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The most senior clergyman in the British Army has revealed that mental scars from the Iraq War left him in 'the valley of the shadow of death, a place of utter desolation' for years after returning from the war zone.
Clinton Langston, the outgoing chaplain-general of the Army, said he became 'sick with fear' after writing letters to his wife and children that were to be opened in the event of his death during a six-month deployment in 2004.
He said: 'Another fear began to emerge, that the fear of losing my family would stop me from caring for my soldiers.
'That instead of risking my life going out and about to visit them in their bases, I would seek out places of relative safety and so give myself the best chance of returning home safely.'
Clinton Langston, the most senior clergyman in the British Army has revealed that mental scars from the Iraq War left him in 'the valley of the shadow of death, a place of utter desolation' for years after returning from the war zone
More than 10,000 troops have been discharged because of mental health problems over the past 20 years, according to official figures.
