UK Armed Forces Suicides Every Two Weeks

Armed forces suicide every 2 WEEKS - the shocking mental toll affecting our young men and women 
Mirror UK
BY DAN WARBURTON , SEAN RAYMENT , ALAN SELBY 
5 MAR 2016

Allan Arnold, 20, was found hanged two years after seeing five comrades killed in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2009.

Nearly 400 troops killed themselves between 1995 and 2014 and victims’ families have blasted defence chiefs for failing them

One of our servicemen or ­women commits suicide almost every two weeks, figures obtained by the Sunday People reveal.

Nearly 400 troops killed themselves between 1995 and 2014.

Hundreds ended their misery on military bases over a 20-year period in which we fought battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now victims’ families have blasted defence chiefs, accusing them of failing Our Boys.

Karen Bonsall, whose son Private Lee Bonsall, 24, was found hanged in woods near home in Tenby, Pembrokshire, four years ago, said the figures were the tip of the iceberg.

“The real number is much higher,” she said.

“When you start counting ­veterans who have left the forces, the figure is huge.”

Lance Sergeant Dan Collins hanged himself after twice surviving being shot, plus being blown off his feet by a roadside bomb.

Welsh Guardsman L/Sgt Collins, 29, who fought in Operation Panther’s Claw in Helmand Province, was traumatised by his great friend L/Cpl Dane Elson being blown to pieces yards from him.

He began suffering nightmares as soon as he returned to Pembrokeshire from the hell of Afghanistan.

He was diagnosed with PTSD but after ten months of treatment the Army allegedly said he had recovered and would soon be ready to return to duty.

Over the next three months, he twice tried to kill himself.

He finally hanged himself in his uniform on January 1, 2012.
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