The flood of compensation cases for hearing impairment, sunburn, arthritis etc has brought public and private ridicule on the Defence Forces. I would like to say it is undeserved, but the facts are compelling and sad for the good name of what was, and still is, one of our finest institutions.
Whatever the special pleading, the simple fact is that no armed forces in the world, including those which have been involved in war, have anything remotely like our number of claims (11,600 lodged, over 100 per month still coming).
This defies common sense. But the costs involved in this matter justify the Minister for Defence's efforts to halt false claims. Aggrieved indignation is not going to convince the citizens who have to pay.
In the second World War many men and women served for up to six years. They fired more ammunition in days than peacetime troops now fire in several years. Many thousands fought from tanks and aircraft with roaring engines. Artillery, anti-aircraft, antitank and mortar crews fired thousands of rounds in rapid succession.
Taking a more recent example, Gen Herzog wrote that, in the first minute of the 1973 October War, 10,500 shells fell on Israeli positions in Sinai. Accounts of the Chinese Farm battle of October 14th agree on the hellish noise of gunfire and the impact of projectiles on metal.
Many of the claims for compensation may be based on the assumption that hearing problems, and their provenance, are hard to prove or disprove. It is accepted that the high noise levels in discos can damage hearing.
A sharp solicitor; a claimant, well-informed on the symptoms to be reported; a feeling that there is little to lose and much to gain; our human ability to convince ourselves of anything to our profit; the example of early large awards; that combination is inimical to honesty and integrity.
Great credit is due to those who have resisted the temptation to seek the cash and let the credit go. They, and personnel with genuine impairments, are tarred by the public ridicule that has ensued. This is sad.
Sociological studies show that modern small armies cannot be entirely insulated from the trends in the civilian society around them. Indeed it is not wholly desirable.
The great cantonments in which large forces live, work and socialise do have an insulating function. Individuals' assumptions are rarely challenged by irreverent comments from civilian "paymasters".
In a small democracy it is probably preferable that soldiers know what their civilian counterparts think, and vice versa.
However, soldiers are not civilians. A sense of duty, honour and discipline, a straightforward patriotism, confidence in the training and trust in the leadership are essential among people who may have to risk their lives. This is not to discount that "patriotism of the ordinary man", upon which airraid recovery depended in the past and fall-out warning and monitoring may depend in the future.
Old soldiers always think things were better. No doubt, retired centurions sat around their wine cups 2,000 years ago, grumbling that the Roman army was going to hell in a hand-cart since their time.
But this retired colonel, who joined the Army as a young soldier in 1940, underwent the training and carried out the duties, whether monotonous or interesting, at home and abroad, cannot help feeling a great sadness. The Army and the soldiers, NCOs and officers with whom he served in more austere times were his life.
Perhaps full reporting of compensation cases is desirable. Is there, amongst the claimants, anyone who was responsible for ensuring the use of ear defenders at some stage?
Armies recover, vide the US army after Vietnam. But it is essential to solve the Catch 22s, like the lack of standards or the inability to get acceptance of US or British standards.
Materialism kills idealism. Forty years ago, the late Gen P.A. Mulcahy told an officer group that anyone who wanted big money was in the wrong organisation. He is still right.
Ned Doyle retired from the Army in 1984 after 44 years' service in Ireland, the Congo, Cyprus, Lebanon and Sinai. He attained the rank of colonel