Military Mental Health

[Melchett01]

This thread really is so important. Probably one of if not the most important, certainly in the time that I've been a member of the PPRuNe 'virtual crew room'.

I think that as a whole, all the Services are in for a pretty rough time on the mental health front. But I think the RAF may suffer more than the other Services, especially the Army, because frankly, we are not generally trained for or expected to face the sort of issues that troops in FOBs and out on patrol are generally expected to endure. But that's the bugger about the sort of counter-insurgency operations we've been on since 2001; the front line disappears and the threat comes over the MOB wall. Sometimes hypothetically e.g. threat of kidnap and sometimes literally; if you were in Basrah over 2006/07, you will have first hand experience of that. I know quite a few of the Techies and Engineers reacted badly to the IDF threat, with a number failing CDT, anecdotally because getting kicked out was preferable to being blown up. From my perspective, a tour attached to the US Army in Baghdad in 2003 means I still hate sudden loud noises and alarms that even sound like the IDF alarm make me jumpy.

The thing is, I don't think the RAF realises to what extent it has these problems building up. When I left Baghdad in 03 there was a Medic on the check in desk asking how we felt. Nothing more was done, so it didn't really matter what you said, but at least someone had the presence of mind to at least consider the issue. Then there was nothing for the next decade or so, and the next time anybody inquired about operational exposure was when I was sitting in the Med Centre at Boscombe having broken myself again committing sport (laughable after largely surviving my various Op tours intact!) and the questionnaire I was completing specifically asked whether people had been on Ops and had been under fire. That was about 2011/12, and that was the first time anybody had asked me since Baghdad in 03, and I suspect there are hundreds if not thousands kicking around the RAF who have also been under fire on Ops and nobody has ever thought to ask. As a result, I really don't think our Seniors actually get the potential scale and scope of the issue. They may say they do, but I just don't get a warm and fuzzy about it, and I think that those of us that have seen near constant Ops since 2001 - and even ops tempo back at home base - are, as a cohort, a grenade with a very loose pin. Whilst the vast majority of us came home, I'd wager there's a fair few that mentally haven't come back.

But it's not just Ops. LJ hit the nail on the head when he talked about the cultural changes and the ever increasing demands with shrinking resources. The same people that have come through the Ops plot over the last 16 years are the ones who now have to make things work, despite the politicians and Seniors best efforts to make life as difficult as possible. It's yet more stress to add to an already vulnerable cohort. But the Senior are now so used to running the Services hot that I don't think they see the personal and mental issues this constant state of excessive demand is generating. They say people are the best asset, but rather than assets I see them treating individuals as resource to be used and disposed of rather than assets to be nurtured and grown. And if the Services are under threat of further cuts, then it makes it all the more important to look after the individuals remaining if you expect to retain the same level of capability and expertise.

But the structures and support networks of previous years LJ noted are vanishing under a blur of contractorisation, insane demands and deadlines and an element of 'thrusters' keen to keep driving the ship forward, even if it is heading towards the rocks. When I came back from Iraq, my friends basically medicated me with booze at various events and socials and a listening ear if I ever needed it. But I just don't see the same thing happening these days - we're too busy, live out or have family commitments. The family feeling has gone, and to make matters worse, for some reason, we have this insane belief that unless we are running round at 100mph and working 15 hr days every day then we're not being productive. As much as it gratifies me to read about the successes of people being fixed and returning to productive service, I genuinely think they are in a minority. I know of 3 or 4 individuals who flagged up mental health issues; they are all now out of the Service. In some cases at their discretion, in others, the Service just didn't know how to fix them. The point is that for those individuals prepared to risk the med cat or security clearance, the military may just not be able to retain them and I suspect that there is an unwritten unofficial view in some quarters that unfortunately military life requires both physical and mental robustness, and without either of those, individuals are not fit for service in the current regime of running permanently hot.

And that's where we come to the likes of Candles and Lt Col Shaw who shot himself having been unable to meet the unreasonable demands of the post he was in. I just don't think the System realises the potential problems being stored up, especially if individuals feel they can't talk without putting their careers and lives at risk. And that's absolutely outrageous given the sacrifices we make in the name of the defence of the country and its people.

And that's why I think this thread should be a sticky. Just my opinion, but if people really don't think they can talk to the System because it will let them down, then being able to talk more or less anonymously in this great 'virtual crew room' might just be the next best thing. If it stops just one more episode like Candles' case then it has to be worth it.