Forgotten Heroes....

[RedRobin]

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BBC1 Panorama.. Now..

[Hedge]

Watching.

[RedRobin]

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It's about time war veterans were given more organised support and this prog communicated the problems very well. It wasn't much different in my father's day either.

[Janner_Sy]

Any good?  i end not to watch his stuff, i like my job, but watching stuff like that puts makes me reconsider lol

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

A lot of food for thought in that documentary, I for one was humbled with the Ross Kemp series and if you want to get a full idea of what is really happening the Restrepo program on Nat Geo is enthralling inspirational and sad and bloody frightening, its about US soldiers but could easily be about British freinds of mine that are out there at the mo.

It was amazing the guy who walked Afghanistani sand into his hallway after being discharged.....its wrong on so many levels

[Hedge]

It was Iragi sand Dave but yes you are right. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

[RedRobin]

Any good?  i end not to watch his stuff, i like my job, but watching stuff like that puts makes me reconsider lol

....It was good in that it will have shown more civilian people how badly some need help adjusting to civvy life after their war experiences. Some serious and totally understandable stresses - Even simple things like getting freaked out by fireworks every 5th November. Obviously it isn't quite so tough for everyone leaving the services but there are too many who need help and historically haven't been given any. And I don't mean having money thrown at them when I say "help".

Sy, in theory it must surely help to cope later having some awareness of the downside and even more important to know where help can be got. Part of the problem is that guys tend to think "if I can cope with front line action in Iraq etc, then I can cope afterwards back home" and consequently don't seek help. I'm not managing to write this very well but hopefully you get my drift.

[rich83]

Kind of makes you think who the real victims of war are, those who are killed in action or those who make it back home.

[RedRobin]

It was amazing the guy who walked Afghanistani sand into his hallway after being discharged.....its wrong on so many levels

It was Iraqi sand Dave but yes you are right. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

....What struck me as so wrong about was that it demonstrated beyond any doubt the fact that the soldier had been discharged without any care whatsoever - Virtually dumped off an aeroplane and also in the same way that someone is discharged from prison after completing their sentence.

Personally I didn't see it wrong on any additional levels but would be grateful to learn what I've missed regarding that, please. 

[RedRobin]

Kind of makes you think who the real victims of war are, those who are killed in action or those who make it back home.

....Quite. And it's the same problem in the U S of A, in fact often worse because of the gun laws.

I'm very anti soldiers being sent to places like Afghanistan at all but I also recognise and hugely respect how they are family to each other and risk their lives for each other, not just for some notion of patriotism. They need support regardless of the missions which politicians send them on.

[Janner_Sy]

i see where you coming from RR .  Im just pleading ignorance lol

In all fairness the aftercare and welfare now available to troops before, during and after ops is excellent.  To the point of being ridiculous. Another issue was many years ago it wasnt manly to talk about stuff like that, and guys just kept it in.  that mindset isnt so much anymore.  

We were involved in a very near miss with a 107mm rocket in Iraq 2006.  We were pestered beyond belief about 'how we were coping' and 'did we need to talk' to the point we ended up putting complaints in.  The help is there, guys have full access and support, they just have to take it upon themselves to bring it to their attention at times.

There is also alot of effort going into  teaching management at all levels to recognise the signs of trauma in others and themselves

The biggest issue's you have are the wives.  When the rumours get back to your units, the stories literally have grown arms and legs and all sorts of rumours get to the wives.

[rich83]

Kind of makes you think who the real victims of war are, those who are killed in action or those who make it back home.

....Quite. And it's the same problem in the U S of A, in fact often worse because of the gun laws.

I'm very anti soldiers being sent to places like Afghanistan at all but I also recognise and hugely respect how they are family to each other and risk their lives for each other, not just for some notion of patriotism. They need support regardless of the missions which politicians send them on.

You and me both. Im still confused as to why they are still there.

[RedRobin]

i see where you coming from RR .  Im just pleading ignorance lol

In all fairness the aftercare and welfare now available to troops before, during and after ops is excellent.  To the point of being ridiculous. Another issue was many years ago it wasnt manly to talk about stuff like that, and guys just kept it in.  that mindset isnt so much anymore.  

We were involved in a very near miss with a 107mm rocket in Iraq 2006.  We were pestered beyond belief about 'how we were coping' and 'did we need to talk' to the point we ended up putting complaints in.  The help is there, guys have full access and support, they just have to take it upon themselves to bring it to their attention at times.

There is also alot of effort going into  teaching management at all levels to recognise the signs of trauma in others and themselves

The biggest issue's you have are the wives.  When the rumours get back to your units, the stories literally have grown arms and legs and all sorts of rumours get to the wives.

....That's good to hear, Sy (about the aftercare and welfare, not the effect on wives) but isn't that during a 'tour' rather than after discharge into civvy world? I think that because of programmes like tonight and the Help For Heroes campaign, aftercare may improve.

[vRS Carl]

Kind of makes you think who the real victims of war are, those who are killed in action or those who make it back home.

....Quite. And it's the same problem in the U S of A, in fact often worse because of the gun laws.

I'm very anti soldiers being sent to places like Afghanistan at all but I also recognise and hugely respect how they are family to each other and risk their lives for each other, not just for some notion of patriotism. They need support regardless of the missions which politicians send them on.

You and me both. Im still confused as to why they are still there.

To put it simply...

To stop things like 9/11 and 7/7 being a more common occurrence

[RedRobin]

I'm very anti soldiers being sent to places like Afghanistan at all but I also recognise and hugely respect how they are family to each other and risk their lives for each other, not just for some notion of patriotism. They need support regardless of the missions which politicians send them on.

You and me both. Im still confused as to why they are still there.

....I think that the reason can be summed up in just one word: "politics!". And that's where it starts to get mighty complicated.