The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
of
post-operational stress should be identified, so that the
appropriate support could be
provided as
the individuals passed through the demobilisation
process.72
107.
The MOD
assessed that decompression was best suited to formed
teams
and
units.73
Where
possible, units should include individual augmentees
(including
Reservists)
in their decompression arrangements. In the cases of individuals
who were
not
available for the decompression period, the “clinically relevant”
elements of the
decompression
process could be covered by pre-departure briefings and the
subsequent
normalisation
period.
108.
For Army units
on Op TELIC, decompression usually took place in Cyprus over
a
period of
36 hours.
109.
The first
formal period of decompression took place in 2004, at the end
of
110.
By July 2007,
the MOD’s policy was that formed units should have a period
of
decompression
unless a formal application to opt out had been agreed by the
chain
of
command.75
Air Marshal
(AM) David Pocock, the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff
(Personnel),
advised Gen Granville-Chapman that, in the absence of evidence
of
“clinical
efficacy”, the policy was based on the “military judgement” that
decompression
promoted
adjustment and re-integration into a normal
environment.
111.
In August
2010, the MOD produced an analysis of Op TELIC from a
Land
perspective.76
The
analysis stated that many units reported that individual
augmentees
and members
of the TA could “fall between the cracks” and not carry out
decompression.
Some units
reported that members of the TA could not remain with the unit
during
normalisation
when it took place in the unit’s barracks, and therefore went
home.
“… a debate
remains to be had about whether the main effort for Reservists
should
be to
return them to civilian life as quickly as possible or extend their
period in
mobilised
service to effect full normalisation … What is vital is to ensure
that all
TA
Personnel are given adequate transition back to civilian life, and
this includes
important
information on where to get assistance if he/she needs it. POSM
[Post-
Operational
Stress Management] must continue through their chain of
command.”
72
Minute
DCDS(Pers) to MA/USoS [MOD], December 2006, ‘Management of
Personnel Returning from
High
Intensity Operations’.
73
Minute
DCDS(Pers) to VCDS, July 2007, ‘Decompression’.
74
Minute
DCDS(Pers) to MA/USoS [MOD], December 2006, ‘Management of
Personnel Returning from
High
Intensity Operations’.
75
Minute
DCDS(Pers) to VCDS, July 2007, ‘Decompression’.
76
Report Land
Command, 31 August 2010, ‘Operations in Iraq: An Analysis from a
Land Perspective’.
60