scholarly journals WHY CIVIL CLAIMS ARE A NECESSARY PART OF THE ARSENAL TO ADDRESS MILITARY EXCESSES : Assessing the UK Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Ferstman ◽  
Noora Arajärvi
2018 ◽  
Vol 166 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Wheatley ◽  
A C Hollingsworth ◽  
I Greaves

UKpolice forces have had to adapt their tactical approach to the emerging terror threat that now faces the UK. This has led to an evolution in the training, education and conduct of authorised firearms officers and an increased capability in the provision of immediate lifesaving care to injured casualties. This article intends to describe the police response to a marauding terror attack and describes the medical capabilities authorised firearms officers possess in order to educate other emergency service responders to such an event. The challenges of training for a major terrorist event and the benefits of collaborative working with other emergency service personnel are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Pinder ◽  
Amy C. Iversen ◽  
Nav Kapur ◽  
Simon Wessely ◽  
Nicola T. Fear

Aims: Little has been reported on self-harm among the UK Armed Forces, partly due to the difficulties in recording self-harm, within an often-difficult-to-reach population. This study assesses the lifetime prevalence of attempted suicide and self-harm within currently serving and ex-service personnel of the UK Armed Forces. Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted with 821 personnel who had previously participated in the King’s Centre for Military Health Research military health study. Within the telephone interview, participants were asked about attempted suicide and episodes of self-harm. Results: A lifetime prevalence of 5.6% for intentional self-harm (self-harm or attempted suicide) was reported. Intentional self-harm was associated with psychological morbidity (in particular, post-traumatic stress disorder) and adverse experiences in childhood. Ex-service personnel reported lifetime prevalence more than double that of serving personnel (10.5% vs 4.2%, respectively). Participants reporting intentional self-harm were younger (34.4 years vs 39.8 years). Conclusion: A lifetime prevalence of 5.6% for attempted suicide and self-harm is higher than previous research has suggested. Younger service personnel, those who have experienced adversity in childhood, those with other psychological morbidity, and ex-service personnel are more likely to report self-harm behaviours.


2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1562) ◽  
pp. 261-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Greenberg ◽  
E. Jones ◽  
N. Jones ◽  
N. T. Fear ◽  
S. Wessely

The mental health of the UK Armed Forces is a topic much debated by healthcare professionals, politicians and the media. While the current operations in Afghanistan, and the recent conflict in Iraq, are relevant to this debate, much of what is known about the effects of war upon the psyche still derives from the two World Wars. This paper will examine the historical and contemporary evidence about why it is that some Service personnel suffer psychological injuries during their military service and others do not. The paper will also consider some of the strategies that today's Armed Forces have put in place to mitigate the effects of sending military personnel into danger.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 812-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Williams ◽  
Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson ◽  
John Hockey ◽  
Adam Evans

Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex-service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the Royal British Legion as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the Royal British Legion offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1105-1123
Author(s):  
Ghazala Khan ◽  
Faiza Khan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate what cues or surrogate indicators Muslims use to determine whether restaurants are suitable for dining purposes in the absence of the halal logo and to examine if the cues used are different among Muslims from non-Muslim countries as opposed to Muslims from Muslim countries. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via semi-structured interviews in one Muslim majority (Malaysia) and one non-Muslim country (the UK). A total of 16 adults participated in the study with an equal representation from both countries. Findings In the absence of the halal logo, participants relied on extrinsic cues such as the presence of other Muslim-looking customers and service personnel to determine whether a restaurant was deemed safe for dining in. The location of a restaurant was a strong indicator for Muslims in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. In the absence of the halal logo, participants read the menus carefully, queried the service personnel for additional information and selected safer options, such as vegetarian and seafood. Research limitations/implications The study used a small sample, and therefore, the findings are tentative. Practical implications Given the growth of Muslim population in many non-Muslim countries, it is important for restaurants in non-Muslim countries not to marginalize this customer base. Trust is a key issue and service providers without the halal logo should gain the trust of Muslim customers by training service personnel and equipping them with knowledge of what halal means, developing menus with vegetarian and seafood options, providing detailed information on ingredients and communicating this on their websites and social media sites. They could also consider working with Muslim food and travel bloggers to promote themselves to a Muslim audience. They can develop a more Muslim sympathetic marketing approach and consider using separate cooking and serving utensils to gain trust and patronage of Muslim customers as well as to appeal to a larger market (vegans/vegetarians). Originality/value The present study is one of the first studies that concentrates on gaining an insight into how Muslims make decision pertaining to the selection and dining at a restaurant in the absence of the halal logo. A major contribution of the study is the identification of cues that assist Muslims when evaluating and selecting alternative food options in the absence of a halal logo.


2021 ◽  
pp. e001701
Author(s):  
David Edwards ◽  
R Ramsey ◽  
J Breeze

Anxiety towards dental treatment is a significant barrier towards care within the United Kingdom Armed Forces. Avoidance of dental treatment results in morbidity, and severe dental infections can lead to systemic disease, which in turn may require hospitalisation. Of greater concern are deployed phobic patients who may develop dental pathology or suffer dental trauma and will likely require evacuation to the UK or a suitable host nation. This has considerable financial implications and in a war setting may place everyone in the evacuation chain at greater risk especially considering that it is not possible to manage these patients in Role 1 or 2 environments. Managing anxiety using either sedation or a general anaesthetic as a long-term management strategy for anxious military patients is simply not practical. This is reflected by current Defence policy stating that service personnel who are unable to tolerate treatment under local anaesthetic (LA) alone should be medically downgraded. However, the situation should ideally be addressed at the time of first recruitment. Currently, despite regulations recommending that potential new military recruits who cannot tolerate routine dentistry under LA should be medically discharged, in reality the subjectivity of such an assessment means this rarely happens. We would instead recommend that following identification of dental phobic recruits in initial training, they be placed in a holding platoon while methods to address their anxiety are explored. This would potentially avoid them entering military service and ultimately being discharged.


Author(s):  
K. Neil Jenkings ◽  
Rachel Woodward

Operation Banner saw the deployment of over 300,000 British soldiers to Ulster during the Troubles and as such they can be seen as constituting a third community during this period. Drawing on interviews with former service personnel structured around their personal photographs, and using published memoir accounts of military deployment to Northern Ireland, this chapter explores the memory work undertaken by former personnel to make sense of their past experience. Individuals, some still teenagers and serving in a hostile environment that for many looked just like home on the UK mainland, often experienced traumatic and life changing events when deployed. Using the themes of ‘youth and experience’, ‘security and danger’ and ‘trauma and memory’ we examine the often conflicting emotions and responses of these former military personnel to their experiences of the Troubles, and the work undertaken in the present to contain and make sense of this.


2017 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 362-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren R Godier ◽  
M Fossey

Despite media interest in alleged sexual violence and harassment in the UK military, there remains a paucity of UK-based peer-reviewed research in this area. Ministry of Defence and service-specific reports support the suggestion that UK service personnel may be at risk of experiencing sexual harassment. These reports however highlight a reluctance by service personnel to report sexual harassment through official channels. In this article, we discuss the paucity of UK-based research pertaining to the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in the military, explore potential reasons for this gap in knowledge and outline future directions and priorities for academic research.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document