LONDON: Former Territorial Army (TA) soldiers have spoken out about how the Iraq war has compelled them to leave the service. An average of 500 men and women a month have left since October 2003, causing a crisis for both the TA and the regular army, which it increasingly supports.

Speaking to the Guardian, the former part-time soldiers gave a wide range of reasons for leaving — from financial, to family, to frustration, to lack of medical or mental health treatment — but Iraq was the key factor. More than a quarter of the total required force has resigned — 13,400 — since April 2003.

The current strength of the TA is 35,500, the lowest since it was founded in 1907. The required strength is 41,610. The problem, it seems, from those tracked down by the Guardian, is with retention of personnel rather than recruitment, though a £3m television advertising campaign brought in fewer than 600 candidates.

The TA supplies about 10% of the British forces in Iraq: 1,350 reservists have been mobilised for a second tour and 775 are currently serving in Iraq. Five members of the TA have died in Iraq since the invasion and many more have been seriously injured.

Two TA soldiers are suing the Ministry of Defence for medical negligence after what they claim was a lack of treatment when they returned home.

Gwyn Gwyntopher, of At Ease, the confidential service for serving and ex-members of the armed forces, claims that the numbers handing in their kit and leaving would be reflected in the regular army if soldiers were free to leave when they chose. She said: “The reserve forces are the only members of the armed forces that are free to resign and leave. All the others are bound by contracts that commit them for a matter of years.”

With the regular army about 10,000 short, many TA members found themselves still in the Gulf long after their regular army colleagues had been sent home. An MoD spokeswoman said demobilisation surveys found that most reserve soldiers rated their mobilised service as worthwhile.

She added: “If some individuals feel there have been failings in the way they were treated or supported we take this very seriously.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service