Top officers urge public to back appeal as heroes feel the strain

Their backing comes after it was revealed that Yorkshire’s Armed Forces are under their biggest strain since the Second World War, with all four battalions of the Yorkshire Regiment set to be deployed to Afghanistan next year – an unprecedented commitment.

Armed Forces charities have raised grave fears that the mental and physical strains of the ongoing conflict combined with swingeing defence cuts, could leave a deep scar across the region which is traditionally the biggest recruitment pool for the military.

Now Brigadier Greville Bibby, the commander of the Army in Yorkshire and the North-East, has urged the public to get behind our fundraising campaign in aid of ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity.

“Yorkshire has always held the Armed Forces very dear to its heart,” said the Brigadier, who received a CBE for his services to Afghanistan in 2009.

“We all know that Yorkshire is a very proud county and we all know the Yorkshire people are very proud men and women. If you put that together you find the Yorkshire soldier and there is that enormous strength of pride.

“In Afghanistan, I was deputy commander of a force of 9,000 soldiers. In that time there were 1,500 IEDS (Improvised Explosive Devices) dealt with by some very brave young people.

“The strain is absolutely ghastly and terrifying. There was a time in Sangin when if a patrol of 12 people were forming up to go out of the gate, there was a one-in-six chance that one of them wasn’t going to come back.

“For a young soldier or officer, that is a very frightening place to be and there is no hiding behind that.

“I think potentially it (the mental strain) could be a big issue. There will be some individuals in the coming years who will be very badly affected by it, no question about it.

“When we talk about wounded soldiers, we are also very conscious that they might not have physical injuries but mental injuries and they will take a long time to emerge. I think this is something we are very aware could be a legacy of Helmand. And it is something we need to be ready for and doing something about now.”

The Brigadier says in advance of the Government’s plans to withdraw in a combat role from Afghanistan by 2015, the work our soldiers will be doing next year is more important than ever. I didn’t think it would go on for this long,” he said. “I don’t think many of us predicted for a second it would.

“The distinction you have to make is support for the campaign or the soldier. At the moment, I don’t think it matters what your politics are or whether you think it’s a good idea or bad. People support the Armed Forces.

“It is in people’s consciousness that these soldiers are doing a fantastically brave job. We have invested a lot of blood and young life in trying to help the Afghans, we need to do as good a job as we can in honour of the fallen before we leave – there is no question about that.”

Major General Andrew Farquhar, CBE, a former commanding officer of the Green Howards, now the Second Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, and deputy commanding general of the Multi-National Corps in Iraq, said: “For the British Army now, Afghanistan is much worse – the intensity of operations are much greater than they were.

“The fact is it is a life-changing experience during these tours and for some of these young guys it is a life-damaging experience either physically or mentally. I personally think this will have affected an awful lot of soldiers and we will never know the full extent until it has arrived.

“The commitment from all four Yorkshire Regiment battalions has been fantastic and over the next year they will commit a huge amount in terms of operations. They are doing everything they possibly can and I am very proud. I am delighted to get behind this campaign and stress the importance of ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity.”

[email protected]