‘Everyone has their own story,’ says expert

Every day June Black apologises to her son Aaron while looking at a photograph of him in his military uniform.

“Sorry for not letting you use my computer and telling you to go and use your mate’s, sorry for not doing your washing that time you asked me, sorry for not knowing what you were going through, sorry for not coming to collect you when you were on a night out, sorry for not helping you when you needed me…”

The continual torment of the bereaved who have nothing to torture themselves about, but who live with regrets every single day of their lives.

Twenty-two-year old Aaron Black, a Black Watch soldier, took his own life just before Christmas in December 2011 while suffering from post traumatic stress disorder(ptsd)stemmingfromthe horrors, including a horrific explosion in which a friend was killed, he witnessed while serving in Afghanistan.

His mother had been unaware that Aaron, who left the army seven months previously, had been diagnosed as suffering from PTSD – while in the services – until she discovered what she describes as a “watered down” version of army medical records, some marked “confidential” – in his flat following his death.

It was only later when Ms “Everyone’s got their own stories, sometimes you don’t know what’s going on people’s lives,” said Dr Beverly Bergman, a leading researcher into Scottish veterans’ suicides.

Dr Bergman, of the University of Glasgow, who spent 42 years in the army, retiring as colonel, conducted a major research project looking at the suicide risks of veterans in Scotland in the past 50 years. She reviewed more than 56,205 veterans born between 1945 and 1985 and 172,741 non-veterans matched by postcodes. It revealed 267

0 June Black, whose son, Aaron, left, took his own life suffering from post traumatic stress disorder

Black managed to obtain more of his army medical records that she found out he had made previous suicide attempts and “continued to have suicidal thinking” while still serving after his return from Afghanistan.

“The records show Aaron was to be referred to mental health social worker at RAF Leuchars before he left the army. Aaron’s case was never followed up,” she said.

Ms Black, 61, a civil servant, said she would support calls by Johnston Press to have “veteran” recorded on veterans’ death certificates to highlight the scale of the problem.

“I don’t want any other mother to go through this,” said Ms Black, who has campaigned to get to get justice for Aaron, identifying a range of systematic failures which led her son to “fall through the net” once he left the army.

Aaron, from Rattray, Perthshire, suicides amongst the veterans compared with 918 nonveterans.

While the study found there was no significant difference between the two, it also revealed there was a increased risk for older veterans, particularly those in their 40s and 50s, people who leave the services early and women who joined the forces before 1992.

However, different studies conducted by other agencies, using different methodologies and data, such as one conducted by the Centre for Suicide Prevention, have suggested ex-servicemen aged under 24 had a much higher rate of suicide. Campaigners

who joined the army aged 17, had surrounded himself with his army medals, photographs, including one of himself in uniform, and a crucifix before sending his mother a last text “Goodbye XXX” and hanging himself in his flat.

“The fact that he had the crucifix there brought me some comfort,” Aaron’s mother said.

Ms Black, from Blairgowrie, 0 Aaron Black had his medals beside him when he died say that because those who go to register a death when someone has takes their life life are not automatically asked if the deceased was a veteran, the true number of suicides is likely to be much higher.

They also say that Scotland should be braced for a surge in veteran PTSD and suicides over the next ten to 15 years.

Dr Bergman said she would welcome routine publication of statistics on veterans’ health by the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland to reveal “the bigger picture”.

“What we need is a one-stop shop with easy access where veterans can go for help. Scotland has made great strides in

was desperate to know every detail of what the police found after they went to Aaron’s flat after being alerted by a former comrade’s widow he had contacted shortly before his death.

“He had left the doors open, it must have been cold. The radio was still playing and there were cigarettes in the ash tray.” said Ms Black.

“What must he have been thinking?

“That ‘I’ve gone through all of this for my country and I’m left with nothing?’

“To any mum I’d say ‘keep an eye on your son coming out the army’. A young lad could be leaving after doing one tour. Maybe with other tours they could be more battle-hardened.”

Aaron’s story featured in the play A Brave Face about PTSD by the Vamos theatre company at the Dundee Rep, and performed across Scotland. 0 Dr Beverly Bergman of the University of Glasgow

the past few years and is moving away from the time when a lot of services were mainly ‘sign-posting.’ directing veterans to organisations without seeing what was going on in their lives.”