Chance encounter reminds Lib Dem to honour our forces

By Stuart Bonar, on Sunday, January 31, 2010

Stuart Bonar

I love travelling by train. With our region’s countryside and landscape out the window as the train snakes its way towards its destination, it’s a joy. In South Devon of course we have that beautiful stretch of track running alongside the sea. All very lovely.

With all that to distract me, I’m not the kind of guy who looks around wanting to strike up conversation with anyone who makes eye contact. I’ll usually be found reading or writing something, hoping for some nice peace and quiet.

Last week, however, I broke from routine, and I am very glad I did. I had a long conversation with a fellow passenger, who turned out to be a guardsman, from the Coldstream Guards. He was on his way to barracks before heading off to Afghanistan for the second time. From what he told me, he’s probably there by now.

I learnt a lot from this man, a Cornish man in his early 20s. He had seen things when he was in Afghanistan first time around that were incredibly intense and hard. He was fearful about what he would soon face.

He opened up to tell me about how he coped with the stress of it all by turning to drink, and that he knew he drank too much and it was affecting his friends and family. He had told people in the Services, he explained, but they had not helped him with his problem. It was getting worse.

At some point when he was explaining this to me, in a conversation across the aisle of the train, a woman boarded. She was booked into the seat next to him. When she saw the can of lager in front of him, however, she quickly made her excuses and found an empty seat elsewhere. She was doing something understandable, I suppose, but it seemed to affect him a lot.

I felt for this young man a great deal. There he is, facing huge pressure and stress, serving his country, but feeling that no-one was there to help him. People didn’t even want to sit next to him on the train. He needs help, and it isn’t forthcoming.

I did two things after the journey was over. First of all, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Defence to tell him about this. I asked him to re-examine what is available to serving and former armed forces personnel to help them deal with what they see and have to deal with.

Second, I decided to re-double my campaigning efforts to help the armed forces. As the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate in Plymouth Moor View I have already pushed for a better deal for service personnel, better pay, healthcare and housing. I have also called for more effort to ensure that troops on the Afghan frontline can vote in the election. I will now make doubly sure that campaigning for a better deal for the men and women who serve this country so bravely continues to be a cornerstone of my work.

• Do troops get a fair deal? Comment below, please