British Military Veterans in Combat Trauma and PTSD in Iraq and Afghanistan war

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background2

Significance of the research3

Problem statement4

Scope of the problem5

Reason to choose Iraq and Afghanistan6

Aims and objectives7

Research questions7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW8

Quality of Life for Returning Veterans8

Substance Abuse13

Anger and Aggression15

Homelessness18

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder19

REFERENCES22

BIBLIOGRAPHY36

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In the UK, of the 85,000 people now in prison in England and Wales, the number who have previously served within the Armed Forces is thought to be anywhere between five and ten per cent according to the Howard League for Penal Reform (2009: 1). Other statistics indicate that “up to 8,500 former Services personnel are currently in prison with another 3,000 on parole” and potentially “thousands on community supervision”(National Association for Probation Officers 2008: 2). As one recent article noted, “Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse are behind an alarming rise in the number of former British soldiers ending up in prison, a report says — and more veterans have had tangles with the law than there are British troops in Afghanistan” (Quinn 2009: 1). The result is 20,000 veterans in the criminal justice system compared to 9,000 troops currently in Afghanistan (Quinn 2009).There is an increasing need to focus attention on Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. America has been a nation at war since September 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks took place. Both the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have included U.S. military involvement (Reeves, 2007). The wars have lasted longer than initially expected and are among the longest lasting in American history (Sammons & Batten, 2008).

The U.S. military has deployed about 1.8 million personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan (Litz & Schlenger, 2009). Due to a shortage of military personnel the combat tours that some have to endure are longer than in other wars and the chance of being redeployed is relatively high (Tanielian & Jaycox, 2008). Of the 1.8 million that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan thus far, 37% have been deployed more than once (Litz & Schlenger, 2009).

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are unconventional because it is difficult for the enemy to be differentiated from the civilians, and many of ...