http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum This is an XML content feed of; Military Families Support Group : Last 10 Posts Fri, 18 May 2012 13:01:57 UT Thu, 17 May 2012 23:31:40 UT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 8.01 30 www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/RSS_topic_feed.asp http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_images/web_wiz_forums.gif http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=597&PID=8148#8148 Author: Elaine
Subject: FIJIAN SUPPORT NETWORK.
Posted: 17 May 2012 at 11:31pm

There is such a lot of information on the Army Families Federation website for Foreign and Commonwealth soldiers, in particular of interest is the link below regarding discharge procedures and Indefinite Leave to Remain.

http://www.aff.org.uk/army_family_life/foreign_commonwealh/fc_in_uk/discharge_procedures.htm
    

Edited by Elaine - Yesterday at 11:32pm]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 23:31:40 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=597&PID=8148#8148 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8147#8147 Author: Elaine
Subject: General Chat Section
Posted: 16 May 2012 at 1:18am

Hello Paul,

Try the link again it has just worked for me, also perhaps you could have a look at the Army Welfare site (link below), if you phone his last base and ask for the welfare or families officer someone there should be able to help you.

http://www.army.mod.uk/welfare-support/welfare-support.aspx

Welfare Service (AWS): Much of the support available to Army personnel and their families is given through the AWS, a professional and confidential welfare support service for servicemen and women and their families, wherever they are located.

If you wish to contact the Army Welfare Service please email: AWS-Welfareinformationservice@mod.uk or Telephone on: 01980 615975 or 0800 032 6443.
    
    

Edited by Elaine - 16 May 2012 at 1:22am]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 01:18:56 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8147#8147 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=600&PID=8146#8146 Author: Elaine
Subject: PTSD, Depression & Mental Health.
Posted: 16 May 2012 at 1:06am

Armed forces support service receives vital funding boost

Geraint Vincent: Special Correspondent - last updated Tue 15 May 2012
UK army Forgotten Fallen

The Big White Wall, an armed forces support service, has received a funding boost from the Government Photo:
A problem shared is a problem halved. Well in the case of Big White Wall, the online mental wellbeing service, the aim is to share the problem many times over, so that it ends up a fraction of the size it was.

The money that it received from the Government today will be put to vital use.

Big White Wall launched its Armed Forces support service last year. Since then more than two and a half thousand people have registered with it, or, to use the website's parlance, 'gone on the Wall'.


The Wall is anonymous, so as to overcome the stigma which so often surrounds mental health issues. It invites new users to share their problems with other sufferers, and then it offers a range of treatments and therapies which can all be accessed online.

The mental health professionals who run the site say they've been overwhelmed by the response, and that they think they've reached people that they would never otherwise have reached.

The Big White Wall says those who have used the site since it launched last Autumn include:

2,500 users
Serving personnel: 36% (64% males)
Veterans: 42% (84% males)
Families: 22% (88% males)
Uptake has predominantly been within the 25-44 age range
50% of those registered had not sought help elsewhere (e.g. from a GP)
People like Taz. Taz is a veteran of Bosnia and Iraq who, years after he left the army, began to feel that he couldn't cope.

There was a rage within him which frightened him, and members of his family.

He says the Big White Wall saved his life. The revelation that he was not alone in his despair, that there were other people just like him, gave him the strength to carry on.


The website could help any number of military personnel, serving and retired, in the months and years to come. But it does require people to admit they have a problem, and ask for help. If there's one thing I have learnt while making our series, 'The Forgotten Fallen', it's that very often those who are most in need are least likely to reach out.

Lee Bonsall was a 24-year-old veteran of Afghanistan who hanged himself at home two months ago. In the weeks after his death his mum told us that she had never heard of the Big White Wall, and wished that she had.

After today's annoucement of extra funds she questioned whether a website was really provision enough. Tough young soldiers, or ex-soldiers, she says, aren't going to seek out an opportunity to tell someone that they're frightened, or in pain. Somebody has to ask them.

Lee's loved ones want an overhaul of the process through which people leave the army, with both the health and social services involved, checking up on individual who might be at risk.

We know that it is young veterans who are especially vulnerable to suicidal thoughts.

And we know that admitting to a mental health problem takes a good deal of courage. A different kind of courage to the kind you need to storm an insurgent position in Afghanistan, but courage nonetheless.

The people at Big White Wall want everybody who leaves the Armed Forces to be issued with a plastic card with their web address printed on it.

It takes a brave heart to step out on patrol in Afghanistan, some of those who make it back will have to be brave again, and get online.]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 01:06:50 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=600&PID=8146#8146 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8145#8145 Author: cliffepaul
Subject: General Chat Section
Posted: 16 May 2012 at 1:05am

thank you for the link but all i get is can not display page so really not a lot of use but thank any way. i feel so usless and i know it im going to phone the last base he was at may be they will b able 2 help but knowing the army like i do i dont think so b we will c as i said thanks any way
paul]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 01:05:11 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8145#8145 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8144#8144 Author: Elaine
Subject: General Chat Section
Posted: 16 May 2012 at 12:10am

Hello,

Thank you for your post and I am putting a link to the MOD's 'Guide for Families of Deployed Regular Army Personnel'

http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/20110308_PDF_Families_Deployment_guide_March2011.pdf

I hope there is some information on there that you might find helpful, pages 32-33 have some advice on keeping in touch.

http://www.supportoursoldiers.co.uk/ is a website where you will find many others in a similar situation as yourself and you can chat and get advice from the members on there.

The equipment issue is something that constantly gets raised, I was talking to a soldier today who said they have the equipment now that they should have had in 2005, it seems like they are just catching up. Soldiers always seem to have bought their own extra pieces of kit that they feel happier with, it is not right but it happens.

If we can help in any way please get back in touch.
    
    
    

Edited by Elaine - 16 May 2012 at 1:10am]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 00:10:20 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8144#8144 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8143#8143 Author: cliffepaul
Subject: General Chat Section
Posted: 13 May 2012 at 11:06pm

there is no support for family's of the people how go to war as far i can c i have know two how have gone to afgan amd both have got there owen kit to go with as the stuff they were give by the army was not good enough my son as just got to afgan and i have no way of knowing how to keeo intouch with him this is well wrong and im surew im not the only one. bay be if the army pent more on making they had the must up to date stuff them may b there would not be so meny lifes lost. i think there should b a independant service that looks at what the army is supplying our loved one with ]]> Sun, 13 May 2012 23:06:49 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2&PID=8143#8143 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=306&PID=8142#8142 Author: Elaine
Subject: Daily News
Posted: 11 May 2012 at 8:08am

Armed Forces Minister claimed £7 expenses for attending Remembrance Sunday service in his constituency
MPs claimed £3.5million in December and January
By KIRSTY WALKER
PUBLISHED: 22:39, 10 May 2012 | UPDATED: 22:39, 10 May 2012

'Disgraceful': Armed forces minister Nick Harvey claimed £7 expenses for visiting a Remembrance Day service
Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey claimed £7.20 in expenses from the taxpayer to attend a Remembrance Sunday service in his constituency, it has been revealed.
The Liberal Democrat minister, who is paid almost £100,000 a year, was one of 13 MPs to lodge mileage claims for attending local services in November last year.
The claims are allowed under Commons rules, but Mr Harvey’s decision to demand payment for driving 16 miles to attend services in his North Devon constituency was branded ‘disgraceful’ by critics last night.
The claims were revealed in the latest batch of expenses data released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).
Fellow Lib Dem minister David Heath was also among those claiming for attending Remembrance Day services last year.
Mr Heath, Deputy Leader of the Commons, claimed £23.40 for mileage in his Somerset constituency. Welsh Labour MP Dai Havard even lodged a claim for just 45p for attending a service barely a mile from his home.
At the other end of the scale, Tory Graham Evans claimed £97.65 for driving to two events in his Weaver Vale constituency.
Although claims for attending Remembrance Day services are permitted under the rules, the decision to charge mileage expenses for attending events that many consider a civic duty is likely to raise eyebrows in the Armed Forces.

Reg Keys, the father of Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, 20, from North Wales, who was killed in Iraq, said: ‘This is disgraceful. Can our MPs not do anything off their own backs?
‘There are some things they just shouldn’t claim expenses for – they should be there because they want to be. It is not as if Nick Harvey was flying half way around the world. He was travelling 16 miles up the road.
‘This is disgraceful... There are some things MPs just shouldn’t claim expenses for’
Reg Keys, father of Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, 20, who was killed in Iraq
‘Our MPs should show some common sense and ask themselves if it is appropriate before putting in claims like these.’
Mr Harvey said last night: ‘I attended the event as the local constituency MP. At the end of each month I submit a claim for all the journeys I have made as part of my parliamentary role.’
In December and January, Ipsa processed 31,000 expenses claims from MPs totalling £3.5million.
Many MPs complain that the new expenses system, introduced in the wake of the scandal that shamed Parliament, is too restrictive. But the latest figures reveal that penny-pinching MPs are still able to claim for even the most trivial items.
Millionaire Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone lodged two claims of 18p to pay for bananas for interns working in her office. Former Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Chris Huhne had a £96 claim to set up an internet domain name rejected.

House of shame: MPs still claim that their new expenses system, introduced in the wake of the expenses scandal, is too restrictive
The figures show that MPs are still able to claim first-class travel, despite a promised ban on the practice in the wake of the expenses scandal.
Within the two-month period, MPs charged taxpayers £91,000 for first-class rail travel and £29,600 for business-class flights.
When the ban on first-class travel was proposed, MPs reacted with fury. Their backlash resulted in watered-down proposals that allowed them to travel first-class if they could find a more expensive standard-class ticket.
But because of the expensive prices charged for flexible ‘anytime’ tickets, it means MPs are often able to claim legitimately that first class was cheaper.
The figures show that Lib Dem Transport Minister Norman Baker is among those exploiting the loophole.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142632/Armed-Forces-Minister-claimed-7-expenses-attending-Remembrance-Sunday-service-constituency.html#ixzz1uXhWgrzy
    
    

Edited by Elaine - 11 May 2012 at 8:12am]]> Fri, 11 May 2012 08:08:28 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=306&PID=8142#8142 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=664&PID=8141#8141 Author: Elaine
Subject: Family of Injured
Posted: 10 May 2012 at 10:34am

The latest Ministry of Defence casualty statistics show that nearly 2,500 British troops have been injured in Afghanistan since 2001- a third of them seriously.

A growing number of troops are surviving devastating injuries and multiple amputations for the first time in history thanks to more than 5,500 aero-medical evacuations combined with the immediacy of medical treatment.

Figures just released reveal 559 British troops have been critically or seriously injured in Afghanistan in the 11 years up to this April. The figures do not include all of the 15 wounded personnel currently being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

IED's have been responsible for the most serious of their injuries. The MOD report shows more than half of all the 311 seriously wounded were hit in 2009 and 2010. Of them 146 had amputations, with 68 described as significant multiple amputations.

But they also record a steady decrease in the number of catastrophically injured troops. Last year saw 46 amputations, 18 being multiple.

It is the first time in history triple amputees have survived their injuries.

Jerome Church from the ex-servicemen’s charity BLESMA estimates around 20 veterans are doing well after losing 3 limbs, and says “surviving such grievous injuries is down to modern medicine. Getting the injured flown back so quickly has been key.”

The handover of Sangin to the Americans in 2011 has also made a significant difference. British casualties dropped to 69 from 154 in 2010.

And while there have been nearly 200 admissions to field hospitals this year, only 10 have been classed as very serious.

But as the number of seriously injured falls the veterans mental health charity Combat Stress has warned of a big increase in those carrying the mental wounds of war.

It says 228 of its clients fought in Afghanistan, but as it can take 13 years before PTSD sufferers approach the charity, they predict there will be more than seven thousand new cases in the years to come
]]> Thu, 10 May 2012 10:34:20 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=664&PID=8141#8141 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=600&PID=8140#8140 Author: Elaine
Subject: PTSD, Depression & Mental Health.
Posted: 10 May 2012 at 10:33am

The latest Ministry of Defence casualty statistics show that nearly 2,500 British troops have been injured in Afghanistan since 2001- a third of them seriously.

A growing number of troops are surviving devastating injuries and multiple amputations for the first time in history thanks to more than 5,500 aero-medical evacuations combined with the immediacy of medical treatment.

Figures just released reveal 559 British troops have been critically or seriously injured in Afghanistan in the 11 years up to this April. The figures do not include all of the 15 wounded personnel currently being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

IED's have been responsible for the most serious of their injuries. The MOD report shows more than half of all the 311 seriously wounded were hit in 2009 and 2010. Of them 146 had amputations, with 68 described as significant multiple amputations.

But they also record a steady decrease in the number of catastrophically injured troops. Last year saw 46 amputations, 18 being multiple.

It is the first time in history triple amputees have survived their injuries.

Jerome Church from the ex-servicemen’s charity BLESMA estimates around 20 veterans are doing well after losing 3 limbs, and says “surviving such grievous injuries is down to modern medicine. Getting the injured flown back so quickly has been key.”

The handover of Sangin to the Americans in 2011 has also made a significant difference. British casualties dropped to 69 from 154 in 2010.

And while there have been nearly 200 admissions to field hospitals this year, only 10 have been classed as very serious.

But as the number of seriously injured falls the veterans mental health charity Combat Stress has warned of a big increase in those carrying the mental wounds of war.

It says 228 of its clients fought in Afghanistan, but as it can take 13 years before PTSD sufferers approach the charity, they predict there will be more than seven thousand new cases in the years to come.
]]> Thu, 10 May 2012 10:33:04 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=600&PID=8140#8140 http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=306&PID=8139#8139 Author: Elaine
Subject: Daily News
Posted: 10 May 2012 at 10:29am

The family of a toddler who went missing from a British military base in Germany more than 30 years ago have appealed to the Prime Minister to help them.

Katrice Lee vanished on the 28th November 1981. It was her second birthday and she had been taken on a trip to the NAAFI shop AT Schloss Neuhaus, Paderborn where her mother Sharon and aunt Wendy were buying party food.

Mrs Lee left Katrice with her sister to buy some crisps but returned to find Katrice had gone. Her sister said she had run after her mother down the aisle but there was no sign of her.

Both the Royal Military Police and German police at the time concluded Katrice had fallen into a river 200 metres away.

Despite an extensive search, no trace of Katrice was ever found. Her family believe she was abducted.

Sharon Lee said: “I still cannot understand to this day how my daughter managed to push her way through a crowded NAAFI, bearing in mind she was two that morning.

“She fell into the river, according to the German police authorities. That’s their theory. It’s not mine, it never has been mine and it never will be mine.”

The Lee family have spent the last 30 years looking for their daughter and it has changed their lives.

“On the 28th November 1981 my world as I knew it stopped. Not just my world, obviously Natasha’s world, she was only 7, my husband’s and all of our family’s,” Mrs Lee told Forces News.

“Life has never been the same and it won’t be the same. You keep going because at the end of the day you have another child and because I want to find out what happened to my daughter. I want justice for my daughter.”

A computer generated image of what Katrice could look like now has been created by the charity Missing People and the Prime Minister has now agreed to look into the case after pressure from the families MP Caroline Dinenage.

She said: “The Royal Military Police from day one didn’t necessarily act in a way that we would have liked. There were very very major problems with the way they conducted the enquiry. People like the ladies that worked on the till in the shop that Katrice went missing weren’t questioned for weeks and weeks after she went missing. Even the border guards were not told for 48 hours. You know there were various failures in the way that this was handled and conducted. And I think the family deserve to hear the truth, just for their own piece of mind.”

The family have also pressed the Royal Military Police for the files on their daughter’s disappearance but the Ministry of Defence said these cannot be released because the investigation is ongoing.

In a statement the Senior Investigating Officer for the case said they were working with the German authorities to re-examine the circumstances of Katrice’s disappearance.

Major Clive Robins told British Forces News: “This truly is a tragic case and one that the Lee family have had to live with for over thirty years. It is my hope and ultimate aim that by applying modern investigative techniques we can shed some light on what happened to Katrice and therefore bring closure for Ritchie, Sharon and Natasha”.

HELP FIND KATRICE

Operation BUTE – HIA is re-investigating the disappearance of Katrice Lee from the NAAFI, Schloss Neuhaus, Paderborn, Germany on Sat 28 Nov 1981.

If you have any information that you think may help the Inquiry, no matter how insignificant you feel it might be, please contact the Op BUTE Inquiry team on any of the following:

Mil: 94321 3657
Civ: 01980 673657
UK Freephone: 0800 616888
German Civil: 0049 (0)5241 1799253
E-mail: operationbute@rmp.mod.uk

You can also call the Confidential Helpline for Missing People on 0500 700 700 or email seensomeone@missingpeople.org.uk


]]> Thu, 10 May 2012 10:29:12 UT http://www.mfsg.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=306&PID=8139#8139