The Book of the Poppy by Chris McNab

situation that sees the worst in human behaviour at the same time can bring out the best in people. We witness this with great clarity during the annual Poppy Appeal. Not only does this event represent a national and international act of remembrance, it also demonstrates a very practical desire to help veterans, military families and all those affected by the consequences of war. For example, some 350,000 volunteers and staff of The Royal British Legion work every year to make the Appeal possible, many of them giving up large portions of their spare time. Through their efforts, more than £40 million is raised annually, which then goes to good causes ranging from supporting bereaved families through to rehabilitating injured veterans. Numerous other organisations work throughout the UK to deliver support for soldiers (former and current) and their families, some providing specialist medical care found almost nowhere else. If anything, the presence of these organisations reminds us that the instinct to care is just as strong in humanity as the instinct to fight and destroy.
    LIFE ON THE OUTSIDE
    Military personnel tend to have fairly tough and resourceful personalities. They are used to high-pressure demands of a type rarely faced by those in civilian life. Mistakes in a war zone can literally result in lives lost. Combat troops also have to negotiate the prospect and actuality of killing people, an act that frequently leaves an impression on even the most hardened character.
    Yet for all the mental resilience possessed by military personnel, life for them back in the civilian world can be hard, whether the return is the result of injury, the end of a term of service or being made unemployed. Life inside the forces tends to have a high degree of purpose and team loyalty, whereas in the civilian environment the bonds between people, especially in the workplace, are typically far weaker and more self-interested. A veteran can thus emerge from a world in which he manned a multimillion-pound armoured vehicle, or fought close-quarters actions with insurgent forces, into one that cares little for his past, indeed may even feel somewhat threatened by it. By consequence, the soldier can struggle to fit back into regular life, with potentially severe consequences for the soldier and his or her family.
    In one sense, Britain and many other nations have often struggled to make society welcoming for its veterans. Following the world wars, huge numbers of disbanded troops returned home in a rapid timeframe, resulting in intense competition to find work. In Britain, both of those conflicts also left the UK in economic desperation, making the jobs market even tougher for many of the soldiers. After the First World War in particular, Britain’s citizens were treated to the unedifying spectacle of limbless veterans reduced to begging on the streets, their medals for bravery worn across the front of tattered coats.
    Another adjustment the returning soldiers had to make was social. During their time away, women had stepped up in their millions to work in war industries, finding financial and psychological independence while their husbands and boyfriends were away. Not surprisingly, many women were reluctant to go back to traditional female roles after the war, and were often rather alienated from the men who returned, very different from the men who had left. Thus the UK divorce rate in 1948 was more than double what it had been in 1938. Similarly in the United States, the divorce rate was 20 per cent in 1940, but 43 per cent in 1946.
    Another problem for veterans back in the civilian world was coping with what they had been through. By the end of the First World War, British medical services had treated 80,000 cases of ‘shell shock’, resulting in what we now call combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These were only the most visible cases – tens of thousands of other cases were likely to have gone undiagnosed and