The Sandbag Times Issue No: 39

NEWS
THE VETERANS’ MAGAzINE
SBT newS January Edition Ken Brooks osteopath
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More British Troops To Be Deployed To Afghanistan
British Troops deployed to
Afghanistan is set to rise to
600 to train Afghan soldiers
already in action in
Resolute Support. The
main initiatives are to
combat the increase in
suicide bombers and the
huge amount of IED’s
found during the last year.
Up to 85 troops from the
1st Battalion, Welss Guards
will be deployed on a training
basis only to train and mentor
Afghan forces which replaced
the NATO-led combat mission
three years ago. The troops
will be part of the International
Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) which has was
constructed in order to train,
mentor and further assist the
Afghanistan Forces with the
aim to defeat the ongoing
terrorist activities in the
province. The latest suicide
bomb in Kabul killed 41 and
injured 84 on a Shia Cultural
Centre on 28th December 2017.
The recent plans to increase
British Military presence in
Afghanistan comes after calls to
further increase support in the
area and assist Afghan Military
Forces. More can be read on
this story at www.forces.net.
Calls To Unite Forces & Veterans Mental Health Services
A Plymouth MP and the chief
executive of the country’s leading
military charity for mental health
are calling for the establishment
of a national framework of mental
health care for veterans.
According to the Ministry of
Defence’s (MoD) medical
discharge report there has been a
“significant” rise in the number of
service personnel being
discharged due to mental health
related reasons in the last two
years. And the country's leading
veterans’ mental health charity,
Combat Stress is reporting a 143
per cent rise in veterans accessing
its support in 10 years.
Improvements to the system have
been introduced by NHS England
since April 2017 and include the
mandatory recording of the total
number of veterans each mental
health care trust or provider is
treating. Prior to April this was
not mandatory: information
revealed via a series of Freedom
of Information requests to all of
the UK’s mental health care trusts
in November 2016, revealed that
more than half of those that
supplied data, did not make a total
record of how many veterans they
were treating. Despite
improvements, there is an absence
of an agreed, statutory, unified
system of care for veterans for
every mental health care provider
to follow, nor an agreed, statutory
training or awareness programme
for mental healthcare
professionals to deal with the
specific needs of former service
personnel, resulting in a
“patchwork approach” to care
from one trust to another. This is
the exact issue the Sandbag Times
raised with the MOD in 2016. The
failings in the NHS system
reflected the inaccuracy of the
statistics given to the MoD and
the Government. It would be
interesting to see the ammended
statistics in due course.
Somehow, I fear the true figures
may never be truly revealed in
fear of a public outcry.
Manchester Blast: Royal Navy Veteran Honoured
A FORMER Royal Navy chef
has been hailed a hero for
rushing to the aid of victims of
the Manchester Arena terror
attack. Jon Morrey, now a police
community support officer, was
on patrol at Manchester Victoria
Station when the blast ripped
through the foyer of the arena
on May 22 last year, leaving 22
victims dead. Last night he was
one of four British transport
Police (BTP) officers, who were
first at the scene, to be
commended for their actions in
a special ceremony at
Manchester Town Hall. Mr
Morrey, 43, said he and his
colleagues were trained not to
run towards explosions but they
ignored that advice and were
treating the seriously wounded
within 60 seconds of hearing the
blast. Read More Here
‘Sir’ To Be Dropped
From Army phonecalls
Soldiers who answer Army
phones are no longer allowed
to use the word ‘Sir’ when initially
answering. The ruling follows
remarks that state it is no
longer gender appropriate and
updated. Colonel Steve
Davies, the army's assistant
head of employment, said personnel
should avoid gendered
terms such as 'Sir' because
they were "outdated". British
soldiers typically answer calls
from senior personnel with the
greeting, "How can I help you
Sir?" But it has been suggested
the last word be dropped.
The Defence Secretary has
halted plans to scrap the slogan
‘Army, Be The Best’ and
the Army Crest which was to
cost £520,000 in rebranding.
SBT: Is this how the MOD is
spending the Defence Budget?
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