Half of military drinks too much OVER 60,000 AT ‘HIGH RISK’ OF HARM
SIR Alex Ferguson waves to Man United fans yesterday as he returns to Old Trafford for the first time since brain surgery in May.
The former manager, 76, was pictured on the club’s Twitter page with the caption, “Welcome back to Old Trafford, Sir Alex”.
He saw his former team draw 1-1 with Wolves.
It has also emerged Red Devils star Nemanja Matic has donated £63,000 so four-year-old fellow Serbian Dusan Todorovic can get treatment for his rare cancer. AROUND half of servicemen and women are drinking dangerously high levels of alcohol, top brass have been warned.
Some 58 per cent of those quizzed have been told their boozing habits put them at “high risk from alcohol related harm”.
The Ministry of Defence quizzed 109,000 of its 149,000 personnel in the study.
Separate stats revealed under Freedom of Information laws showed 114 were classed as “alcohol dependent” – effectively alcoholics – and up to 1,000 were treated for drink abuse in the last 12 months. The figures have sparked fears that thousands of troops with mental health issues are self-medicating with booze.
Veterans and serving soldiers tell the Sunday People that hitting the bottle is often regarded as vital to group bonding.
Troops returning from ops in Afghanistan and Iraq were encouraged to get drunk during a process called decompression.
Dr Nick Murdoch, of veterans’ charity Care After Combat, said: “Troops will use alcohol to help medicate disorders such as PTSD. But the problem is we develop a tolerance to alcohol so we need increasing amounts to get the same effect.”
General Lord Dannatt, a former chief of general staff, said: “Abuse of alcohol has long been a chronic problem in the Army, more so than misuse of drugs which is dealt with very severely. The culture of working hard and then playing hard often leads to misuse of alcohol.
“That said, there is a greater awareness in the Army of the dangers of alcohol abuse and of the importance of physical fitness, than 10 or 20 years ago.”
The MOD report’s findings were based on a scoring system where troops were given points for the amount of booze they consumed.
Those who drank three glasses of wine up to five times a week were given a score of 5+, indicating that they were at high risk from alcohol related harm.
Those who drank three pints of beer up to five times a week received a score of 10+ and were described as being at higher risk and were advised to see a GP.