War is over but battle begins...
| Date | 08 March 2021 |
| Published date | 08 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Birmingham Mail (England) |
TAFF with military charity Help for Heroes said they have seen arise in workload since the coronavirus pandemic due to ex-servicemen and women being "cooped up" at home and reflecting on their time in the armed forces.
The Gulf War ended on February 28, 1991, following the conclusion of Operation Desert Storm, when allied forces pushed Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops into a retreat from neighbouring Kuwait which they had invaded the previous August. Some 47 British personnel were among the fatalities, although the effects of the sevenmonth war were felt by many of those who served.
Veterans said they battled with depression, divorce, harrowing flashbacks and suicide attempts following the Gulf War, but said they refused to seek help because it was not the "manly thing to do" at the time. Graham Hudspith, 53, a petty officer from Coventry, said: "Nobody ever spoke about it, people didn't even talk about the Falklands. Some of them can't get the thoughts, the pictures of what they saw, out of their heads."
Mr Hudspith said the memories of conflict are "like grief - they never go away", and added that seeking professional help from support services is invaluable.
For more information, visit https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/ Here are some of the stories reported over the past 20 years in the Birmingham Mail concerning Gulf War veterans...
Kerry a man on a mission
MARCH 2011
TWENTY years after the end of the conflict, former servicemen said they were still fighting the first Gulf War.
In 2011, an estimated 9,700 of the 53,000 British Armed Forces personnel involved now suffer from Gulf War Syndrome.
The condition involves a cocktail of health problems, typically including chronic headaches, cognitive difficulties, depression, unexplained fatigue, rashes and breathing problems.
RAF veteran and father-of-three Kerry Fuller, aged 47 and from Dudley, was among those who suffered health problems in the wake of the liberation of Kuwait from the grip of Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein.
He was among dozens who took part in a protest walk in London calling for better treatment for those with Gulf War Syndrome. "We want independent testing and screening of veterans to lead to a better understanding of our illnesses, so guys can be treated," he said. "Twenty years ago they said war was over. Twenty years later, for us it's still going on and we're still suffering. We believe successive governments have engaged with the Ministry of Defence in denial and word-play to negate...
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