16.2 |
Support for injured Service Personnel
and veterans
113.
The Inquiry
heard from a number of veterans and witnesses that the level
of
support
received by personnel returning from Op TELIC varied
significantly.
114.
The Inquiry
asked Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, Adjutant General from
2003
to 2005,
whether he was aware of that variation and, if so, what was done to
address it.77
He told the
Inquiry:
“… we were
aware that there were varying standards … That was obviously a
worry
because,
where the standard was good, that was fine. Where the standard was
not
good, then
something clearly needed to be done about it.
“So there
was a constant interchange between my people, who were producing
the
advice, the
guidance, the policy, and the people who were actually delivering
these
things,
which were … the welfare staffs … the field Army and the chain of
command.
“… there
was, amongst us all collectively, a desire to deliver as good a
product
as we could
for those who needed it but, when it boils down to it, when you
have
a complex
machine that consists of over 100,000 individual people, you can
be
absolutely
certain, no matter what it is that you do, that there will be
people who one
way or
another don’t live up to the standard required.
“So much to
the regret of all of us involved, there were unquestionably people
who
weren’t
looked after as well as they should have been. There is no doubt
about that
and each
one of them represents, in some degree or another, a
failure.
“I hope,
though … without in any way wanting to sound complacent about it,
that that
number was
probably relatively small.”
115.
Lt Gen Irwin
agreed that those individuals were more likely to have returned
to
environments
without significant military support around them, including
Reservists
returning
to civilian life and Regular Personnel living away from
barracks.
116.
Vice Admiral
Peter Wilkinson, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff
(Personnel)
from 2007,
told the Inquiry:
“Certainly,
when we started the campaign, we were much more adept at
looking
after the
large, formed units than we were on those individuals who had
either gone
out as
single staff or on an augmentee basis.
“I think,
as we have gained greater experience of the operation and of the
likely
pressures
on the troops, then we have become more adept and more proactive
at
looking
after their likely needs.”78
77
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, pages 29-31.
78
Public
hearing, 19 July 2010, page 24.
61