A number of years ago the rock group Pink Floyd released an album called ‘The Wall’, together with a video showing robotic trance like troops tramping and marching all over the place. Suitably this scenario is exactly the same message which the Government and Generals want the public to see when troops return home after serving in wars/conflicts – Welcome Home Parades as a Nations thanks to its heroes! These parades plus the relief and happiness shown on the faces of the families of these troops (seeking their loved ones return home safe), is all part of the ‘smoke and mirror’ image which the Government want to portray.
Shamefully the government do not want families or the public to see or know what’s really underneath the expressionless faces of troops supposedly returning to home to normal lives – or what they are psychologically bringing back home with them? In truth unless someone has actually served in wars/conflicts then they can never even begin to understand or imagine the horrors, nightmares and terrifying fears which these troops/veterans have continually had to live and survive through for months on end. Basically wars/conflicts = combat related PTSD (CRPTSD) and for great numbers of troops/veterans the best part of them will be totally ignorant and completely unaware that CRPTSD has been created in themselves – resulting in their whole human experiences being destroyed!
Thousands of troops/veterans are and have been for decades unknowingly bringing home the savagery and violent behaviours from wars/conflicts. Tragically wit their human experiences (their while entire characters) being smashed – their behaviours will be destructive! Disastrously because they don’t know how to cope or realise that CRPTSD is actually affecting them, and if troops/veterans do not know how to control CRPTSD – then CRPTSD will control them! Agonisingly troops/veterans are unconsciously trying to fit the madness and mayhem if wars/conflicts into peacetime conditions (exactly like trying to fit ‘square pegs into round holes’), making it impossible for them to fit back into society at peace – getting worse as time goes on and eventually destroying theirs (their families) and other innocent victims lives in the process!
The American authorities:
The United States openly acknowledge that between 20-25% of their combat troops/veterans returning from wars/conflicts will be suffering from mental health problems such as CRPTSD – and will unknowingly bring back home the violence of wars/conflicts. Many will commit crimes including murder, rape, armed robbery and assaults etc. but accordingly the United States authorities will also deal and address this problem by incorporating special legal procedures when troops/veterans are arrested.
The American Justice System:
When it’s discovered that a veteran has been arrested for a crime – the veteran will be automatically put through an entirely different process than a normal civilian. Their justice system recognises that troops/veterans may (unconsciously) be suffering from CRPTSD due to their service in wars/conflicts. These veterans are given access to expert solicitors, psychiatrists and psychologists who specialise in CRPTSD (some of these professionals are veterans themselves). Therefore by the time the veteran appease in court (and they are found to be suffering CRPTSD), their defence team can then put forward mitigating circumstances – proving to the court that the veteran standing before them is not the real/true person that committed the crime. The judge takes into consideration when sentencing and ensures that treatment for PTSD is also part of the sentence.
The British Authorities:
Disgustingly there’s noting but a ‘silence is golden’ attitude from the British authorities regarding CRPTSD. The MoD state: “There are very low numbers of returning soldiers affected by PTSD – only 0.5% who openly admit mental problems and only a small fraction show clear signs of CRPTSD”
This statement is phenomenal (we know that British troops are good – but 0.5% figures make them into superhuman beings). Amazingly CRPTSD does not affect our troops/veterans like it does or American Allies (on paper that is)! In reality 9% of the prison population are ex-soldiers and a survey of the homeless in London showed that around 25% of them were ex-soldiers (many had also served prison sentences for violence – that is fact not paper)!
This ‘ignorance is bliss’ policy of the MoD is frightening – especially when the MoD know that the vast majority of troops/veterans suffering CRPTSD ‘do not know or realise’ that they are suffering from this disorder! Clearly the MoD’s attitude to the true facts of troops/veterans suffering PTSD is ‘hide them at all costs and if they don’t know they are suffering from this disorder – why tell them’! moreover why have a lifetime of commitments and responsibilities for 17-20% of troops/veterans (as the Americans admit to) when the MoD can get away with a minimum 0.5% - especially with an overstretched and under-manned army!
The British Justice System:
In Britain when a veteran is arrested for a crime the police are not interested in whether that person is a veteran or not – that does not come into their mandate. Therefore troops/veterans are missed at square one – they are simply put through the legal systems normal production line and processed exactly the same way as everyone else – with the courts and judge none the wiser (hence very high numbers of troops/veterans in the prison population). Shamefully the greatest number of troops/veterans in the prison system have never even been checked for CRPTSD – consequently the greater part of them will have been mischaracterised at the time of their trial!
Ironically these troops/veterans have been mentally damaged by serving in wars/conflicts – so that people can enjoy their freedom and democracy. British Justice is not being done – it is being abused by Ministers/Politicians not wanting the public to know the true cost and full extent of the tragic aftermath of troops/veterans serving in wars/conflicts. Troops/veterans in the prison population who are (unknowingly) suffering CRPTSD are also innocent victims – the Government ordered these troops/veterans into the horrors of wars/conflicts in the first place and then turned their backs on them!
Under European Court of Human Rights Act 1988 (article 6) everyone is entitled to a ‘just and fair’ trial. The Ministry of Justice should therefore be forced to check ‘all’ troops/veterans in the prison population (who have served in wars/conflicts) to establish whether they are suffering CRPTSD – and if so was this taken into account at the time of their trials? If CRPTSD was not taken into consideration at their trial – then they haven’t had a fair trial (it’s as simple and tragic as that)!
Heads in the sand:
VIP have written to numerous politicians including ex Prime Minister Tony Blair and many Defence Ministers and Home Secretaries (our letters were either ignored or answered with nothing but patronising spin and bunkum)! We have also written to the new Minister of Justice Mr Jack Straw, asking him: “What is the Government/Justice system going to do about this ongoing calamity of extraordinary high numbers of troops/veterans in the prison system?”
To date (3 months after writing to Mr Straw) he has still not answered our letter. So much for prioritising crime – it seems his pan of action is to ignore this mountain of ex-soldiers inside eth prison system and maybe they will go away! This attitude is mind-boggling, wrong and immoral – when the Minister of Justice is more concerned about Muslim women wearing face veils – than troops/veterans coming out of wars/conflicts suffering CRPTSD, attacking and killing his own constituents!
How does the Government expect the nation to treat honour and respect soldiers with pride – when they themselves do not know the meaning of the word! Honour only applies to people who ‘stand by it – defend it – and live by it’ as troops/veterans do when serving and fighting for their country!
Afterthought:
how many politicians have their sons/daughters fighting in the wars/conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan? Undoubtedly if their loved ones were to be found suffering from CRPTSD – their treatment would be guaranteed ‘first class’ and not dumped and hidden inside the prison system!
