Award-winning hero wants more help for ‘growing forgotten army’ of veterans
Ex-soldier says justice system is failing military
A Scots dad has scooped a number of national awards for his life-saving work with armed forces veterans.
Former soldier Calum Macleod won three categories at the prestigious Scottish Veterans Awards, which recognises people who support our nation’s military heroes.
Calum – who served in Northern Ireland and Iraq and runs charity Who Dares Cares – won community champion of the year, volunteer of the year and the overall veterans champion award.
He said: “It was an amazing night. I was truly humbled but really proud to receive the awards. The awards are very well known in the veterans community in Scotland so it was mind-blowing to be recognised by my peers.”
After serving in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, Calum set up Who Dares Cares – along with Colin Maclachlan, the former star of Channel 4 series SAS: Who Dares Wins – to support military veterans and emergency services personnel with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Calum said: “Who Dares Cares is so rewarding and gave me a focus and a direction after leaving the Army.
“I am lucky to be able to help other folk and be surrounded by fantastic people such as co-founder Colin. It is important that we remember the fallen but also support the living. We owe it to these people who gave so much for us.”
Calum said there was still work to be done, adding that some former armed forces personnel – serving noncustodial sentences – are not receiving help for untreated mental issues related to their military service.
He said a “growing forgotten army” of former military people struggling after “falling foul” of the justice system.
He added: “I have started a scheme called About Turn to help struggling veterans who have received a non-custodial sentence. Currently, inmates entering Scottish prisons are asked whether they are ex-service personnel, and they are offered support from Sacro and the armed forces charity, SSAFA. In 2019, 255 prisoners had disclosed their veteran status – 3.1%of the total Scottish prison population.
“But similar figures have never been collated for those given sentences such as a community payback order, supervision or tagging. People with non-custodial sentences do not get the support offered to those in prison.
“That is a failing that needs to be sorted. These people are in the system but are not identified as veterans, even though the root cause of their offending is often their military service. There is a forgotten army out there who have fallen foul of the system.
“That’s a disgrace. I see the fallout of this every day. How can we begin to assess the extent of the problem and how many people need help if we don’t even collect the data? Make no mistake – just as we did in the forces, we will leave no man or woman behind and do all we can to support our serving and retired military heroes.
“Most veterans thrive when they leave the forces but some do not. They perhaps have issues that have been left unidentified on leaving service. We have a duty of care to these people. Scotland could be one of the best places in the world for veterans if we start sorting out things like this now.”