Disposable Heroes - Ben Skipper

I rarely push my *veteran credentials on others. I m not a “professional veteran”, and am proud not to fall in that ever diminishing group of individuals who demand fealty at the alter of society as a result of their service because they believe, or have been told, it somehow raises their social status in an already complex and crowded field of contemporary sub-cultures. Nor do I belong to that group of veterans who believe life is against them, and choose every opportunity to tell those willing to listen how hard done by they are before being found out to have either grotesquely inflated their service, or worse still are outted as Walter Mitty characters. The latter in particular are so lacking in the very basics of decency and humanity that they see fit to steal the stories of others and take everything that is going; free housing, meals, event tickets and worse still, attention. By the very act of their deception they demean the life experiences of men and women who will literally suffer in silence rather than have the spot light of help and attention shine upon them.

The Walts Walt? Roger Day with a bedazzling collection of medals, none of which he’d earned the right to wear. 15 years on this behaviour still happens.

None of this is helped by the media and popular culture who have raised the status of veteran to that of Martyr, leading the general public to believe we are all in someway damaged and deserving of hand wringing pity. This erroneous belief can trace its roots to Hollywood, where the mythical wounded warrior, struggling to overcome X, Y and Z is given almost messianic story lines. It’s fair to say that perhaps the closest Hollywood got to correctly portraying the PTSD injured veteran was with David Morrell’s seminal character, Vietnam veteran John Rambo, but even then there was some artistic licence (see The Rambo Syndrome -Manifestations of PTSD/Combat Stress - https://tinyurl.com/3p3pzwza ).

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On leaving service twenty-two years ago I experienced what the world view of veterans truly was. It was dominated, and rightly so, by the remains of those who’d fought in the Second World War or completed their National Service. Yet, for me it was odd to see veterans consistently portrayed as be-whiskered benevolent types parading in their blazers, berets, medals and grey slacks (type “Veteran” into your search engine). That wasn’t me. I wasn’t interested in Vera Lynne’s greatest hits or to be involved in the parades of Jeeps and re-enactors in ‘40’s garb, of all sides, that are seemingly rolled out at every veteran or commemorative and civic event like a tiresome cliché. I want to see the knackered series Land Rovers and 4-tonners with dodge-job paint work, feel the Club 18-30 vibes of a Wednesday night bop at the NAAFI under-pinned by dark humour, wobbly legs, greasy burgers and loose morality. Where were the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Gulf War and Balkans representations? Are we not veterany enough? Oh the frustration!

The typical view of veterans in minds of many. But at least there’s some Op Banner representation (N. Ireland 1969-2007).

Spurred on by my experiences I wrote a series of papers and was involved in Lord Ashcroft’s Veterans’ Transition Review (Veterans' Transition Review has been published - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). This gathered together the leading practitioners (and me) in veteran sub-culture and posed a series of questions best summed up as “Are we doing our best?” When the paper was released in 2014 there was genuine hope that some form of legal framework would be created to protect the UK’s 6.2 million veterans. It was an opportunity missed. This now leads me onto the subject of commoditization.

As time has passed everything remains the same. Veterans remain portrayed as the Greatest Generation and Boomers, while Gen X and Millennial veterans rarely get a look in, we simply fail to fit the mould. Politicians send out their SPADs and press types to seek out the older veterans (I live in fear of being one of them), while younger veterans and those Wounded in Service (WiS) are occasionally wheeled out to make a junior minister or local councillor feel that they’re doing their bit. If we’re lucky. We often find ourselves used as gimmicks to promote baubles such as ID cards or bolster a flagging career.

I appreciate some politicians and public figures do care and the concerns of veterans are listened to if nothing else. But all of this is stale when veterans are faced with a belligerent compensation and social care system that views our injuries as self-inflicted and deal with us with an unrelenting aggression and cynicism that despises the needs and concerns of us, our families and carers.

However the worst type of commoditization has to be the unscrupulous use of veterans by government ministers as a vehicle to sell policy’s unrelated to veteran’s affairs. The most notable event, for me at least, was the use of WiS veterans by the then Home Secretary, a rabid anti-immigration proponent, to sell new PM Sunaks Five Priorities (no idea either). This was a kick in the teeth to the Ghurkhas, Fijians, Commonwealth, Irish and so many others who have served and fallen in the United Kingdoms armed forces; this was also the final straw, for me at least. To allow vulnerable veterans to be used as a background to a policy declaration in a supposed safe space by a minister was a huge failing by the charity that promoted the event. A charity I had expected way better of. The subsequent doubling down against veterans like me who aired disquiet showed that the charity was not as veterans focused as it believed or portrayed.

Riding the coat tails of far better; The commoditization of veteran community by politicians is nothing new, but this event was most definitely a new low.

This perhaps was not unsurprising as it was one of the many NGO’s that had spring up in the background of the Afghan and Iraq operations. Many, but not all, saw veterans, especially vulnerable veterans, as a meal ticket or another rung up the social ladder. In a very short period the UK was flooded with over 3,000 charities and Community Interest Company’s, all vying for public money to help veterans, a noble task that the government should have been doing. For nearly a decade folk and government gave, and most of those organisations were led well and delivered great support, while a small portion simply amassed monies and shut up shop, leaving behind them a wake of chaos and irreparable damage.

Memories faded, wars were walked away from, and as veterans numbers began their inevitable decline the money and interest began to dry up. The government of the day was not interested in funding services beyond the basics and the pressure of the cost of living meant many folk could simply no longer afford to give. The platitudes remained the same and the photo ops continued, including a very memorable one where a Walter Mitty character sat lording it with the PM (due diligence remains an issue in the veteran community), but real-time service provision slowly evaporated. Yet somehow we remained the best of the nation, but only to a point. Our government issued ID cards weren’t recognized at the polling booth, and Special Interest Groups who attempted to raise awareness of the then Minister for Veterans merely became targets for him and his wife to lash out and decry their concerns. As for the ministers attempt to smear a political opponent’s service history, well, that showed the dark and unforgivable side of some veteran’s behaviour.

The best of us, but only when it suits? UK Veterans Ministers wife, Felicity Mercer, no stranger to controversy, calls police over peaceful protest by Gulf Veterans (Op Granby).

Yet there remains a majority of veterans who have overcome and done extremely well, the next generation if you will. We support our communities, adding value to our society at a local level. I appreciate that some choose to become politicians or are successful as business people. They get enough plaudits, and to be frank they are no different to the RNLI volunteer, the artist, the teacher or the parent. People tend overlook the fact that the life of a veteran is remarkably mundane and every day, ask a neighbour when she recently realised I served. Her flabber was gasted. A great deal of us like it that way. In a life lived unremarkably can be found our strength and peace; the ability to fit in, to be positive role models, to be the good neighbour. And just like society we reflect we also have veterans who are criminals, political extremists and generally unpleasant people. Thankfully these characters are few and far between.

Former Chief of General Staff, Patrick Saunders, letting it all hang out at Glastonbury with his son. This is a more realistic portrayal of veterans in the UK and an authentic look we should be embracing.

Ultimately ask any veteran what they think about themselves and most will agree we are the same as anyone else. Despite being used by the unscrupulous we remain a humble and chipper bunch if nothing else.

Shameless plug: please take a moment to visit the I... am a Veteran Welcome (iamaveteran.co.uk) and read some remarkable stories of everyday folk who happen to be veterans.

*In the UK veteran status is bequeathed after a day’s service. While well meaning and intended to cover an individual who is injured in basic training, the awarding of the term “veteran” remains controversial and may jar those who served twenty-two years manning the Thin Red Line of BAOR, which in turn may jar those who served three years and completed one tour. Such is the hierarchy of service (suffering).

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