Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SAS medic saved hundreds of lives .. but got no help to save his own
elephant and SSgt Ferguson fought desperately but in vain for two hours to keep him alive.
Sammi said: “When he came back home he was tense and I encouraged him to go to an Army doctor.
“He was diagnosed with an acute stress reaction and resigned his paramedic qualification.
“He said he never wanted to practise medicine again after the incident because he believed that his mental health would be at risk if he continued.
“It was one trauma too many, one life lost too many. It had been weighing heavily on him. He wanted somebody to say, ‘You did everything you could.”
In the video SSgt Ferguson made before killing himself at Leuchars Military Base in Fife, Scotland, he says: “I asked for help but nobody did anything, no one was listening.”
The Sunday Mirror has learned that two other soldiers, members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, killed themselves at the same base last year.
SSgt Ferguson volunteered to serve as a medic in the SAS and passed a rigorous special forces course known as Black Serpent in 2008.
He served with A Squadron, 22 SAS for the next four years where he dedicated his life to keeping special forces soldiers alive.
He took part in numerous operations and over his career was credited with saving hundreds of lives. In Afghanistan he was involved in treating the victims of a 2009 attack by a rogue policeman who shot dead three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Policemen as well as severely wounding six other soldiers.
SSgt Ferguson flew into the area as part of a helicopter Medical Emergency Response Team and gave lifesaving treatment to soldiers who had sustained serious gunshot injuries.
His last posting was working as the Permanent Staff Instructor for 205 Field Hospital, based in Dundee.
Sammi, of nearby Kirkcaldy, said: “Jamie loved working with the SAS
LOVING DAD Jamie with his son Lukas and would never turn down the chance of going on an operation. There was one year where he was only home for nine days.
“I think he was in turmoil and he hid it very well. He was very private. There was absolutely no indication he was going to take his life.
“On the day he died he got up at 5.30am and said, ‘Goodbye, I will see you later. Love you’.
“Later I was doing housework and two police came to say a body had been found at the back of the airfield.”
A tearful policeman played Sammi a transcript of the video Jamie had filmed in his car.
She said: “Jamie was the last person lockdown in March and six were reported in June alone.
Support group campaigner Jeff Williams said: “Veterans are really struggling. Our workload has gone through the roof.”
I would have thought would ever do this. He bought me my dream house and made it perfect. I feel he got everything set up and then said, ‘I can go’.”
Ex-colleague Paul Hartley, who won the George Medal in Afghanistan, said: “Fergie was the epitome of a soldier and paramedic. His superiors and subordinates would listen to him and follow him into any situation and his professionalism shone through.”
Tory MP Julian Lewis, who is tabling a Parliamentary question on veterans’ suicides, said: “Tragedies of this sort will continue without a national centre for excellence for personnel’s mental health, just as we have a centre for physical injuries and rehab.”
Labour’s Stephen Morgan said: “The tragic death of SSgt Ferguson must be a catalyst for change. It is simply not good enough for the MoD to repeatedly issue condolences to families. Enough is enough.”
The Army said Jamie’s regiment and police were cooperating to probe his death, adding: “Our thoughts are with his family and friends. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”