I FELT HELPLESS LEAVING MY WIFE AND BABY GIRL
At home... David Jones with his daughter Annabella a house and starting a family. The study found the military community’s younger members are more affected by this.
Two-thirds of 16 to 24-year-old servicemen and women said they had delayed a life event, compared FORMER Lance Corporal David Jones, 28, joined the Royal Marines at 17 and served nine years, including two tours of Afghanistan, before he was medically discharged with a back injury in 2015.
He was in Afghanistan when his wife Naomi, 34, was pregnant. He got back just in time for the birth of Annabella, now seven, but had to go back to Afghanistan two weeks later for another four months, which meant he missed her early months.
He also missed her first steps when he was training in Norway.
“It was incredibly tough having to go back to Afghanistan so soon,” he said. “I missed my wife and felt helpless having to leave her with a newborn baby and my step-daughter Lacie, 12.
“While we caught up as regularly as we could, it was not the same as to only 10 per cent of those aged 55 and over. SSAFA director Justine Baynes said: “It is easy to forget that serving in our Armed Forces means more than defending the nation.
“There is also a human price that every member of the military pays. being there in person to experience those first months first-hand. I also missed my daughter’s first steps, a moment I’ll never get back.”
Mrs Jones, a carer, who lives in Kent with her husband and two daughters and two sons, Tommy, five, and Jack, three, said: “As a military family, we took the challenges on with a positive attitude and got through each tough moment by thinking ahead to the next time we would be reunited.” Being away from home and your loved ones for any period can be difficult. But imagine doing it for months at a time, with limited communication.
“While it is accepted to be a part of the job at hand, it’s important that we remember that missing birthdays, school plays and those special moments that create memories can take a toll.”
The researchers questioned 1,348 members of the public and 658 military personnel and their families.