Please tell us about your experience of the MoD resettlement service. You are welcome to respond whether as a service leaver or a family member by completing the form below.
You will also have the opportunity to provide details of the aspects of the service which worked for you, which didn’t, why, and whether there are changes that can be made to improve the system.
Read more about our resettlement consultation
Outline of Government support available to service leavers
Why we need a rethink on resettlement
Military resettlement consultation launched
Heropreneurs: How to improve the transition to civvy street
Armed Forces Resettlement Consultation
‘Personnel and their families are being hammered by defence cuts’
Since my first experiences of the military in 1966 when I joined the then Junior Leaders Regiment RE at Dover, I was just 15 years and 1 month when I left home. I left unfit for service in October 1992 and to be honest. ALL the promises made by all governments have come to nothing for those with adjustment issues / medical health / mental health problems, with the wife / partner if in a relationship are expected to become the prime carer, with little or no understanding of “The man who went to war, was not the man who came home”.
I was talking to a friend down in the south of the UK whose friend had just been to a wives pre-tour briefing, where they were told all these stories of Combat Mental Health is not as perceived the problem as reported by the media, does this again means the MoD are in denial and still being dumped on the NHS who either don’t care, or can’t cope with the broken military body / mind.
Many promises have been made over too many years as to the sort of help you would expect if you need help once discharged, alas this is still ‘Pie in the Sky’ for the many. With such as Combat Stress still not accepting those who use alcohol as a crutch as the military taught us to do after a stressful situation, be it a singular event but in so many cases, six months of daily adrenaline rush when they approach to contact, being faced by an ambush or are confronted by the IED.
While we are taught to work in a TEAM, this works very well and perhaps they best in the world, once discharged you feel very alone, isolated, angry, low self esteem, lacking the confidence you once had.
With those now being made redundant / dismissed, they are not getting a clear 12 months post tour to discharge, little or no help with sorting out the demons / worries they have by being dumped alone in a strange place, with little or no MoD / service support. Government figures state about 95% of those discharged find their way back into civilian life with few problem, but 5% of 5,000,000 veterans across the UK and some now living means there are a gear number of those needing the support / treatment to help them better adjust.
Both the MoD and NHS are in denial, there have been many promises made by successive governments that have come to nothing, the most recent figures held by the South Atlantic Medal Association (Falkland’s War) state that some 350 of the veterans who served there have committed suicide and the numbers from Iraq / Afghanistan are growing as we speak.
While there are very many local groups doing what they can, we feel that if one lobby group was to represent all veterans needs, those perhaps from the younger groups of men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan but not forgetting those who have served in all conflicts, to bring the issues to government, holding government to task and bring the Military Covenant into law across the whole of the UK, as councils pick and choose what they do, this is as we are aware local social housing association do what they want.