I’ve been watching this thread since 8th December. I appreciate anything about the armed forces will be a sensitive subject as it is like a family for everyone that serves and veterans. To introduce myself I am 21 years old, bi-sexual and was discharged from British Army training at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick in September this year. I was discharged after first being blatantly denied any opportunity to see a doctor or welfare staff about my suicidal thoughts. The Army doctor discharged me as “stress due to work” and insisted that my case was “not mental health” - he missed a depression diagnosis that my civi GP diagnosed. At Catterick I wanted to end my own life by jumping off the accommodation block staircase...as I felt isolated, trapped and useless. My discharge reason was overruled by the MOD’s civi occupational health team who changed my discharge code to mental health. What the Army cannot say is that I’m ‘a mad case’ as the Army doctor denied the fact that I was experiencing mental health issues as he didn’t wish to further inflate the Army’s mental health statistics. The statistics for mental health across the armed forces from a recent FOI request can be found in my article.
Recruits from my Catterick training intake approached me after I was discharged, saying they experienced homophobic remarks made by the corporals at ITC Catterick as well as assault and serious welfare issues. One recruit was physically assaulted and pinned up against a wall by his throat any one of the corporals. Another corporal slapped a recruit. Another corporal threatened to kill a recruit. A recruit previously banned by the Army for assault also brought a knife to Catterick training and tried to start a fight on a younger recruit. The training staff and PTI’s deliberately forced recruits to continue training hobbling on with injuries such as shin splints and a broken ankle (the relevance to this is in my article, reference Justine during RAF training as well). Recruits who were meant to self-isolate due to Covid-19 did not, with potentially infected recruits sitting next to each other eating breakfast.
The Army Sgt Major confirmed this is not part of the training programme. He said he would investigate the concerns I highlighted but failed to do so. The Sergeant Major in charge of training and Sgt Major from Army Home Command HQ in Aldershot met me in September and promised to resolve the issues highlighted. They have since cleared the corporal who denied me mental health support) of any wrongdoing, saying no action will be taken and lied to the MOD about a Covid-19 outbreak. In terms of this Covid outbreak in September I have at least 2 independent eye witnesses from 2 different training platoons.
Living in a garrison town and with RAF Odiham just down the road, as well as the Navy in Portsmouth being just an hours drive away, I am surrounded by military personnel. I engage with military troops and officers from across the Army, Navy and RAF. An Army warrant officer praised me last week in a private chat for my social media work in raising awareness about mental health, suicide and other issues surrounding the armed forces.
Recently I published an article featuring the stories of serving personnel and veterans who have faced injustices, these are not isolated examples. Tomorrow I am having a phone call chat with an RAF airman who experienced sexual harassment and bullying from fellow recruits and was removed from the training environment instead of the recruit who he had complained about. The snitch and blame culture made his complaint worse for him, with further bullying.
In my role as the LGBT+ ambassador for the Independent Defence Authority I have spent countless hours talking to Graham about his time as a CO, talking about my own experience after being denied mental health support by the Army training staff at ITC Catterick, and offering my time voluntarily for anyone who wishes to chat. This is unpaid and something that I wish to do to give something back, to support people and make a positive difference. Graham and the people that do great work. No one advised me when writing this. I wanted to set the record straight.
I get to speak with many inspirational and brave people by phone, email and in person; including a Navy veteran discharged with a brain injury. As well as an Army soldier based in Aldershot who was suing the MOD for being denied welfare support for severe anxiety and PTSD after coming back from tours in Iraq and Afghan.
To go back to another point you made and as much as I appreciate your own opinion, I would politely disagree - these matters do concern me, all other veterans and all serving troops from
Army, Navy and RAF. Of all genders, races, sexualities etc. Because these ultimately affect operational effectiveness, morale, recruitment and retention.
Do I feel aggrieved, angry or upset about the treatment by the Army and the lack of response from the MOD? No I do not. I signed up to join the Army for the pride in serving my country and make a positive difference to the world. But if it’s one thing I do in my life is that I want to use my negative experiences and help drive positive change to the way the military and companies view mental health and depression. I found talking to a football player that I refereed great help, him reassuring me that things to get better as he was on the same anti-depressant tablets.
This Christmas please look after yourselves and your loved ones - family and friends. Because they might be here today but gone tomorrow. Even when surrounded by family the feelings and emotions that go through our heads are unknown to even our family. Be it due to Covid-19, depression/suicide and mental health or heart attack etc. I am hugely thankful to the police for saving my life as otherwise I could have been six foot under by now.
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Have a good weekend,
Morgan McLellan
If anyone wants a chat feel free to reach out@morganmcl99 on Twitter