Recognising comrades and veterans

By Derek Crawshaw
BBC Scotland Politics Show

Injured soldiers have praised the quality of care they get in the UK

Another Scottish soldier killed after service on a foreign field has been laid to rest in Fife.

Cpl Thomas Mason from the Black Watch was injured by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar province in September, and died six weeks later.

Janette Binnie from Aberdeen lost her son Sean in Afghanistan in May, and described her feelings at the time.

"It's like somebody just knocked you with a hammer, that's the only way I can explain that," she said.

"I can't remember much of the first two months. It just kind of went by in a daze."

Not a lot of veterans want to admit they're a veteran - the mechanisms are there to support them but they just need to be able to say 'I'm here' Maj Roddy Sutherland

Ms Binnie has nothing but praise for the help she has had from the Army, and she decided to use her own experience for a support network for bereaved families.

"Much as the army try to prepare you for everything that's coming ahead - like the repatriation - I don't think they truly understand what kind of feelings you're going to experience," she said.

"I think it's important that maybe the families get to speak to one of us that have been through repatriations and things like that so they're actually aware of what kind of emotions they're going to feel, because I wasn't and I crumbled."

Regular news from the conflict in Afghanistan may be changing the perception that the term war veteran only applies to older people.

This is a point made strongly by the current TV advert for the veterans' charity Erskine.

Rifleman Shaun Richardson, from Leeds, was injured while training to go to Afghanistan.

'More help'

He has been getting back to full fitness at the Army Recovery Centre in Edinburgh, which is supported by Erskine, the Help for Heroes charity and the government.

Maj Roddy Sutherland is in charge of the unit, which he believes shows the high level of support for veterans - and he says there can be even more help out there.

"If you go to your GP and you have an injury from your service time, if you tell the GP you're a veteran you go to the top of the queue because this is the support mechanism that's been put in place," he said.

"Not a lot of veterans want to admit they're a veteran or say that, so the mechanisms are there to support them but they just need to be able to say 'I'm here', so veterans do appreciate the support of the public but they don't always make themselves stand out and say 'I'm a veteran'."

Maj Sutherland said those civilian attitudes were important for serving soldiers as well.

"For a soldier on the front line doing his bit, to know that the people back home support him and value what he's doing - that's a big boost to them," he said.

Rifleman Richardson will be back with his comrades soon. The support he has been given in the Edinburgh centre will get him ready serve his country again.