Concerns about the psychological
effect of continued combat exposure and of
repeated deployments have recently
been brought to our attention.
A recent paper in the medical
journal, the Lancet found that 4 percent of the
members of the armed services who
have served in Iraq or Afghanistan
suffered from probable
post-traumatic stress disorder. Patrick Hennessey, a
retired army officer, recently
wrote in The Times: “The long-term effects of the
sharp upturn in violent fighting
in Helmand are unlikely to be immediately
apparent. And, from a personal
perspective, I have a hunch that the increasing
use of IEDs by the Taleban may
have a further, damaging effect. There is
something exceptionally stressful
about the expectation of an invisible enemy
beneath the wheels of your vehicle
— and then dealing with the bloody
aftermath”. This was recently
corroborated for me when I went to listen to a
doctor and some of his colleagues
from 3 Rifles, recently returned from
Afghanistan, describe their
experiences.
The stories told of the
dedication, commitment and heroism of our young people
from our armed forces were
profoundly moving. In addition there were other
stories of horror and terror:
During one patrol a young navy medic watched as a
bomb was detonated in a
wheelbarrow being pushed by a 12 year old boy just
in front of her. She tended to her
injured and dying colleagues with
incomparable professionalism. It
was having to pick up the pieces of the boy
that later caused her to fall to
pieces. Is it not surprising that such experiences
by members of our armed services
tend to have lasting effects?
It reassuring that, as Patrick
Hennessey writes, “the military is making great
progress in dealing earlier and
more effectively with this kind of problem through
the trauma risk management
programme” . I am sure that churches in
communities with military bases or
other facilities within them are already
responding to the needs of the
personnel in their midst.
Can I suggest that all of us,
including those without such a clear link, have a
pastoral responsibility both to
uphold them in our prayers and seek out and take
every opportunity to show them
Christian love in practice. By doing so we surely
point them to the source of the
only true peace – the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oliver Home
