AJJ                            Army suicides                            November 2008

From time to time there are reports of  soldiers committing suicide.  At the inquest the Coroner usually criticises the army for it "failings" in following up symptoms of such an event.  The national press then hurl vitriol at the Army High Command.  But can I suggest that it is generally not a failing of officers to take action.  I suggest that in many cases the appropriate officer is fully aware of what has happened, and he deliberately "ignors the warning".  And I will tell you why he behaves in such a manner.

I served in the British Army from September 1944 till Christmas 1948.  A lot of those I met were simply plain scroungers who took advantage of any opportunity to shirk their duties.  My associates, as I was, were National Service conscriptees.  They were not all like the description i have given, but a sufficiently large number were, to cause me to write this essay.

Nowadays all soldiers are volunteers, but the majority have no idea of what they are volunteering for.  A life in the Army sounds  marvellous, until they come across the realities of war.  Whether I would have been one of the cowards, or a brave warrior, I do not know.  I had no experience of action.  The nearest I got was helping the regiment I was attached to, to waterproof their vehicles in readiness for a beach landing on mainland Japan.  But two atom bombs persuaded the Japs to surrender, so I was let off the hook.

The Army is excluded from legal sanctions against misleading advertising.  Most recruits simply have no idea what awaits them if, for example, they end up in Afghanistan.  And war is nasty, very very nasty.  It can only be waged by people who are immune to human suffering.  But I am not saying that the War Office should never wage war, but the people who actually do the dirty work should be made more aware of what awaits them.  But, of course, if the true realities were made clear in the advertisements for recruits, the enlistment would be close to zero and the result would be disastrous for the country.

But to get back to suicide attempts; I am sure that the top brass close to the Front are fully aware of the strains upon the men that they command, and they purposely ignore "signs" that a particular soldier is under strain.  The top brass are not fools, or particularly insensitive to things that happen in the ranks.  But to pull a man out of his squad because he showed signs of suicide, would be to open the door to many scroungers.  And I am sure the top brass know this.

Once an officer reaches any reasonable rank, his chance of becoming involved in the real nasties, are much reduced.  But these officers are then in a position to look at the bigger picture, and they act in the manner I describe above.