Hundreds of injured veterans are facing the sack

HUNDREDS of British soldiers are expected to be sacked because wounds or injuries suffered in Iraq have left them unfit for frontline service, The Herald can reveal.

Up to 2000 veterans have been permanently medically downgraded and many are being assessed for compulsory discharge on the grounds that they are no longer capable of fulfilling operational roles.
The Ministry of Defence said 79 personnel had been discharged on medical grounds by September last year.

Although the MoD says it does not have up to date statistics for the number of troops permanently downgraded as a result of tours in Iraq, sources in its medical service say the total is close to 2000.

The total for last year was 1669, of whom 468 were downgraded due to combat wounds or accidents, 587 for "musculo-skeletal disorders", 140 for mental and behavioural disorders, and 87 for respiratory complaints aggravated or caused by the desert climate. Army medical service sources said the number diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome is more than 800.

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