TEENAGE soldiers serving in Cyprus are going AWOL from the British bases for fear of being deployed to Iraq, being diagnosed with stress and depression while on leave in the UK, it emerged yesterday.
Since July, two 17-year old Scottish squaddies have gone AWOL from the Royal Highland Fusiliers, based at Episkopi, and were found back at home with their families in Glasgow. One has now been deemed unfit for service and the second, although technically classed as AWOL, is likely to fall into the same category, a British bases spokesman said yesterday.
In July, David McBride, 17, who signed up to the army aged 16, failed to return to base in Cyprus after home leave and told relatives he wanted out of the army.
His family told reporters in Scotland that as the reality of life in the army began to hit home, the youngster was diagnosed with clinical depression.
“He has been told that as soon as he turns 18 in November, he will be sent to Iraq,” his mother Yvonne said. “He has worried himself sick and I am scared about his mental health.” David, from Milton, serves with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the same regiment as Gordon Gentle, 19, from Pollok, who was killed when his military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Basra in June.
The second soldier who went AWOL from Cyprus, also served with the same regiment.
Brian Wright, who turned 18 last month and is also from Glasgow, walked out of his camp in Cyprus just weeks after Gentle’s funeral. Fears are growing for his mental health as doctors in Scotland said he was suffering from “severe” stress disorder.
Gordon Gentle’s mother, Rose, who wants all British troops out of Iraq, told reporters in the UK: “What happened to my son has put the fear of God into them. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were dozens of boys in the same position.”
British bases spokesman Captain Peter Thacker told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that McBride, whom he did not name, had initially been posted as AWOL purely due to a procedural error.
“That was overturned,” he said. “If a soldier who went on summer leave was unwell and went to see his doctor and got a medical certificate and passed it on to the army, he would no longer be classed as AWOL.”
Soldiers are posted as AWOL if they have been missing from their unit for three days’ unauthorised leave.
The second soldier, Wright, has not had his AWOL status overturned because the army has not yet received his doctor’s papers, Thacker said.
“The second individual (Wright) has been to see a doctor but hasn’t passed it on to the army and that needs to be authorised,” he said.
“A number of these may have said they don’t want to return and have linked it to Iraq and so forth. The army understands well and good that there will be some individuals who might not want to go on an operational tour.
“These individuals are under the age of 18 so will not be going anyway. Our message is that there are lots of procedures in place if they have doubts. This is what the chain of command is there for.
“If they don’t want to address it to the chain of command the army has an independent support line which they can phone up confidentially, and with my experience there is a good concrete welfare structure in the army.
“Yes, I understand there are these young individuals and they might change their minds. It’s natural within a unit that there will always be cases of absence without leave.”
Thacker said McBride has now been deemed unfit for duty and would not be returning to Cyprus for the time being. “He is at home and he is unwell and he is unfit for duty and there is no point bringing him out to Cyprus if he can get well at home,” he said.
“The second individual, if he doesn’t get his sickness slip authenticated, there are procedures in place to have him disciplined under the Queen’s regulations. It’s as simple as that.”
Thacker admitted Iraq might be a frightening prospect for 17 and 18-year-olds and said it was normal to have such fears. “At 18 they can be sent out there but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will, but they do have responsibilities,” he said.
“We appreciate that they are young but this is what they join the army for and they receive extremely comprehensive training. They are never unprepared for the task.”
He said the Royal Highland Fusiliers had recently returned to the island and that morale was high. They would not be sent to Iraq for the time being because army brass preferred to leave a good gap between operational tours.
“Fusilier Gentle was tragically killed towards the end of the tour,” he said. “I asked the battalion today, and morale was good. If a soldier does all his training he is usually keen to go out and do what he is trained for but of course there will always be a minority that don’t want to do that.”
Back in the UK, McBride’s mother said: “My boy is in no fit state to go back. I worried every day he was over in Cyprus because I knew how depressed he was. There is no way they should be sending kids my son’s age to war. They’re not experienced enough and are being put in serious risk.”
Gordon Gentle’s mother told the Express newspaper she understood what McBride and his family were going through.
Gentle, 40, who has launched a campaign to bring home service personnel from Iraq, said: “I am not surprised to hear about this because the boy is obviously terrified. “They shouldn’t be sending boys over there at that age. It shows how bad the situation has become. Cases like this send a clear message to Tony Blair. There are a lot of young boys who are very frightened and depressed at what is happening to them.”
Last month, Gentle stormed out in disgust from a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, accusing him of “talking rubbish”. She told the Express. “I want to see the top man. If I met Tony Blair right now, I would ask him to sit down and think why he is sending young kids to their death for the sake of lies which are coming out.”
Gentle claims the Ministry of Defence was negligent in her son’s death. She has applied for legal aid and is planning to sue the British government.
“There’s a lot of mothers who just don’t want their sons to be sent out there,” she said.
