I’ll never soldiers Army has
A SOLDIER stricken by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after examining the mutilated bodies of hundreds of comrades today tells how the Ministry of Defence has abandoned him.
Gary Howard spent almost 22 years in the Army. But after falling ill from the stress of witnessing post mortems for four years, he is now unable to work.
He and his family survive on state benefits and a measly Army pension of just £36 a week while they have run up debts of more than £30,000.
The war veteran, who has considered suicide, told us: “After serving Queen and country this is not how I expected my life to be. I thought if anything happened to me, the Army would look after me. I could not have been more wrong.”
Gary received just £6,000 in compensation for his mental scars. The worst physical injuries pay up to £570,000.
He said: “Veterans who suffer from PTSD are just as much part of the war wounded community as those who sustained physical injuries on the battlefield. But the compensation is capped at £6,000 for PTSD no matter how bad.
Poverty
“If I’d suffered from physical injuries which prevented me from working, my pension and compensation would be far greater and I wouldn’t be in debt.
“The MoD doesn’t seem to understand that a mental wound can be just as debilitating as a physical one. It’s hard enough dealing with a mental condition which can drive you to suicide, without being forced to live in poverty.”
Gary, 48, was a Royal Military Police corporal responsible foror repatriating the bodies of soldiers fromm battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistann and attending their post mortems in the UK.
Between 2003 and 2006 he “processed” several hundreded bodies, often forced to help pathologistsologists search bodies for bullets and shrapnel.
Gary said: “Part off the job was to examine the bodies to see how they died.
“I had to follow bulletullet tracks through bodies and remove shrapnel. The wounds were terrible and the memoriesries of often mutilated bodies ies have haunted me ever er