MoD confirms more British soldiers commit suicide than are killed in battle

More British soldiers and veterans took their own lives last year than were killed in battle, it has emerged.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that in 2012 seven serving soldiers were confirmed to have killed themselves, while a further 14 died in suspected suicides but inquests had yet to be held.

Although the Government does not record suicides among former soldiers, an investigation by the BBC's Panorama revealed that 21 serving soldiers and 29 veterans committed suicide in 2012.Read more HERE

(RG) Its hard say anything positive about this, but at least the MOD are finally admitting the facts about PTSD deaths.

A Falklands War hero who was decorated by the Queen for saving wounded comrades has taken his own life

A Falklands War hero who was decorated by the Queen for saving wounded comrades has taken his own life months after his wife died of a brain tumour.
Colour Sergeant Stephen Bardsley, 57, placed the last love letter ever written to him by childhood sweetheart Margaret on his bed before hanging himself.
The retired paratrooper took his life in June this year days after the anniversary of the Battle of Goose Green when 10 of his comrades died and he dodged gunfire to save an eleventh.
He was said to have grown increasingly upset on the 32nd anniversary and sent a series of texts, before writing a letter to his wife saying: 'I can't wait to go away this weekend with you.'
The decorated soldier had been married to Mrs Bardsley for 33 years after meeting when they were both 10 years old and they had three children together.
But his life began to crumble when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2013 and died last December aged 56, an inquest heard.
Their eldest daughter, Catherine Disbury, 32, told the hearing how Mr Bardsley became a full time carer for his wife but her illness came as a 'terrible blow'.
She said the former soldier turned champion bodybuilder began to drink heavily and told his family: 'when your mum goes, I will follow'.
He had served with the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment and in 1982 was embroiled in the deadly battle for Goose Green during the Falklands conflict.
Ten of his comrades were killed in the fighting but despite being forced to retreat by Argentinian soldiers he dodged gunfire and risked his own life to rescue an eleventh as he lay wounded.
He received a Military Medal for bravery in battle on land and was later awarded the United States Bronze Star Medal in 1993 for 'exceptionally meritorious achievements' in the first Gulf War.
Read more  HERE  R.I.P.

Falklands veteran killed himself by deliberately crashing plane into a cliff after his wife left him

A Falklands veteran killed himself by crashing a plane into a cliff-face as he struggled with leaving the Royal Navy and splitting from his wife. Retired Royal Navy lieutenant commander Andrew Stillwell-Cox, 55, hired a light aircraft from his flying club for a solo flight, an inquest heard. As two friends waited for him at the airfield, he turned off-course and deliberately crashed, dying instantly.He nosedived on to beauty spot Sheep Rock just north of RAF Portreath, Cornwall, on July 21 last year. Horrified onlookers saw him circling at an altitude of around 500ft before his blue Cessna C172 M slammed into the ground and exploded on impact. An inquest heard Mr Stillwell-Cox, who was twice awarded the Sword of Honour, had struggled to cope after retiring as first lieutenant from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall in 2007.A letter left on the dashboard of his friend and flying partner’s car described his difficulties at coming to terms with life as a civilian and a recent split from his second wife Ellie. He also left his car and house keys and police found a note addressed to his estranged wife at his home in Retallick Meadows, St Austell. The Truro inquest heard how Mr Stillwell-Cox had made one previous attempt to take his life a few weeks earlier by trying to gas himself in his car. He was taken to A&E but his risk of potential suicide was recorded as low. Read more HERE   R.I.P.


ANOTHER ONE GONE FROM THE CLASS OF 82, R.I.P.

Soldier, 20, hanged himself the day after comrade's funeral, whose Afghan killer he shot dead.

A young soldier hanged himself the day after the funeral of a fallen comrade whose killer he shot dead, an inquest heard yesterday.Ryan Ward, 20, had gunned down an Afghan policeman who had killed two of his colleagues in a 'shocking and horrible' ambush.He had later gone to pay his last respects to Sgt Gareth Thursby, 29, at his funeral in Skipton, just 24 hours before his own death, the hearing was told.Sgt Thursby died alongside Private Thomas Wroe, 18, manning a checkpoint in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province on September 15 last year. A rogue Afghan policeman pretended to be injured in the road so they would help him, but then opened fire on the pair. Kingsman Ward reacted swiftly and 'appropriately' by killing the Afghan police officer.It was one of a string of 'blue on green' incidents where police officers, supposedly loyal to the Afghan government, have instead turned their guns on British soldiers. Kingsman Ward, who served in Alma Company, 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, had gone to the funeral of Sgt Thursby on October 26.The next day he was found hanged by his mother at the family home in Kendal, Cumbria. Read More HERE  R.I.P.

SUICIDE POEM DANIEL SEANEY

MY SUICIDE LETTER

Daniel Seaney (Life Between the Handle Bars)

Cold, black, steel, pressed firmly against my head

38 special, a trigger pull away from being dead..

Tears roll down cheeks, even though I’m unafraid

Ready for what’s next; consequences already made..

I’m not quitting or hiding behind the sound of a gun,

Rather pressing forward into the darkness I RUN!

Over this disaster called “LIFE” with its quotas and rules

Where SHEEP are led to the slaughter by liars like fools…

Do what you’re told don’t ever stop to ask “WHY?”

Put RESPONSIBILITY and BLAME on some other guy.

AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT IS FULLY AWAKE??

How far can they push us before we all BREAK??

WHY AM I EVEN TRYING TO MAKE ANY WAVES??

SHEEP don’t LISTEN! Headed for their GRAVES!

I SHOULD HAVE DIED IN THAT GOD FORSAKEN LAND!

In the deserts of IRAQ where I didn’t have to understand:

That everything I BELIEVE, everything around me I SEE

Has nothing to do with AMERICA, it’s all about MONEY!!!

TRAINED with ETHICS, MORALS, and to STAND FOR THE RIGHT

In this I’m a FAILURE… WHY DID I BOTHER TO FIGHT??

For a DREAM, a COUNTRY that doesn’t even exist,

AMERICA merely a PLAYGROUND for the RICH!

Where boys like me are chewed up then spit out

After the killing is done, what do they care about?

Not HIM, YOU, or I; we’re left all on our own

To try to find ourselves, to build a new home.

Continually I fail, fail, fail… Left with nowhere to run…

BUT this time it was different I didn’t reach for a GUN!

I threw it all in the trash, I started out fresh

With bars to grab and a throttle to press!

I pulled the trigger and killed all I had become,

I destroyed the programming one by one,

I am no longer the man torn apart at the seams!

COMMITTED SUICIDE by living the LIFE of my DREAMS!

Now imagine your life doing some of the same?

What if you said “FUCK IT!” and GRABBED THE REINS?

WHERE WOULD YOU GO IF YOUR LIFE HAD NO STRINGS?

WOULD YOU? If YOU could CHANGE EVERYTHING?

I put down the GUN, but I KILLED the man in the mirror.

Since that very day I SEE the WORLD so much CLEARER!

I’ve beheld more beauty in just the last two weeks

From Malibu Beaches to the vast Yosemite Peaks…

I’ve TOUCHED the sky and I’ve danced with GOD!

Smallmouth and Rainbow Trout have hung from my rod

Children laughed and standing on a HARLEY I SCREAMED!

THANK GOD I KILLED MY LIFE AND STARTED LIVING A DREAM!

Now take whatever lesson from my words so random

BREAK LOOSE THE BONDS OF SLAVERY EMBRACE YOUR FREEDOM!

Daniel Seaney

UK MoD challenges statistics on suicides among Falklands’ veterans

The bombing of the Sir Galahad caused the biggest loss of British forces in the conflict

The claim that more Falklands veterans have killed themselves since the war ended than died in action is not borne out by statistics, a study says. Some 255 UK personnel died in action, but a veterans group has said the suicide toll since 1982 exceeds that.However, the Ministry of Defence has found 95 deaths were recorded as suicides or open verdicts. The MoD said every suicide was a tragedy and urged veterans of any conflict needing support to seek help.
In 2002, The South Atlantic Medal Association, which represents veterans, said it was “almost certain” the number of suicides exceeded the conflict death toll. It placed the blame predominantly on a lack of care for those suffering post traumatic stress disorder.
But the MoD has now investigated the circumstances of 21,432 Falklands veterans three decades after the end of the conflict, and found that as of 31 December 2012, some 1,335 had died.That compares with an estimated 2,079 deaths that would have been expected among men of a similar age and background who did not serve in the forces, according to the MoD.  Read more  HERE 



Well I think I would rather believe SAMA (82) than a `GOVERNMENT` department.

PTSD plus Tinnitus Make Everyday Noise Tough to Take

When Marc Fagelson, PhD, a professor of audiology at East Tennessee State University, noticed that some of his tinnitus patients rated themselves as more troubled by the condition than others, he completed an extensive chart review. These patients all had one thing in common: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).“The first inkling I had that there might be some kind of relation came from clinical experience observing the patients I saw in the VA clinic,” Dr. Fagelson said. “The ones who had PTSD almost invariably were more bothered by their tinnitus than the patients who didn't.”Interactions between a person's psychological state and tinnitus are known to exist with respect to depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a variety of other conditions. What makes the connection between tinnitus and PTSD special is the presence of overlapping neurological associations. Read More HERE

I have Tinnitus and PTSD and I'm sure having PTSD makes it all worse. I was given two hearing aids, I tried them but they didn't make any difference. I keep having panic attacks about hearing this awful noise for the rest of my life, most days the thought of suicide is in my mind, but I want to fight it but it seems impossible, I have had tinnitus for years but I used to only hear it when it was very quiet like at bed time, now its all the time. I recently went to a New Year party with my wife, I didn't drink and drove, there was a group playing and a lot of the people sat around the tables moved to the next room so they could talk, even with this loud group playing I could still hear my Tinnitus. I don't know what else to try, I do my Blog to keep myself active and walk my dog but my life is one big noise in both ears, I feel like I have been cursed.


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Ex-Para Stephen Hood Took His Own Life

A Falklands War hero distressed by recent flare-ups in hostilities between Britain and Argentina has been found dead in his car.
Ex-Para Stephen Hood – who featured in iconic film footage celebrating victory at the battle of Goose Green – died just hours after Argentine president Cristina de Kirchner reignited the sovereignty row over the islands. Yesterday, his distraught widow Carol urged politicians to stop their sabre-rattling for the sake of traumatised veterans.
She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘What do the politicians achieve with their to-ing and fro-ing? Nothing. They should let it lie and leave it to the people of the Falkland Islands to determine their future. Read more HERE

When I first heard about the death of Stephen I was saddened , but today I learn that he like many of my fellow Falklands veterans took his own life due to his PTSD. I have been worried for some time that the 30th Anniversary of the War might lead to more untimely deaths and it seems that news coverage of the recent letter from Argentina may have contributed to this ex Para’s death. I myself suffer from PTSD and when I saw the News with pictures of the Galahad troop ship ablaze it also brought it all back to me and I felt terrible but never mentioned it to my Wife who has been fantastic in her support when I was in hospital. I now have the added problem of severe Tinnitus and I cannot honestly say that I wont take my own life at some point, although I don’t want to, unless you suffer from PTSD and  Tinnitus you cannot understand. I also fear that once this Government start to strip away the benefits of veterans with PTSD this will definitely lead to more suicides, as we might be ill but we are still very proud men and don’t like to be thought of as a burden on our Country.



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Nottinghamshire soldier's mother calls for mental health help

The mother of a Nottinghamshire solider who was found hanged in March after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq has called for more mental health support for members of the armed forces.
Mary Fells, mother of L/Cpl Ashley Clarkson, a former member of the Royal Logistics Corps, said her son started drinking heavily and having nightmares when he returned from Iraq. Read more and watch video HERE

R.I.P Ashley

THE LAST POST

IF YOU HAVE SUICIDAL FEELINGS, PLEASE GET HELP FROM PROFESSIONALS OR AT LEAST RING UP YOUR MATES WHO YOU SERVED WITH. DON’T BECOME ANOTHER STATISTIC.