Hundreds of Welsh troops returning from Afghanistan at suicide risk

Until we finally open our eyes to the simple fact combat and PTSD hits humans, we will never learn how ancient and basic it is.

Hundreds of Welsh troops returning from Afghanistan at suicide risk, veteran warns
Wales Online
By Abbie Wightwick
19 Aug 2013

Ex-soldier raises awareness of lack of support facing traumatised Afghanistan veterans, as he embarks on £1m fundraising walk

Hundreds of Welsh soldiers who returned from Afghanistan are struggling to cope – raising fears there could be more deaths like those of Welsh Guardsman Dan Collins who took his own life, a veteran HAS warned.

Former Welsh Guard Dai Graham made the stark warning as he prepares to set off on a £1m fundraising walk to help ex and serving Welsh soldiers deal with the mental and physical aftermath of war.

The Falklands veteran, one of the last men to leave the Sir Galahad when it was blown up, said the Welsh public and politicians don’t always support young soldiers sent to Afghanistan.

This was highlighted, he said, when Lance Sergeant Dan Collins from Tiers Cross near Haverfordwest was found hanged in a West Wales quarry on New Year’s Day last year, after making previous suicide attempts.

The 29-year-old – whose case was featured on a Panorama investigation last month – recorded a heart-rending farewell message to his mother on his phone.

“Dan Collins was told to travel six hours for counselling at a centre in England,” said Mr Graham. “A guy in that situation doesn’t do that, he ends up in a ditch.

“There are hundreds of Dan Collinses out there. I worry that we will lose more.”
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