We have too many ex service personnel, who after serving their country, who are forgotten about and many of these end up homeless and on the streets through no fault of their own. It is estimated that 12% of the UK’s homeless are ex military.
They are on the streets because of a variety of factors, PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder is one. Adjusting to civilian life is also very difficult
as the structure they once knew has now gone. These people have served queen and country for what? Having left the army suffering from PTSD and coped with it by abusing alcohol, many ending up homeless living on the streets of Britain.
Facing the horrors of combat and physical endurance is common place. But the day-to-day worries that plague civilians are not part of a soldier’s lot, which is until they leave the service.
Often when soldiers step outside this comfort zone, and move away from the adopted “family” of squaddies they have known for many years, their world simply falls apart. In the worst cases, depression, joblessness, alcohol and drug addiction and ultimately homelessness can all go hand in hand.
Former servicemen and women slipping into homelessness are found to be suffering from exacerbating problems such as combat stress, mental health problems or drug dependency.
But one of the key factors was that many people joined the forces to escape family problems in civilian life, only to have to face them again when they returned. Other cases involved older men whose marriages had broken up under the stress of armed service and found they had no home on leaving.