Legion magazine editorial
Published: 18 September 2009
Here’s the scenario: a young soldier, severely injured in Afghanistan, has just learned to walk again following months of rehabilitation. One thing that’s been keeping him going through the months of pain and frustration is the thought that, one day soon, he’ll be able to rejoin his colleagues and get back to his duties.
But it seems the new Welfare Pathway could shatter those dreams. The scheme, which is due to be announced by Veterans Minister Kevan Jones later this autumn, will include plans to encourage those deemed ‘unfit for service’ – that is, personnel who are injured or disabled – to leave the services and find a more ‘suitable’ job on civvy street.
The MoD’s justification for the plans is that it will clear the way to recruit more able-bodied troops who will be able to take on a wider range of roles in the forces. It estimates that there are currently up to 6,000 personnel who are classed as medically unfit, and are often only able to carry out office-based roles.
Current budget constraints, it says, are making it impossible to keep on so many troops who can no longer carry out combat roles.
Yet, the department is still able to pay full salaries to nearly 900 ‘jobless’ civil servants, who are currently waiting to be assigned a new role. Some, according to reports, have been without work for more than two years.
These troops – that the MoD wants to ditch – are entitled to lifelong care through the Military Covenant. What’s more, troops with prosthetic limbs have already returned to the front line in Afghanistan, so they are hardly ‘unfit for service’.
When it come to balancing the books, surely a surfeit of civil servants should get the boot before brave young people who have sacrificed mind and body for their country. This shouldn't be what is meant by 'priority treatment'.
But that’s just our view. What do you think?
The Legion editorial team
