Veterans
19
So things are weak anyway, weak in terms of the way that they would discuss that. So what they would usually say is a displacement period. So when they come home from war, they tell them ‘give it 2 weeks and the images will go’. So they acknowledge they’re there, they acknowledge the dreams are there but they say give it 2 weeks and the images will start to go.
D2DI: Do you think veterans with substance misuse problems are ignored by society and the government, and if so why do you think this is?
Emma: I don’t think they are. I think they actually get more support than a non-veteran with a substance misuse problem. So I think they get some sort of positive image, like a hero, that they probably – once they present themselves – are supported. But I do think that those people will not present themselves. So it’s not that we ignore them, it’s just a culture that you do not admit to having a problem until it’s too late. So I don’t think that society and the government ignore them, I think that they would never till you if they had a problem. I stand with people and ask them questions and they will still all sit there – even the lads who jumped under the desk when I dropped a pen – and say they do not have a problem. So there is that culture, I don’t think they are ignored, I think that they will find it hard to present themselves.
D2DI: We’ve heard about the 6 week training programme. Do you think that the training programmes include alcohol and are that horrific to get them prepared for action and bonding?
Emma: You see the Marines train for 32 weeks so it depends on the training again with that, but it is certainly a bonding thing. I spoke to a Marine who said he didn’t drink when he started and he was convinced that he was never going to drink, he said within 2 weeks he had no mates because they would do the training thengo drinking, he would go off to his room and it got to a point where people were just ignoring him when he was saying hello’, because all of that team bonding stuff was happening in the pub, and he wasn’t there, he then ended up with quite serious issues with alcohol. So it’s used as a team building, not one person in the army is trying to make anybody have an addiction to that but they use it as a reward and also they do see horrific things and how else do we cope.
D2DI: What would you like to see change? What do you think would help these guys who are in the prison if you could see anything change before they get to that stage?
Emma: There needs to be a process where once you hand your notice in, you spend a year or 6 months learning what your transferable skills are that you don’t leave until you have a job on the outside and until you have housing. Because what happens is you come out with a couple of grand in your pocket and it’s soon gone living that way because what they don’t understand is if you have gone into the forces at a young age, you have never paid bills, you’re fed 3 times a day, your housing is paid for you so all of those young solidiers are getting debt problems straight away because they don’t even understand what council tax is, and that’s genuine when you speak to them.
There needs to be a course that says, these are your transferable skills, lets try and get you a job in this area and there’s the house. That is a reintegration process between the local council and the forces at that stage. I don’t think it necessarily has to be because they have drug or alcohol problem it just has to be because they need to feel like a ‘somebody’.
Going back to the drinking issue, it should be limited the amount that they are allowed to drink. It isn’t the squaddies that are serving them its people behind the bars, so they should be told not to serve over 5 pints in 8 hours or something like that.
"PTSD is really
complex&Medically Controversial"
Final Words.....
The problem we’ve got is when you’re asking someone to do an extraordinary job in the way that you ask them to do it and they way you ask it to be presented, you can’t decide what is a normal amount, and the lads will say ‘I’m not normal’. Many lads will say that they have been in fights before they have been discharged. I have asked what happens and they say that they get arrested by the police and they will basically ask ‘did you win’, and if you won its fine but if you didn’t win you’re punished. So it’s a mentality but you have to create that mentality in order to send people to war and that is where the issues are. We are creating some people who think differently. There was a question thats being asked if the drinking
"We are creating some people who think differently."
affected their abilities; they do not drink when they are on duty. They drink when they have no duties and when they do have duties they do not drink. It depends on how we understand addiction. Socially addicted, I would say that they can go to work and function when they have to but on the weekends it is very problematic. There is 8,000 roughly that have a military background and they don’t necessarily have an addiction they are just in the Criminal Justice System for whatever reason. It tends to be substance related but it’s not always. From my experience, they have periods where they work, and periods where they drink and they do both as equally as hard. These people, as far as I know, aren’t getting up in the morning and needing that if it’s a workday, but if it’s not a workday they get up and need it so it’s all about the way they think about it.