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returning TA/Reservist forces

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Grand Falcon Railroad (U3267675) on Tuesday, 16th May 2006

  Anyone else here think its a pretty poor show by the MoD in not helping returning TA/RAF/RN volunteers/reservists properly when they've casme home from Iraq with rather severe cases of mental anguish/physical disability?
  
  Is it time to ensure that when TA people are called up they are taken on as "fulltime soldiers" and given all the after combat care as regulars and then returned to the reserve ranks when finishing their tours (or is that too complicated).
  
  Quite simply seeing what has gone on with them and the fact I was for a short time involved with the TA (and thinking about rejoining) this has made me think otherwise. Especially for those people on good saleries who then get hurt whilst on service - the MoD should remember that if these people decided not to bother joining the reserves e.g. doctors/nurses then there'd be an even larger army skills shortage.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by deployboy (U3993727) on Wednesday, 17th May 2006

  Hi,
  This is my first time on these boards. I too am ex-TA and agree that the TA should be entitled to the same conditions as the regulars. However I do believe that things are changing and that the TA will soon be offered the same help when returning from conflict areas as the regulars.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by DL (U1683040) on Wednesday, 17th May 2006

  
  Personally I could never understand the TA mentality! As an ex-regular I could quite happily put up with the down side of military life (parades, shiny boots, ironing, occasionally being shot at etc), but I just could not understand how someone would do that almost as a hobby!! As a regular it's your job, and you have the positive side to enjoy as a result, but going off to play soldiers at the weekend, then going back to work??? What's that all about?
  
  Sorry, back to the topic. The way this country casts aside its veterans, whether TA, reservists or regulars is pretty disgraceful. In my army career I fought in the first Gulf, Bosnia twice and Northern Ireland, and in my unit we didn't lose a single man to enemy fire (only accidents). Yet I know fo 12 suicides amongst the guys I served with since. That is down to two things. The first is the typical squaddie attitude of "There's nothing wrong with me" which almost all soldiers have. The mentality that they are perfectly fine (despite waking up screaming from nightmares every night), and this ties in to the fear of actually seeking help of some sort, for the squaddie fears that if he does go sick, that's the end of his career, so they carry on. I myself suffer from PTSD and have done since 1993, but did nothing about it while I was still in the Army, since I just "carried on". It was only after I left, with considerable prompting from Mrs DL that I did tackle the problem myself, and got some counselling. That helped immensely, but I did that myself, with no assistance from the army.
  
  The second problem is the fact that once someone is an "Ex-soldier" then it is almost like the country they fought for washes their hands of them, and they become a problem rather than something that needs help. It is a sad fact that an estimated 33% of homeless people in the UK are ex-servicepeople who have not been able to re-adjust to civilian life for one reason or another. This isn't just a TA problem, it affects all veterans, and needs to be addressed. The TA should get the same treatment as ex-regulars, but the ex-regs get next to nothing.
  But then, the military are only vote winners when they win a war, otherwise they are merely an expense to be pruned back.
  
  

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Grand Falcon Railroad (U3267675) on Wednesday, 17th May 2006

  Hi DL,
  
  I've got a lot of family that have did both TA service and regulkar service and luckily as far as I know theres only one person having asny probs. due to service and he saw pretty brutal stuff in NI.
  
  I think these days there's also the fact that the TA provides a hell of a lot of support for the regulars - more so than ever really to consider with regards to the initial points raised.
  
  In respect of the regular army vets. there should be a MoD/PFI/NHS scheme a bit like the US VA in existance and this should provide for proper care for veterans esp. as the demographic for line-soldiers like Fusilers and Para's etc. is likely to preclude them from obtaining independant help.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by DaveMBA (U1360771) on Wednesday, 17th May 2006

  The Govt leadership and the MoD are frankly simply scum, who should be put in the front line of any conflict they start with the shabby kit they supply, while feathering their own nests in Lodon. They have a contempt for widows and veterans that defies belief - of course, it is (As in the US) coming home to roost. Watch Andrew Gilligan on C4 about wednesday next week looking at these kinds of issues. I expect we will hear the same old weasel words from Bliar in response.
  
  Shame on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ for not covering it.

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by TrailApe (U1701496) on Thursday, 18th May 2006

  Totally agree with all the above, especially the health care available to our lads on the battlefield and after the event.
  
  I joined the TA in 1979 and left in 1999. When I first joined my unit had second world war equipment (5.5" guns) and when I left they had the latest kit (MLRS).
  
  However it was not the equipment, but the role that changed more than anything else. When I first joined the only way we would ever fire a shot in anger would have been in WWIII and it would have required the 'Queens Order' to committ the TA. Also it was one in all in - we would go as a unit (and probably drown in the North Sea as the the ferry gets sunk courtesy of a Flogger or Fitter or some other fast shiny thing with red stars on it).
  
  Now the units are seen as a means to train soldiers sufficiently up to a standard to allow them to go as individuals or small groups to keep a regular unit up to strength.
  
  One of the indicators that where used to gauge the 'health' of a TA unit would be the head count at the start of the '15 days continuous training' or 'Camp'as it was commonly known. Our ORBAT was about 120, so anything over 90 was considered good. Apparently this year (and this is anecdotal evidence from a conversation with an ex Battery Cook who lives near the Drill Hall) there was only about a dozen. Where were the rest? -In Iraq and other points in a far easterly direction.
  
  So not only are these civvies running amok with loaded weapons, they are there, in most cases, without their mates in unfamiliar units. I dread to think of the eventual consequences.

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