Is this still my paradise? a rambling connection

In a series of rambling thoughts, and connections that might or might not be really connected, I have come back yet again to the problem of the returning soldiers from conflicts that we as part of the "war on terror". They have done their job. It is a legitimate job. "We" sent them to these places, and as part of the "we" that sent them off to do a job that is too hard for the rest of us we should do something about it.

This video report is taken from the New York Times, and discusses the pointy end of an endemic problem.



In the video the mother of one of the boys states that her father was a returned Korean veteran, and "we knew not to discuss it" so we didn't. How far have we travelled? PTS casualties were shot in WW1, in WW2, they were called cowards, and vilified or ignored into a bottle. Korean and Vietnam vets were treated with disdain into a bottle.

Even the BBC has a mention of the dissatisfaction of their service personel. Hard to imagine that the stoic British would complain...

Almost half of UK military personnel are ready to leave the forces, a Ministry of Defence survey suggests.

Some 47% of Army and Royal Navy respondents and 44% of those in the RAF said they regularly felt like quitting.

Among the concerns raised by the 9,000 servicemen and women surveyed were the frequency of tours, levels of pay and the quality of equipment and housing.

The Ministry of Defence said the survey revealed "areas of concern" but that conditions were being improved.

In the English army the 16 year olds (really? do I want to send my son to war?) have a pay scale comparable to traffic wardens...
It is a job fraught with risks - but critics say the sacrifices of a soldier's job is not matched with rewards.

All the soldiers need is a bit of recognition. But recognition needs to be real, not a fleeting parade or one day of saying "thanks for that"

And here in australia

A day after the nation honoured its veterans, an ex-special forces soldier has criticised the support provided to members of the Defence Force as "useless" and "token".

Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James concedes that improvements needs to be made in mental health support for soldiers.

"Certainly the position of the Association is that the psychological care of the returned soldiers could be better, but you've really got to be careful about drawing general lessons from individual experiences," he said.

He says that cases of returned soldiers feeling unsupported often boils down to a case of numbers.

"It very much depends on where he served, how he served and how the unit was debriefed," he said.

"The system can't be absolutely perfect in 100 per cent of cases, and this may be one of the cases where the care was inadequate."