SOLDIER BLUE
4,000 UK troops on anti-depressant pills
THOUSANDS of troops are too sick to fight, with many on sleeping tablets and anti-depressants.
Ministry of Defence figures show more than 4,000 of our 75,000-strong forces are being prescribed tablets to beat the blues – more than 500 of them officers.
There are also 1,553 Army staff on sleeping tablets, 190 of whom are officers.
And in total, one in five is classed as sick – meaning they could not be sent into active service.
But an MoD spokesman insisted: “Our personnel are highly trained and at any point around 90% of the UK Armed Forces are deployable, with over 98% able to fulfil wider military roles.”
Figures suggest some of our troops could be on a double whammy of sleeping tablets and anti-depressants.
The MoD statistics also show 413 members of the Army have been prescribed Viagra, or similar “love drugs”, to help them with problems in the bedroom.
The main things stopping troops fighting are muscle and joint problems.
The RAF and the Royal Navy have similar sickness issues. In the RAF, around one in five of its 29,867 staff are not fully deployable on active service, with 1,744 on antidepressants and 1,014 on sleeping tablets. The Royal Navy has 18% of its 29,079 sailors unavailable to fight, with 579 prescribed sleeping tablets and 1,524 taking antidepressants.
But the MoD added: “The armed forces provide world-class medical treatment and recovery programmes to enable wounded, injured or sick personnel to return to duty where possible, or to support transition to civilian life.
“The Defence Recovery Capability provides care for serving wounded, injured or sick personnel.”
TRIBUTES TO FALKLANDS HERO – PAGE 23