Chilcot: physical and mental legacy of Iraq war on UK service personnel

Abstract: The much awaited Chilcot report focused on the legitimacy of the UK going to war in Iraq. But the UK citizens most directly affected by the war were members of the armed forces and their families. A total of 179 British service personnel were killed in the conflict, and many more received life changing physical and mental injuries. The Ministry Of Defence reports a total of 5970 casualties, including deaths up to July 2009. In April 2003 the UK Ministry of Defence commissioned an independent study of the health and wellbeing of Iraq war veterans (Chilcot, 16.2, 58-). This study, now completing its third wave of data collection, compared military personnel who had or had not been to Iraq, and found no new “Iraq war syndrome”; no significant increase in probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or common mental health disorders; and only a modest increase in alcohol misuse. There were, however, specific increases in mental health problems, including PTSD and alcohol misuse, among men who had been in combat roles. Likewise, reports of probable PTSD were more common among reservists who served in Iraq (6%) than those who did not (3%). This was associated more with difficulties experienced on returning home than the deployment itself, and remained evident five years later. As the Ministry of Defence intends to increase the use of reservists in future, this is a concerning finding.