Today’s defence news summary covers suicide, pensions and air strikes against Daesh.
SUICIDE RATES
The People carries an article that claims a member of service personnel commits suicide every two weeks. The piece is based on statistics released under Freedom of Information that show almost 400 troops killed themselves between 1995 and 2014.
Overall, male suicide rates among regular UK Service personnel are lower than for the UK general population except for Army males under 20. Suicide rates for young Army males peaked in the mid-90s. Since this period suicide rates have declined and the rate for 20-24 year olds is statistically significantly lower than for the wider population. Notwithstanding these positive trends there is no room for complacency in this area - each death is one too many. The MOD ensures the risks are carefully managed through the application of robust policies based on prevention, detection and early intervention.
Our statement on this issue is below.
There has been a clear downward trend in suicides in the Armed Forces over the last 20 years and rates in the military are lower overall than in the UK general population.
The MOD aims to maintain good levels of mental health and wellbeing and provides education, along with easy access to mental health support and healthcare services, in order to reduce suicide risk.
PENSION
The Daily Star Sunday writes that a former soldier who joined the IRA and bombed a British Army base is set to receive a veteran’s pension. The paper says that it has seen documents from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme that confirms that Michael Dickson, who served with the Royal Engineers for seven years, will be entitled to an Army pension.
While we do not comment on individual cases, our statement provided to the newspaper is below.
Defence does not comment on individual pension cases. However the Armed Forces Pension Scheme clearly sets out provision for the forfeiture of pension benefits if an individual has been involved in an act that has had serious implications for the defence and security of the State.
TORNADOS
The Sun on Sunday contains an article about the two RAF Tornado jets that have returned to the UK after their ‘surge role bombing Daesh in Iraq’. The paper reports that ‘the loss of two jets’ mean the number of daily sorties flown will drop from five to four but that this is still double the two flown by the RAF before the additional aircraft arrived. A RAF source is quoted as saying that ‘the lads gave IS one hell of a pounding’. The MOD’s statement on this is below.
Two of the eight additional jets that were sent out in December to bolster our effort are returning, as planned. We'll continue to hit Daesh day in, day out. We've driven them out of Sinjar and Ramadi in Iraq and severely weakened their infrastructure in Syria.
SYRIA AIR STRIKES
The Independent on Sunday reports that the civilian death toll from Western air strikes against Daesh fighters is set to pass the 1,000 mark 'within days', according to independent monitors. The MOD’s statement on civilian casualties resulting from RAF strikes in Iraq and Syria is below.
In the hundreds of air strikes conducted by the RAF we have found no evidence of civilian casualties resulting from UK military action in Iraq or Syria. We do an assessment after every British strike and if we had any reason to believe, either from this analysis or from other credible reports, that there might have been civilian casualties, we would conduct an investigation, in conjunction with Coalition authorities.
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