This year is the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. The success of that operation, together with its human cost, was remembered nationally in June. It is also is a focal point in this year’s Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, which again takes place against a background of British casualties overseas.
Though the environment and mission in the Falklands differed greatly from those in Iraq and Afghanistan, the human cost is the same for the soliders returning now as it was for those who returned a quarter of a century ago.
For most people in our country, going about their work does not require them to risk their lives, or witness the sights and sounds that a soldier meets on the battlefield. This does not mean that a soldier is bitter or resents this fact, but it does mean that he becomes isolated from his fellow men, having undergone experiences that he cannot adequately describe, that will evermore be a part of his life, and will divorce him from the population among whom he lives and in whose service he has undergone these experiences.