Save Our Soldiers

Arnold, of Cirencester, Glos, hanged himself on leave in 2011.

His family DID get an inquest – which heard that he was unable to come to terms with the death of comrades.

Many of the eight apparent suicide victims are believed to have been suffering from PTSD.

Eight members of the battalion are also believed to have tried to kill themselves or self-harmed.

The Sunday People is campaigning for a radical shake-up of the way serving troops and veterans with mental health problems are treated. Linda said: “The Army failed in its duty of care to my son, to Darren Mitchell, Allan Arnold, the five veterans who committed suicide since, and the eight who self-harmed. “My son survived two tours in Afghanistan but died in a barracks where he was meant to be safe. The soldiers who returned from that Afghanistan tour unscathed were traumatised.

“They had seen some terrible things but there was no mental welfare support for them when they arrived home.”

James volunteered for Afghanistan while serving in the Territorial Army. He spent six months in Sangin between April and October 2009 – one of the bloodiest six months for British soldiers in the war.

Over 60 were killed and hundreds wounded – many with multiple limb amputations, while others were blinded, paralysed or suffered irreparable brain damage.

Several of James’s close friends died.

Despite the danger, James transferred to the regular Army and returned to Afghanistan in 2011 for a second tour before ending up in Ballykinler.

Linda said her son seemed perfectly happy when she spoke to him just three days before he died. James was last seen alive leaving a corporals’ mess party which he helped to organise.

Linda said: “We got a knock on the door on the 8th of December. Someone from the Army and a police officer told me that James had been found hanged on the back of his door in his room. I was devastated. “Just weeks after James died Darren was found dead. I was horrified.

“I thought, ‘Something’s wrong with that barracks’.

“I also learned that there was a problem with selfharming. Then it was brought to our attention that