Treatment of Brit troops WIAs in Iraq by Brit Gvt

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Serious injuries (The Times, London)

The casualties of war cannot be neglected by the Government


The disturbing images released last night relating to a court martial over allegedly disgraceful military abuses of Iraqis should not distract the Government from its obligations to British troops who have been wounded in Iraq. There is no doubt that the reputation of Britain’s military forces will be damaged by the trial in Germany, but the vast majority of troops serving in Iraq have behaved honourably and almost 800 troops have been seriously wounded, some in battle and some in the accidents that are almost inevit-able when large numbers of troops are mobilised.

Any casualties are tragic, even if the total seems small in comparison with battles of the past or even the nation’s annual toll of traffic deaths and injuries. Nine men have had limbs amputated and two have lost both legs. Little has been said about them, few have been allowed to give interviews and, shamefully, neither the Prime Minister nor Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, has gone out of his way to visit or comfort those flown home for treatment. Indeed, Mr Hoon has paid just one visit, 21 months ago, to a hospital where the wounded are treated, in striking contrast to the attention paid by American politicians to US soldiers.


The issue is sensitive. Soldiers evacuated from Iraq are given the best available treatment and, when possible, are allowed to return to the Army after recovering. But some will suffer disfigurement for the rest of their lives, and are understandably bitter at what they see as an attempt to hide them away from official recognition. The Ministry of Defence denies that it is barring access to the injured, arguing that many of the personnel want privacy and that it has no obligation to publicise their injuries. But it has nevertheless instructed many of the wounded and their families not to talk to the press.

This looks like callousness. It is also poor politics. The Government is struggling to convince public opinion that the important cause of bringing stability to Iraq is worth the very high cost. But it must be open about those costs, especially to Parliament.

Most Members have no idea of the number of wounded, whose sacrifices must be properly recognised. Some MPs would like to visit any constituents who are in hospital or have been hurt; any attempt to shield them from public recognition or concern is unacceptable.

The row comes at a particularly difficult moment for the Army. The court martial yesterday of three soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi civilians will shock civilians and serving soldiers, especially in light of a guilty plea by a fourth soldier court-martialled last week. There is no doubt that the images released last night will haunt British troops for many years to come, regardless of the outcome of the remaining cases.

The court martial is likely to last at least three weeks, and could produce more disturbing evidence: all the more reason, therefore, to recognise and applaud the discipline, courage and effectiveness of most of the 9,000 British troops now stationed in Iraq. The posting is dangerous, and the conditions are likely to worsen before the election in Iraq this month. The troops will need the support of Parliament and the country to continue with a task that was difficult before the court martial began. That support is hardly helped by neglecting those wounded in the service of their country.

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January 18, 2005

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-6047-1445776,00.html

The talking wounded break ranks over senior ministers’ indifference
By David Lister
A British soldier gravely injured in Iraq and keen to return to action tells our correspondent that the lack of recognition hurts



FOR Justin Smith, the most painful part of nearly losing his life in Iraq is not having the photographs to prove it.

The 26-year-old Royal Marine can still remember the exact moment that he stuck two fingers up to his neck and felt them slide inside, and the nervous look in his comrade’s eyes as he shone a torch on the wound and tried to lie, insisting that he had nothing to worry about.

Most of all, the radio operator can remember the “terrific” picture of him drenched in blood as he lay at the side of a dusty track outside Basra.

“One of the lads came up and said, ‘Do you want a photo?’ And he took a couple of pictures, but the bloody camera got lost somewhere between Iraq and the UK,” he said. “It showed me lying there in the dark, absolutely covered in blood, about five minutes after I was blown up.”

Although he jokes about his ordeal, the Marine’s injury was among the worst suffered by British servicemen in Iraq. But for the body armour that he was wearing, and the efficiency of army field surgeons, almost certainly he would have bled to death. His story is one of hundreds that remain almost untold, despite the circumstances of great bravery in which many of the wounded sustained their injuries and the appalling nature of many of their wounds.

Scarcely any appear to have received recognition from Tony Blair or his Government.

Marine Smith, who has now returned to his unit and could be sent back to Iraq, is one of the few servicemen prepared to defy the atmosphere of semisecrecy that surrounds Britain’s war wounded and to talk openly about their experiences.

He feels disappointed that no government figure has expressed interest in his plight or recognised his sacrifice, he says. Asked whether he had been contacted by any member of the Government, he replied: “I didn’t get anything at all, though it would have been nice.”

Although the number of injured does not compare to the great British military campaigns of the past, the tally of the wounded makes for grim reading. Among the most serious was Major David Bradley, former commander of B Company 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

Major Bradley, 35, was blinded in his right eye, lost a finger on his right hand and nearly drowned after his lungs filled with blood when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the column of five Warrior tanks under his command in Basra.

He hopes to resume his army career by the summer. Nevertheless, Major Bradley, from Sandwich, Kent, brought home the physical and mental anguish of Britain’s war wounded when he spoke of the suffering that he has been through since the attack last August, in which a 20-year-old private was killed. “I cried a lot when I got back, but it didn’t bother me and often there was no reason for it,” he said. “It was quite an emotional time and I guess it took about six months to get over that.”

Three days after the ambush on Major Bradley’s unit, Kevin Stacey, a 24-year-old sergeant with The Black Watch, was seriously injured after his tank was fired on by insurgents in Basra.

The soldier, who needed emergency surgery after shards of his skull lodged in his brain, refused to talk out of respect for a colleague, Private Marc Ferns, 24, who died in the incident, but his father, Gordon, a former major with The Black Watch, rounded on Mr Blair and his Government for failing to contact his family.

While the Prince of Wales had sent a bottle of whisky to his son, Major Stacey said that he felt disgusted by the lack of contact from Mr Blair or his ministers.

He described the emotional “rollercoaster” experienced by the family as the Army, fearing the worst, flew Sergeant Stacey’s wife and mother to Kuwait to be at his bedside. “I asked the reporting officer at the other end of the phone to give it to me straight and he said, ‘Well, he’s not expected to survive — that’s the signal we’ve received.’” But Sergeant Stacey, who has been in and out of hospital since the attack, was cleared by an army medical board last week to rejoin 1st Battalion, The Black Watch, on light duties.

Showing the selflessness apparently typical of many of the wounded, Sergeant Stacey appears to have had little thought for himself since the attack. His father said that his son did not realise that he was seriously injured until he took off his helmet and collapsed by the side of the road.

“As far as I can gather, some of the others in the tank thought they were hit, and Kevin was the one who regrouped them, got the first aid organised.”

Among the wounded are nine amputees, including Private Christopher Thompson, who was serving with the Light Infantry in Basra when a mine detonated under his Land Rover. The 19-year-old, who walks with a prosthetic right limb, vowed: “I’m going to join up again, as soon as I can. I’ll not be a frontline soldier, but I hope I can learn to be a driver or something like that.”

Marine Smith’s brush with death came during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. As 40 Commando prepared for a dawn assault on Basra, the Iraqi Army launched an artillery attack. At least three shells exploded yards above his head and shrapnel left a gaping hole in the Marine’s neck. At a military field hospital, he was told that he would almost certainly have died without surgery to repair veins in his neck.

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January 18, 2005

Toll of British wounded in Iraq war reaches 800
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor


THEY are the forgotten victims of the Iraq conflict — the hundreds of soldiers maimed or wounded in the invasion and its 20-month aftermath.

The number of British troops flown home with serious injuries is now nearly 800, The Times can reveal. The Ministry of Defence has previously disclosed only the death toll and the Government has done nothing to draw attention to the wounded, many of whom were hurt during acts of exceptional courage. The Freedom of Information Act is now obliging it to be more open.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, has made one visit, 21 months ago, to the Birmingham hospital where they are treated. Neither Tony Blair nor any other senior minister has visited the wounded in the British hospital, although they have seen injured soldiers at a military hospital in Basra.

Most of the wounded and their relatives contacted by The Times were unwilling to talk, because they had been instructed to remain silent by the MoD, because they were awaiting compensation or because they had rejoined the Forces.

But Gordon Stacey, whose son Kevin required emergency brain surgery after his tank was hit by a bomb in Basra last August, said that he felt disgusted by Mr Blair’s perceived lack of interest in the war wounded.

“After Kevin was injured it was the beginning of the Olympics and I saw Tony Blair walking around in a T-shirt, shaking hands and smiling and I felt disgusted. Here we were with our boy injured and there was Tony Blair swanning around getting as much publicity as possible from just being at the Olympics,” he said.

A Royal Marine said he was disappointed that no government figure had expressed interest in his plight.

Asked whether he had been contacted by any member of the Government, Marine Justin Smith, who was seriously wounded during the invasion of Iraq, said: “I didn't get anything at all, though it would have been nice.”

The MoD’s figures show that 790 personnel have come back from Iraq after being injured in hostile attacks, accidents or other incidents. It could not give any further breakdown.

The British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association said that nine soldiers had had limbs amputated, and two had lost both legs. Two have lost an eye.

The total is more than ten times the number of deaths — 73 — since the military campaign began in February 2003 and would be higher were it not for improved armour and equipment. It reflects the rising number of attacks in the supposedly safer southern sector of Iraq. Most have taken place since combat operations officially ended on May 1, 2003.

The injured are taken to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham. The MoD refused to let The Times visit there, saying that it wanted to protect the injured from the media.

In the US, President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, and other senior figures have visited the Walter Reid Army Medical Centre in Washington. Journalists can also visit. The number of US troops wounded in Iraq is 10,372, with 1,375 killed.

Some British regiments, such as the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and The Black Watch, have suffered particularly high numbers of injuries.

The 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, based at Tidworth, Surrey, suffered fifty casualties in its six-month tour last year, two of them fatal. Many were serious woundings from rocket-propelled grenade attacks by insurgents.

When The Black Watch was deployed 20 miles south of Baghdad for 30 days in November and December last year, five soldiers were killed, four from hostile enemy action. Another 29 soldiers were injured. Two lost both legs.

After treatment at Selly Oak, soldiers who have lost legs and arms receive rehabilitation at an MoD centre at Headley Court, Surrey. Most are expected to remain in the Armed Forces in non-infantry roles.



SERVICE RECORD*



73 dead
790 injured
Approximately 55,000 troops have served in Iraq
9,000 troops are there no