ForcesWatch’s submission to the Defence Select Committee inquiry on Military Casualties draws on our research published in The Last Ambush and concludes that:

• The continued targeted recruitment of minors from disadvantaged backgrounds deserves to be re-appraised from the perspective of long-term mental health risks that this group faces.
• Where possible, we hope that the development of military health research will better specify personnel who face higher and lower risks.
• Future research could also better account for personnel who show some symptoms of mental ill-health but are not counted as full ‘cases’ of a specific ‘disorder’.
• A large number of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are likely to need mental health support services for years to come.  It falls to the state to take prime responsibility for ensuring that the long-term welfare needs of injured veterans are met.  That is an expensive undertaking, which it behoves any government to appreciate and accept before deciding whether to send young men and women to war.