Harry and the tragic heroes we forgot . . .
ON New Year’s Day, while the rest of Britain was welcoming in 2018, warrant Officer Nathan Hunt, 39, ended his life.
A member of the Royal engineers, he had been awarded a Mention in Dispatches for his courage in Helmand dismantling improvised explosive devices while on secret missions to ambush the Taliban.
The heartfelt letter written to his family by Prince Harry, who served alongside him, was no doubt welcome — but would have been small consolation to his grieving parents Derek and Maria.
Despite his bravery in battle, the father of one could not face the wars raging in his own mind as he suffered from severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. An inquest this week heard that the lad who joined up before his 16th birthday had felt abandoned by the Army and that his treatment for PTSD was ‘useless’.
He was expected to be with his family for a New Year meal but never arrived. He had hanged himself in his Lincoln home.
Derek, who himself served in the Army for 22 years, hopes his son’s death will help end the stigma of PTSD for frontline soldiers.
‘He saved hundreds of lives during his career in the Army and if his death can do the same then that would be a fitting tribute,’ he said.
One soldier, one lost life, is bad enough, but tragically warrant Officer Hunt is not alone.
The shocking reality is that more than 210 serving troops have committed suicide since we went into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, according to defence ministry statistics. A truly sobering figure when compared to the total of 541 killed in action — and it does not even include the veterans who have left the Forces, many of whom have suffered PTSD and killed themselves.
In 2012, according to an analysis by BBC Panorama, there were more suicides among serving soldiers and veterans than deaths from enemy fire. In that year alone, at least 29 veterans took their lives.
CHARITY Combat Stress said that in 2015, six new veterans a day asked it for help, its busiest period in a 96-year history, and more than double the number seen the year before.
The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme shows the annual number of mental disorder payouts increased by 379 per cent from 2010 to 2016.
Behind these statistics is the stark truth that soldiers we sent to fight an impossible and unpopular war have not been given the support they need. Not when serving in the conflict zone, not when returning home.
A review into spending on the Forces has been ordered. It’s vital that, as well as putting an end to swingeing cuts, it insists on proper funding to help heroes like warrant Officer Nathan Hunt — before it’s too late.