The hero of so many wars who could take no more

ALMOST twice as many veterans and serving soldiers took their own lives last year than servicemen died in the first Gulf War, say campaigners. In 2018, there were 79 known or suspected suicides, – one every five days. Veterans’ groups fear the real number is higher but say support for those suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is simply not available when needed.

With many waiting more than three months to see a specialist, there are concerns that too many of those who served their country are “falling through the gaps”. The toll was calculated by Jim Wilde from Veterans United Against Suicide, who says the number is double that of previous years.

Now the Government is being urged to act by providing serving soldiers and veterans with support to deal with mental health issues. Many of those who take their lives are suffering from either depression or PTSD after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Of those known or suspected to have taken their own lives last year, 51 were veterans while 13 were serving soldiers. Pablo Snow, who runs veterans’ magazine The Sandbag Times, said: “It’s been a very hard year. I know there are lots of people with mental health issues who need help but these people served their country and have witnessed terrible things, perhaps they should be afforded specialist treatment as soon as they find the courage to speak about how they feel.”

A former sergeant who served in the Royal Infantry for 22 years, Mr Snow battled for four years to get a place on a course dealing with combat stress.

“I tried to take my own life, I’m not proud, but I was that far down I could not get anybody to listen. Thankfully, I managed to turn my life around.”

Now he is working with PTSD specialist Dr David Muss to develop an online counselling service for soldiers struggling to access help through the NHS, using the Rewind technique to treat patients.

It wasn’t until October that the Ministry of Defence agreed to record ex-soldiers’ deaths in inquests. But campaigners compiling their own figures say they show a “shocking statistic”.

Retired Warrant Officer First Class Jim Wilde served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corp and now lives in Maidstone, Kent, from where he contacts veterans online. He said: “There were 79 deaths last year. The numbers are rising at an alarming rate – one death from suicide every five days.

“I am driven to getting the Government and MoD to acknowledge the severity of the issue, and stop paying lip service to it – stating they will address the issue, when they have no plans to do anything of the sort.”

Rewind therapy claims to “detraumatise” people. It is drug-free and cost-effective because it is possible to quickly train therapists who can deliver session treatment. Dr Muss says it had an 85 per cent success rate after a session in Rwanda with 21 survivors of the country’s genocide. It has not received NICE approval.

Mr Wilde said: “We have written on numerous occasions to the MoD but just get platitudes. They say the suicide rate among ex-servicemen is no higher than that of the public. This Government is in denial.”

In October, the MoD said it would investigate suicide rates among veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq. A Government spokeswoman said: “The MOD has increased spending on mental health to £22million a year and has set up a 24/7 helpline for serving personnel so there is always somewhere to turn in times of crisis.”

Samaritans: 116 123 LANCE Corporal Dave Jukes survived Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan but not the guilt of living while others died.

For a decade his wife Jo lived with his worsening post-traumatic stress disorder and acute depression, while desperately seeking help for him.

Eventually, unable to cope with his volatile behaviour she made the agonising decision to take out a court order banning him from entering their home.

He began sleeping rough in an alley near their Birmingham home then in October took his own life in the garden. Three weeks earlier he had written to NHS veterans’ mental health services warning he was “getting worse” and needed “to be put away” or he would kill himself.

Jo says she tried to get help but believes both she and the system let him down. The former infantryman, 49, was a full-time reservist who went on to serve in almost every major campaign British forces have been involved in over 25 years.

After Afghanistan he quit but suffered flashbacks and nightmares. At night he would sweat or get up and say “I can’t handle this”. He was haunted by an incident in Iraq and would frequently ask his wife: “Why am I alive and they’re not?”

After losing his job and in the grip of PTSD, his family fled when he barricaded himself in the attic then smashed up the house. Jo continued to seek help, from the GP, the health authority, the MoD and charities.

Living in fear of violence she asked him to leave, giving him £1,600 to help him find somewhere to live.

Instead, he went to see his father for the first time in 20 years then visited former comrades, blowing all the money in the process. No one knew he was saying his last goodbyes. On October 9, he was found dead.

“Partly I blame myself because I was the one person he had and he must have thought even I had given up on him,” Jo said.

“I didn’t give up on him. I just got persuaded by other people that me and the girls were in danger.

“He once told me that he would never harm me or the children and he never did. I know he was ill but I should have trusted him on that. It’s something I’ll have to live with.”