The Cheap and Tawdry Way Our Veterans are Treated

One line stood out for me in our report today on the potential increases facing soldiers for the insurance they have to take out when they serve on operations abroad. They have to buy the insurance to make up for the inadequacy of the MoD's own compensation scheme. The premiums could be effectively doubled for many soldiers from January 1st to provide adequate cover for soldiers and their families in the event of their being severely injured or killed. But in its own way, it was just as shocking to learn that soldiers going to war have to insure their own kit. If they lose it in combat, it seems, they have to recompense the army for the cost and then claim it back from the insurance policy. How petty and parsimonious can the MoD bean-counters be? No don't answer it we know...

As we watch our wounded soldiers having to fight for adequate compensation after putting their lives at risk for their country, let's not assume that the public outcry and the media coverage will ensure they get treated better. Richard Leigh Perkins was a Chindit during the Second World War. He was medically discharged from the army in 1959. He should have received his pension tax-free, but like many thousands of others was wrongly taxed for years.

The problem was uncovered by John Perry, another former army officer, in the late 1990s. Perry was initially dismissed as a crackpot who didn't know what he was talking about by the civil servants charged with ensuring our troops are treated properly after they leave the forces. Eventually they accepted he was right and Tony Blair even stood up in parliament and apologised for the way the veterans had been treated. (Some would say getting an apology out of Tony Blair was an achievement in itself.)

The government said that all those affected - or in some cases, since many had died, their next-of-kin - would be fully recompensed, not just by a refund of their tax but also with compensation to make up for the interest that would have accrued had they had the money the Treasury had wrongly taken from them.

Which brings us back to our former Chindit Richard Leigh Perkins. Like tens of thousands of others, he applied for the money he was due. The MoD claimed he had not been pensioned out of the services on the grounds of disablement. Read his discharge papers here and try to work out how they managed that one!

When an appeals tribunal ruled, in 2001, as any sensible person reading those discharge papers would, that there didn't seem to be any doubt that he had indeed been disabled out, the MoD agreed - after a good deal of prevaricating - to pay back his tax. BUT, and if you thought they were trying it on with the discharge papers, you wont believe this one! The MoD agreed to pay him only the tax he had paid since the 2001 appeals tribunal ruling.

They obviously thought that Perkins, then 83, was getting on a bit and would be grateful for small mercies, or to put it another way - they were quite scandalously hoping to save a bit of cash by trying it on with someone who had bravely served his country. They obviously hadn't read any books about the Chindits and their determined battles with the Japanese. Perkins was not ready to lay down and concede defeat and eventually the MoD agreed he should be refunded his tax back to 1959, when he actually left the army. But they have still not fulfilled the promise made by the government that he should be compensated for the interest he would have earned if he had the money steadily going into his bank account for the past 48 years, as of course he should have been. He is now 89. Still fighting, and hopefully will win his battle before he dies, although that of course cannot be guaranteed.

So don't be surprised if the boys who have suffered debilitating injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are still fighting to get properly compensated in 50 years time. The case of Richard Leigh Perkins shows there is no end to the cheap and tawdry way in which civil servants are prepared to treat our veterans.

Comments

[Jeff]

Thanks for posting this; these issues deserve a lot more awareness. By the way, you might be interested in the Wounded Warriors Project. It's a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness for U.S. troops severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It really puts a face on the cost of this conflict. Here's a link:

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/aarwebshow

Thanks,
Jeff

[William 29]

"Medical efficiency was a vital ingredient in maintaining morale, and morale is the big thing in war, ALL COMMANDERS must take a keen interest in their medical services, and ensure that have what they need.. The soldiers all know that should they fall in battle they will have the best possible expectation of sound treatment and human consideration and it was vital for commanders to take personal reponsibility". -

Bernard Law Montgomery

[William 29]

It appears to me that in all walks of life; education, health and the services to name but a few, that administrators no longer supply and support. They dictate policy, overule when it suits them politically - on "expert advice" yet those same "experts" can be wrong if the advice might just conflict with the odd vote or two. I remember from my distant schooldays learning that parliament recessed during the hot summer months as poor old father Thames reeked a wee bit. In these days of pollution awareness it is poor old father Thames that has to endure the stench of corruption !

[William 29]

Veterans to be barred from wearing the Pingat Jasa on armistace day - so went the headline !

Conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline contrary to section 69 of the Army Act 1955, in that he, at approximately 1100hrs on 11 November 2007 was seen to be wearing a medal issued to him by "Johnny foreigner", conduct likely to endanger national security.

Witness: Des Browne MP LLB and Bar

[William29]

She whom is obeyed informed me that we were going to watch some chap named Paul O'Grady - well you can imagine ! What a pleasant surprise, Sir Roger Moore was the guest, he promptly launched into a very spirited attack on the government on the shoddy treatment of our armed forces. Reciting Tommy Atkins with feeling. Thank you Sir Roger.