Defiance of Brit killed fighting Isis
Charity says 100s more frontline troops have PTSD
HUNDREDS of serving soldiers in frontline units have post-traumatic stress disorder, say charity bosses.
But they suffer in silence because they fear they will lose their careers
The shocking claim comes after the Sunday People revealed last week how Colour Sergeant Sean Jones, who won the Military Cross for bravery, was sent back to Afghanistan even though he had been diagnosed with PTSD.
Billy MacLeod, the chief operating officer of the PTSD charity Veterans in Actions said: “Unfortunately Sean is one of many who suffer in silence and are afraid to come forward in the fear that their career will be over.”
A clinical psychiatric nurse who treats soldiers suffering from a range of mental conditions confirmed that he had counselled dozens of serving troops with PTSD.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he said: “The biggest hurdle is getting soldiers to admit to themselves that they need help.
“Most won’t come forward because they know that they could be medically downgraded and then discharged.”
The Sunday People is campaigning for better treatment of troops with PTSD.
C/Sgt Jones, 30, a serving member of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, contemplated suicide after his GP discovered he had been suffering for years.
Dad- of- t wo Sean, f r om Folkestone, Kent, said: “There are a lot of people serving with PTSD who are just too scared to either admit it to themselves or the chain of command because they are worried about their careers.
“Most of the guys who do seek help are discharged.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Ministers and services chiefs are unequivocal about this – anyone who is suffering will be get the support they deserve.” A BRITISH man killed as he waged war on Isis in Syria had fearlessly declared he was not afraid of dying.
Jac Holmes was killed by a blast this week as he cleared mines in Raqqa.
It came months after the 24-yearold told the Sunday People: “I don’t fear being killed. It crosses your mind but it’s not something that scares me.
“If I was afraid I wouldn’t be out here. I have fought in a lot of battles where Isis fighters were killed. Was it me who killed them? I don’t know.”
Jac, a painter and decorator from Bournemouth, is the sixth British volunteer to be killed while fighting alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
His mum, Angie Blannin, said yesterday: “He’s a hero in my eyes and always will be.”
Angie, of Poole, Dorset, spoke to him last Sunday and said he had planned to come home for Christmas.
Angered
Jac, who was part of a sniper unit, was believed to have a £120,000 bounty on his head. Despite having no military training he completed three tours of Syria alongside around 50 other British volunteers. Jac was wounded in a gun battle last year. He was with the Kurdish troops for two years – the longest-serving foreign fighter in the anti-Isis coalition. He told the People: “I’m ashamed and angered that our country has not done more. Our Government is a joke.” Last week he posted a photo on social media of him in the freed city of Raqqa sitting with Kimmie Taylor, 28, a maths graduate of Darwen, Lancs, who is also battling Isis. Following Jac’s death, Kimmie said she is “broken”. A MAN known as Jihadi Jack – Jack Letts, 21, of Oxford – has been captured and charged in Syria with being a member of Isis, according to the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.