MoD accused of neglecting Iraq war casualties

Off By Sharon Black

In the first of a three-part series marking the 10th anniversary of the invasion, an army officer tells how he lost his marriage, his career and, for a while, his mind through PTSD Captain Edward Bland left Iraq on an emergency flight in July 2006, airlifted out of the country on a “casualty evacuation” military plane that took off from the Shaibah base, where he had been treated in hospital for a week. His thoughts were scrambled that hot morning as the RAF C-17 arced into the sky. He knew he would not return to combat, and he knew his career in the army, which had been so promising, was over