Mood:
sadNow Playing: Another Soliders Sucide in a Sicking Illegal War
Topic: WAR
On his death bed,
he told his mother,
"I can't go out there and
shoot at young children.
I just can't go to Iraq.
I don't care what side they
are on... I can't do it."
Tony Chelsea, 58, a factory production supervisor, said: "My son, Jason, was made very, very lonely by what was happening to him. He was very sad inside and he bottled up what was causing it. It was only after the overdose that he told us about his fears over what might happen in Iraq
His mother added: "Jason said that during the training for Iraq he had been told that children as young as two carry bombs and the time may come when he would have to shoot one to save himself and his friends. I think they need to think again about the training they give to young soldiers before Iraq.
He had even told his parents that he had been warned by his commanders that he could be ordered to fire on child suicide bombers. It was a fear that he never confronted. Within 48 hours of confessing his concerns to his family, Jason at the young age of 19 years old, was dead after taking an overdose of painkillers and slashing his wrists.
**********
After watching a football match on the night of 10 August, he calmly wrote the suicide note, telling his father it was a letter to a relative, took 60 painkillers then slashed his wrists. As he lay bleeding, the soldier dialed 999, telling the operator: "I have done something stupid."
In normal circumstances, Pte Chelsea, who suffered from dyslexia, may have recovered from his injuries. But when doctors began tests to assess the damage caused to his liver by the drugs, it was found that the organ had been irreparably damaged by alcohol. His family were told his liver was similar to that of someone who had been an alcoholic for 20 years and he would not survive a transplant. He died on 14 August at St James's Hospital in Leeds after his family gave consent for his other organs to be used for transplants.
His father said he believed t he reasons behind his son's drinking had provoked a previous suicide attempt in 2004, when he cut his wrists in his barracks. After this incident, Pte Chelsea was treated by an Army psychiatrist which the family said had restored his confidence.
Mr Chelsea said: "My son started drinking 18 months ago. He destroyed his liver in less than a year and a half. I believe that is because he was being bullied again. He did not want to make anything of it. He was in the Army, he knew he had to be tough. But it only takes a few words. He said he would hear comments aimed at him because of his dyslexia. He was told he would get his colleagues killed because he was stupid.
"I support the British Army and what it does. But I would like to stand before my son's unit with a picture of him in uniform and ask those who made these comments to him time after time to think about the effect they had."
The young soldier's despair was displayed in the note he wrote to his parents before his overdose. He said: "Really sorry, mum and dad. I'm just no good for you. I have got to finish it. I am just a waste."
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Four days before the infantryman attempted to take his life, the British MoD released figures showing that 1,541 soldiers who served in Iraq are suffering from psychiatric illness.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN FULL FOUND HERE: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1221649.ece
There is an article titled "Soldier suicides hint at military failures" it can be read at this link here: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060612/NEWS08/606120345/1018/NEWS
