IN REMEMBRANCE

In Flanders fields...

Tomorrow will be Remembrance Sunday (the 10^th November), when people pause briefly to publically remember the veterans and survivors of historic and more recent conflicts and those who never came back. My family like far too many others in Wales (and elsewhere) had relatives who served and survived and also relatives who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars and other conflicts. One of my maternal grandmother’s lost two brothers in the First World War and its aftermath, her elder brother was a regular soldier, who wrote home and told them not to allow his younger brother to join up and to come out to France. It was too late the younger brother had joined up was killed in action in 1918 and buried near Amiens. I have absolutely no problem remembering those who lost their lives and the courage, comradeship and their endurance of those who served in the First World War and other conflicts (and not necessarily in the armed forces); but I have little time for rose tinted nostalgic flag waving foot tapping pap. As has been said elsewhere, soldiers don’t die for the politicians, for patriotism or even us but for their friends and comrades with whom they serve. Far too many lie in corners of foreign fields, are names on a war memorial, faded photographs, faded memories or literally have no grave at all. US President Abraham Lincoln rightly noted at Gettysburg the fallen have given their last full measure of devotion. It may be more true today that the world will little note the current crop of political leader’s lyrical offerings on conflict, nor long remember them. What we should never forget what the former soldiers and veterans did and what they went through and we should not just cherish their memory but ensure that after their military service they are fully honoured as is the military covenant.

VETERANS INQUIRY

News that MPs are going to look at the services and support provided for our veterans and service personnel returning from active service duty is to be welcomed. Around 250,000 armed forces veterans live in Wales and their treatment will be looked at by the Commons' Welsh Affairs Committee. The inquiry will look at the support offered to former personnel and will ask whether government departments co-ordinate their activities. Medical and mental-health services will be considered by the MP’s. Evidence will be taken on the support services received by veterans and their families, including provision to help former military personnel resettle after completion of their service. Military housing for service personnel and their families still leaves a great deal to be desired. Our current and former service personnel and their families deserve better than they have got from previous Government. Will things get better? The precedents are not good, its worth remembering that sadly the bottom line is that live heroes, as ironically a predecessor Conservative - Liberal Coalition Government found out cost far more than dead ones.

TIME TO DELIVER ON THE PROMISES

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader and defence spokesperson, Elfyn Llwyd MP, is right to warn that the UK government must undertake radical steps to help the rising numbers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sufferers. The UK Government has taken its time in responding to the needs of our veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan - a number of whom are suffering from PTSD.

The Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, promised today to provide a 24-hour helpline and an additional 30 mental health nurses for veterans and serving soldiers. This is a step in the right direction but far bolder action needs to be undertaken to support our veterans and our serving service personnel and their families, who were promised help by New Labour, who failed to deliver.

Plaid's Elfyn Llwyd has long been at the forefront of a campaign for greater support for veterans of the Armed Forces and recently travelled to the United States as part of a delegation sponsored by the Howard League for Penal Reform to research the issue of why so many ex-servicemen and women end up in prison.

Plaid's Elfyn Llwyd MP said:

“This is an issue I have long campaigned for and I am extremely glad that the UK government has finally realised what a critical problem we face with veterans welfare. It is a crying shame that more is not done to support our young men and women when they leave the forces – particularly when we ask so much of them in going to war. PTSD is a problem that can take years, sometimes decades, to surface. We need to ensure that support is on offer whenever a veteran needs that support – not just immediately prior to leaving the forces. No doubt we have yet to witness the true scale of the mental health fall-out that will come in the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan. While I'm glad that steps are being taken, there is a certain 'de ja vu' in this announcement as it seems to be a re-hash of promises made by the last government.

Will this government really commit itself to tackling this ever increasing problem? We need to improve mental health screening of personnel when they sign up as well as developing a holistic and thorough support structure available for every veteran when they leave the forces. I have argued that there should be a thorough and separate review into resources spent on veterans – similar to the Defence review, that way would we would be closer to recognising where exactly, and how much, resources would be needed to begin targeting the problem. A structure needs to be in place to provide support and advice on accommodation, career advice and debt management as well as health and mental health issues, to target the social isolation experienced by many veterans.Only through developing a thorough support network will we be able to tackle the scandalous number of veterans who end up in the criminal justice system and in the homeless population.”

Sadly it should come as no real surprise to even the most impartial observer (or not) that UK Government's have a tendency to treat former (and serving) service personnel badly. On occasion you may well be driven to wonder if anything has changed; once again our heroes and heroines are doing battle in a distant land and their families are living quietly in sub-standard accommodation at home. They (my grandfather amongst them) were promised many years ago 'Homes fit for heroes' – but the last but one Conservative / Liberal Coalition found that honouring promises to heroes cost too much (what price the sacrifice made at the front?) once the war was over thus fell the Geddes Axe...

The only honourable exception to this roll of shame was the 1945 Labour Government, the rest have readily and speedily betrayed their promises our service personnel - admittedly usually after a wars conclusion rather than while it is still going on. It is deeply ironic that with the ninetieth anniversary of a UK Government betraying its promise to our soldiers to ensure that they had homes fit for heroes after the 1914 – 1918 war; that we find ourselves in a situation where soldiers families are living in sub-standard accommodation and our veterans and the sharp end of shoddy treatment for services rendered .

Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, promised today to provide a 24-hour helpline and an additional 30 mental health nurses for veterans and serving soldiers - lets hope this Government keeps its promises to our veterans and our serving service personnel.