How this Government really treat its Falklands veterans on the 25th Anniversarry.

As an ex servicemen who has been mentally and physically disabled due to my service to my country in War I am unable to work full time. As a result I receive a War Pension paid directly from the MOD, the rest of my benefit is made up of Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance. The IB and DLA are administered from the Department for Work and Pensions. This means three different agencies asking you the same questions on a regular basis. The problem is its not a simple case of I hurt my back whilst mowing the lawn. My conditions are complex to say the least especially with the PTSD that is only getting more recognition due to the many Wars that our Country is waging creating more ex servicemen like myself. Having to fill out these standard form is from my personal experience very upsetting and makes you feel as if the Government do not believe that anything is wrong with you and lumps you into one category of `Scrounger` which is extremely unpalatable to a proud ex serviceman. Imagine if you were a woman that was the victim of a brutal rape and as such you required psychiatric treatment, would it be right to ask on an Annual basis why you are still finding it hard to cope with life and asking personnel in depth questions about your assault. Absolutely not and rightly so. But it is ok to interrogate ex servicemen about their conditions. I fully recognise that there must be a level of assessment but once the VA has all your details it should be up to them to administer any benefits you may be entitled to due to your service. Firstly it must be more cost affective as its streamlining your payments and only one agency as apposed to three is dealing with your case. I was called for a medical earlier this year by the DWP at Barrow-in-Furness even though I explained in my medical form about my PTSD, just filling in this form made me very depressed, especially as its this years 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. But they do not care about that and I was ordered to attend for a medical at Phoenix House in Barrow. Showered and shaved and changed in to my Royal Artillery Blazer and wore my medals and set of for Phoenix House feeling extremely anxious. When you go to this building there is a grubby sign pointing to the back of the building and some stairs leading down to a basement. The walls are covered in graphiti and there is rubbish and the smell of stale urine around the stairway. I got to the bottom of the stairs and tried the door, it was locked so I knocked on the door several times. Eventually after a few minutes a lady with a very angry face arrived at the door opened. She stood there looking at me like I had maggots crawling off me and pointed at the door bell without speaking. There was a doorbell at side of the door frame caked in grime and very obscure. I said I couldn’t see the bell and the lady turned on her heal and walked down the corridor so I followed feeling extremely angry, not a good start when you are waiting for a medical from a complete stranger. She pointed to a waiting room and said I would be called for, then another woman behind the counter gave me a piece of paper to sign. I was the only person in the waiting room, a room that stunk of stale sweat. The two woman sat in the office and chatted about their hair does and Coronation Street. After about ten minuets a lady appeared at the door with a smile and asked if I was Mr McNally, I said yes and she asked me to follow her to the office. She seemed rather shocked to see a smartly dressed man wearing medals and she was very apologetic as she asked me a series of questions like “Can you make a cup of Tea?” Can you bath a dress yourself?” Can you walk up and down stairs by your self?” I obviously answered YES to all the questions. The lady was Polish but spoke good English and was polite, she after all was just doing her job. I explained that I had PTSD and she did say that she had heard of it. She was not a qualified psychiatrist and was there to basically fill in and tick relevant boxes on her form. Once the boxes were ticked she once again apologised to me for her having to do this so called medical which was actually not a medical but an interview by the DWP. This was just an exercise in trying to cut benefits. I fully understand that there needs to be some form of control in these matters but as I have alluded to before the Government knows full well what is wrong with me and this was a very unnecessary interview under the guise of a medical. I would just like people to understand that many veterans are treated like this by this Government. Many may not be able to clean themselves up if they are homeless and will certainly not be wearing their medals and will probably treated with even more contempt than I was by the first woman I met. I felt so angry about the way I and other veterans are treated by this Government that I wrote to my local MP John Hutton who passed my letter on the MOD. You can read below my initial letter to John Hutton and the response from the MOD. It is no wonder that more Falklands Veterans have taken their own lives than were killed in the War if they are humiliated and made to feel like they are lying `Scroungers` There are not millions of veterans in this country so it wouldn’t take much effort to streamline the whole process and administer us all under one roof as I belive it is done in the US.







John Hutton MP
House of Commons
Westminster
London
SW1A 0AA




Dear Mr Hutton,
My name is Anthony McNally. I am a Falklands and Northern Ireland veteran who suffers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other medical conditions attributable to my service in the Armed Forces. A number of years ago you helped me with my initial claim for disability benefit for which I am very grateful. My benefits are made up of my War pension which is administered from the Veterans Agency. My DLA and incapacity is dealt with by the DSS. Since my initial claim for benefit unfortunately things have not improved and due to my regular breakdowns and stress I have now been diagnosed with Ménière's disease which is extremely debilitating. During my first attack I was taken to Furness General hospital by ambulance after my partner dialled 999. My hearing has deteriorated and my tinnitus is unbearable especially at night time, that is before I go to sleep and the inevitable nightmares start. I will not go in to detail with all my conditions but as you will appreciate my quality of life is very poor. Last week an incapacity questionnaire came through the post from the DSS asking me about my health. I found filling out this questionnaire extremely stressful to complete as it forces me to recollect the horrors that made me ill in the first place. On one occasion I was asked to attend an incapacity benefit medical in Barrow, I tried to explain to a GP that had no understanding whatsoever about my PTSD and to my disgust he told me “You look all right to me” You must agree he probably would not have said this if he could see I had a leg missing. I also dread every time I have to fill in my DLA application form. It is not as simple as talking about having a bad back. Since the end of the Falklands War more servicemen have taken their own lives than the 258 that were actually killed in the fighting. Every year an average of ten Falklands veterans take their own lives, I would suggest most if not all of these men were suffering with PTSD, some of them would be surviving on state benefits and having to relive the horrors by filing out endless forms. My friend who served on my Rapier missile detachment with me in the Falklands Mickey Quinn sadly fell victim to PTSD last year. Its like asking a victim of rape every year to explain why she feels depressed and anxious. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War and many veterans like myself who have suffered psychological problems will be dreading it as it will be all over their television screens and newspapers. My big fear is an increase in suicides. The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will also be sending back a constant conveyor belt of men and woman who will be damaged psychologically and physically and they will find themselves at the mercy of the all ready overstretched NHS. I understand the Governments need to asses people on benefits especially long term sick but I think a fairer and less stressful system is needed for ex-forces personnel. I would like to suggest that all benefits paid out to ex servicemen and woman as a direct result of their service to their country should be administered by one department which would obviously be the Veterans Agency. Surely this system would be both beneficial to the government through cost cutting as only one department would deal with all the administration. The Government can still monitor how a veterans health is with its use of War Pensions Welfare Officers. They can even do more checks throughout the year as at present its up to the veteran to inform them that he or she has a problem, sadly in a lot of cases its too late. I would be grateful if you could raise my concerns with Minister for Veterans Affairs.




Yours sincerely






AA McNally.








(RG)It seems that the MOD gave me a long winded finger.

Muslim women abused army man at hospital

© Mack (RG) The thoughts of a Falklands War Veteran.