the Donations button. This is a secure way of donating and
allows H4H to claim Gift Aid, which adds 28% to the value.
By cheque. Cheques should be made payable to Help for Heroes and sent to Help
for Heroes, Unit 6, Aspire Business Centre, Ordnance Road, Tidworth, Hants
SP9 7QD
I am en ex-something from the RAF and for a number of reasons, I found myself in Hedley Court for 6 weeks in 1995, prior to my discharge in 1996.
You need to know that this place is just outstanding. To start with, you are not usually allowed in until you have recovered form the initial trauma. The reason for this is the work routine is both painful and very, very strenuous - as all healing is. The staff are just bloody outstanding - not in a sympathetic way (they hear cries every day) but in total empathy and the camaraderie is shared staff and inmates alike.
This is a place that rarely, if ever, fails to deliver. I would urge you to support it fully. It gave me my self-respect and posture back. Not by being nice, but by being very, very good.
Steve, Cambridge,
My uncle gave his entire working life to the the Army and served in the great campaigns of WW2. He told me that the NHS does not understand the needs of wounded military personnel and that they should always be treated in a military environment! I am so glad that Jeremy Clarkson has now publicised the plight of our wounded heroes and hope that more 'military only' facilities will be funded by the Government. In the meantime we now have a focus for any help the generous British public may wish to give. Well done the Clarksons!
P McElhatton, London, UK
It is incredible that we have to rely on a charity to look after these brave people who earn a pittance and are given appalling accommodation in return for protecting our country. The Government should be funding the hospitals and places of recouperation - thank goodness the Great British public are prepared to do their job for them. My heart and gratitude goes out to anyone requiring help from this charity and I thank you for your immense contribution.
Kaye Latham
daughter of Maj Gen John Hamilton-Jones CBE
Kaye Latham, Bury st Edmunds, UK
If muslims, or anyone else for that matter, are squeamish about seeing our military in uniform then they should of course be sparred that inconvenience. They clearly are not British, have no intention of integrating and should be invited to return to whence they came.
Well done JC for promoting this most excellent of causes.
Geoff Sparks, Crawley, Great Britain
As a former 17 year Army man I must commend everybody associated with this idea. We as a society don't really care about our Armed Forces until we need them. In 1892 a certain Mr.R.Kipling composed a wonderful poem entitled "Tommy". The thoughts that this poem evokes still apply today to our shame! We are spending 10 million pounds on the never ending Princess Diana enquiry yet have to resort to the generosity of the public to help our brave lads and lassies. Am I the only one that thinks we might have our priorities a bit wrong here?
robin Hart, sutton Coldfield, West Mids
Having seen a perfectly good military hospital at wroughton PARAF. destroyed by the then tory goverment, it amazes me to see service personnel having to use the NHS. The ones that made these mistakes should be named and shamed.
Michael J. W, swindon, uk
I am a vetran of the Falklands conflict. I was discharged in 1995 (services no longer required); I had reached the rank of Petty Officer and was enjoying my career. I had been told by my ex wife that i had changed. My temper was short, i slept very little and i drank excessively. I then turned to prescription drugs and illegal drugs. I was discharged due to a series of criminal activities. On discharge i was a single parent to my two daughters, i had lost all my pensions and been demoted to Naval Airman.
To this day i am fighting the MOD to reckognise that i have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My life has been one long struggle since being discharged, drinking, drug taking, broken relationships and a variety of jobs, being unable to stay in one job. I also intend to fight the MOD for my pensions back.
Though i do not have much money i am prepared to raise money for your charity by doing various running events. Please inform me of how i can raise money.
Colin Tyler, Exmouth, England
What a discrase that we plead for charity for our service men and women. It is the responsibility of government to provide the money for there care no matter what it costs. This government should hang its head in shame at the way they have treated the military. Let everyone remember this at the next election.
Gerry Murphy, Lisburn, Northern Ireland
this is not something that has come about recently, for years hm forces have been used and abused by goverments & if injured are given the heave & simply replaced.
one reason is that as far as the powers that be are concerned it's all about numbers,
another is that as far as the goverment of the day is concerned life is cheap, especially a forces life, there usally isn't much concern for the loss of a young life as parents & immidiate family accept the loss as one of the risks of forces life, that part is usually easy for the powers that be, what isn't and is unfortunate is if a forces are "simply" injured.
these forces personell have not "gone away" but remain as a constant reminder & are probably considered by some as simply a hindrance to recruitment.
when forces personell are discharged they are forgotten & no longer of any importance, they are fobbed off at every turn in the hope they'll simply go away by army panels.
time the panels consisted of the injured dischergees
k sexton, hull, yorkshire
Thank you Ed Caesar for a very well written piece. Too often the message is hidden by the emotive 'tub thumping'. This was beautifully succinct and clear. And thank you to all those responsible for getting Help for Heoes to where it is today. Thumbs up for tomorrow.
Victoria Willis, Shrewton, Wiltshire
I'm an ex-RAF conscript -1948-50 who was deafened as a result of aircraft noise and gunfire.- just like most.
When it came to a War Pension claim, I knew that the supposed medical records were wrong. The dates etc did not tally and conflicted with the conditions in the Times Microfiche.
It simply could not have happened then. I went to Tribunal but the Agency added that it was probably hereditary. my father was a sapper!
Later, I took a mates case on. we had joined up same date, same station- RAF Hendon- and were demobbed together.
There are- it is now stated- no medical records for RAF Hendon.
I now have to take my case at enormous expense to Judicial Appeal.
How many others have had claims settled on what is perjored evidence?
Norman Atkinson, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
I served in the Army (1964-92) and saw active service in N Ireland and the Falklands with HQ 3 Cdo Bde. I am now employed in a hospital which was placed on standby to receive casualties from Iraq. Although I had a military background and had experienced BMH Hong Kong, as my wife had with BMH Woolwich, I had to force my way onto the committee planning their reception and explained that Service personnel are not ordinary patients and need military treatment and their peers to help the recovery process. I managed to get one ward allocated for the military.
In my view, the Government has condemned military personnel to treatment by an organisation, with the best will in th world, ho do not understand the military culture and experiences. The UK veteran has a raw deal few other countries accept..
I am appalled at the attitude of successive Defence ministers and their ignorance of the military cult.
Well done to Jeremy Clarkson. He is absolutely the right man to embarass politicians.
Nick van der Bijl, Mark, Somerset,
My husband served for 24 years in the RAF. We had good times, but I also remember that we felt part of a big family for most of the time. Over time though this feeling changed, and gradually it became 'just work', especially when people began to live off camp. But despite all of his deployments for months on end, and all his other 'good service' and his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and so on ......I remember most his last act of Service life, because it so stuck in my mind. My husband handing in his temporary Service Pass, and walked out of his last RAF camp as a Service member. There was no-one even to shake his hand, and say 'Thanks'. The gate closed, and that was the last he heard from anyone in the RAF.
No-one followed up to see if he was alive, dead, living in the gutter, or doing well, and ditto for me and his kids, who had often had to cope miles away from home, family, and friends, in a new camp, in a new home, with a new life somewhere new to build again. Sad.
Wendy, Lincoln, Lincolnshire
First rate piece, Ed Caesar, congratulations! This country and its civilian population needs to wake up to the tremendous debt we all owe to these excellent young men and women, and which we so singularly fail to measure up to when the chips are down. If we disapprove of the wars that they are sent to, the solution lies in the ballot box, not in cold shouldering the Armed Forces who are obliged to carry out the policies of the government no matter how mendacious it might be. With a government that neglects its responsibilities, with a part time SoS for Defence presiding over a dysfunctional after care of the bereaved and the maimed alike, it should be marked down for certain electoral punishment. If ii is not it is surely an indictment of the electorate instead!
Robin, Crawley, UK
As a serving Royal Marine I have attended 4 funerals of friends in the past 18 months and now have to add a double amputee to the list of trauma cases sustained within my unit. I feel it is easy to highlight short comings of politicians when in fact it is the apathy of an entire nation that has created an environment where we can be forgotten so easily. No-one makes an NHS nurse ask a serving soldier to change out of his uniform in case he offends other patients, or makes an Insurance company charge a higher rate to members of HM Forces because terrorists were more likely to target him!Do you think you can make a profit on servicemen in America?They treated there servicemen like that during Vietnam and have learnt the hard way.I was recently approached in US by a stranger who upon hearing i was a Marine said" it sure is a mess over there,but thanks for your efforts"Noone has ever shaken my hand at home for trying, though i hope the day will come thanks to campaigns such as these.Thanks
DC, Poole, England
Both the government and our military commanders should be ashamed of the inadequate care and support they provide to those who risk life and limb on our behalf. We know that death and injury is an occupational hazard for the soldier, but let no one think that these extreme hazards are compensated for by a salary and that the nation is therefore off the hook. Any limitation of the defence budget should not be a barrier to the provision of first class medical support for the returning soldier. Such limitations don't seem to apply to the shirkers who benefit from social service budgets or the bottomless pit of the NHS
John Littlefield, portsmouth,
It certainly is a disgrace that the Government say that they cannot provide facilities for our wounded servicemen and women. However, here in Gosport we have Haslar Hospital which is still partly owned by the MOD - it has excellent facilities and beautiful grounds overlooking the solent. It is absolutely ideal for servicemen/women to recover and be treated - with most of the facilities still in place. Why oh why won't they put it to use instead of threatening to close it in 2009?
Jean Bowker, Gosport, Hampshire
On rememberance sunday they will all be on show with their medals and ribbons hogging the limelight courting the media and public opinion.
Then come the old, the young, the bold and the brave, there because they are the ones that can, not seeking anything other than the oportunity to express their rememberance of their friends, pals, muckers or mates lost in battles from 1914 to 2007. On monday they will be totaly forgotten untill the next year.
To stop this it, is up to the british public to demand that the government assist in every way possible to make life easier for all ex serviemen. May I suggest an apology to them for withholding funding and the mismanagement of funding that was made available.
smith, Harwich, England
It doesnt really matter whos fault it is that we are involved in these unpopular theatres,all that matters is for people to speak on behalf of the wounded men and women who return from them as their voices are never heard. As a Government it is far easier to ignore the plights of members of the forces as they cannot strike for better conditions nor is it in their military nature to complain loud enough to make a difference. This is unfortunatly the way the country is these days, very few people care. British Paratroopers celebrating their return from Helmand province in 2006 were not allowed in Nightclubs in Colchester because we were deemed to be unsuitable clientele, i thought that summed the situation up perfectly.
E M, Colchester, UK
Good for J Clarkson & his Wife.It is disgusting that HM government has'nt had the compassion to have provided these facilities,it seems the least it could have done
Brenda Hirst, Truro, Cornwall
My son Ben Parkinson is now at Headley Court, and it is as if he has come home. To see how these lads support and care for each other is truly humbling.
As a family we wish every success to the Help for Heroes campaign
Diane Dernie, Doncaster,
As a Londoner, I would like to know what Mayor Ken Livingstone is organising on our behalf to welcome the returning soldiers?
Verite Reily Collins, London,
This makes me so ashamed to be British. I have a son who has served in the Marines and has served in both Iraq and Afghan. He is a well-experienced marine who has spent both tours 'out of on the ground'. A very funny sense of humour and level headed and thank the Lord he has come home safely in body but does not tell of the horrors he has witnessed out in the desert in Afghan especially. He has a loving family and came home to untold family and 'outside' support and I feel so much for those lads and families who are not so lucky. I visited 2 of son's friends in Selly Oak on our way back home from Brize at end of tour. 2 lads very badly injured.
I heard the end of an interview of Radio 4 and I think it was Ben Parkinson's mum ( I apologise if I have the name wrong). The lady was unbelievable, after what her son had gone through and will continue. His family must be so brave, my heart aches for them and all families in this situation. So proud of our lads. Continual prayers
Jenny Savage, Runcorn, Cheshire
Keep plugging away at the government and those in authority, whether they be military or civilian. Only by constant pressure will they move themselves in the direction we all want them to go, namely a fair deal for our service people, especially those who have suffered injuries.
As the Duke of Wellington said, " Hard pounding gentlemen". Well, it is hard pounding and we who care should keep it up.
It needs high profile people and press attention, as well as the public to succeed. Keep it up for our lads and lasses!
Steve, Ruislip, Middlesex
It is sad and disgraceful that these returning soldiers should have to depend on a charity at all. If the politicians are so willing to fund a war it should be a given that more than adequate after care is provided from tax payers' money also. I too hope that this continues to be given a lot of publicity - especially at this possible election time.
Dianne Sparks, Halifax, West Yorkshire
At last some one with COMMON SENSE decides to act. As an ex Serviceman I am disgusted at the way this country treats members of the Armed Services, who have put their Life on the firing line and do not get the recognition they deserve.
Can anybody explain to me what news value we have anbout some Football person whose Father hass had a Cardiac Problem. Okay yes he is ill, but so are numerous other people in the country.
There are people out there who joined the Armed forces to protect this country, unfortunately I cannot see what way we are protecting this country by fighitng a War in Afganistan.
yes are Armed Forces will do what is required of them, but this is only because some half wit by the initilas TB sent them there.
Then after that he DESERTS THEM and so will every other politicain.
I say that Our Armed forces deserve 150% backing by this country, let everybody be proud of them, unfortuantely it appears they only people who are, are serving or Ex serving personnel.
Ian Loftus, Folkestone, England
I am so glad that someone as high profile as Jeremy Clarkson has taken up the torch for the wounded personnel from HM Forces. I am just appalled at the careless mean attitude of the current prime minister who was signing the cheques for this Iraq War and the Afghan War but now finds it an embarrassment. HM Forces give of their best through thick and thin - they just carry out orders with great courage and skill from their long suffering senior officers who have to do what demented, vain, and now cunning politicians want of them because said politicians want to go down in history as world saviours or bringers of peace. 2nd October is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday on which the UN has signalled an international day for Non Violence....hmm? just look at Burma currently. As for a part-time Secretary of State for Defence - well that just takes the biscuit.
www.thepeacockscall.co.uk
Aline Dobbie, Biggar, Scotland UK
This is something that Brown should feel disgusted with himself over,it was after all him who was pulling the financial strings for the past ten years. It was he who failed to pay up for badly needed equipment that cause the deaths of our young brave men. It was his hand on the purse strings when beds for the military were lost. His fine words about what our brave young men are doing for this county ring very hollow and I hope the media will take this up and shame him for his couldn,t care less attitude toward our service men and women
d case, newquay,
Thank you Jeremy for highlighting this charity. I have two sons in the army, one was at Basra palace last year another is off to Iraq in 8 days time. I am sure the British public think all this is in place for wounded soldiers, one would think that the Goverment is ashamed that they are not spearheading the campaign. But then they dont seem ashamed of much.Lets have more of this in the papers and more flag waving when the boys come home.When my son came back last year on the train in his desert gear on his 2 weeks leave mid tour people bought him beers and put him in first class. So highlighting this charity would give a positive message to the troups that we all do support them and are grateful.
Maxine Sarjant, UMBERLEIGH, ENGLAND
All of which is why we need dedicated military hospitals, not some little 'military managed ward' holding 15 soldiers.
For Lianne, my wife and Im sure most wives would tell her the same, its all just words from the Government and the MoD, be you Army, Navy or RAF. Not that thats any comfort!
I would have thought that locally, senior officers from the regiment and the regimental welfare would have kicked in at the very least. In the RAF the wives clubs were excellent at giving support help and advice, especially when we 'heroes' were away on any sort of detachment, them all being in the same boat helped.
Too late to hope for a miracle really isnt it? Kipling had the right of it!
MA
Mike Asacret, Cambridge, England
We are among the fortunate parents whose son returned safely from Helmand yesterday. The flight to Brize stopped over briefly at Birmingham to deliver serious casulaties bound for Selly Oak. Our relief is considerable and we can not begin to imagine the pressure on the families of those who have died or return damaged in body and mind from the campaign. Ministers have little to say because there are few votes to be had from returning casualties and body bags; and because they have probably never served in the forces, they have little empathy with the troops and how such wars are fought. The nation elected those who sent our troops to war; and as General Dannatt made clear, what they do, they do on the nation's behalf. The nation now has to pick up the pieces. If the government is incapable of rallying the nation and providing not only the institutional but also the moral support our troops need, then the nation has to act for itself and support its service men and women.
RF Taylor, Cheltenham, UK