A State That Abandoned Its Own
The UK government is moving to expand the “strategic reserve,” giving itself the power to recall former service personnel up to the age of 65 and lowering the threshold for mobilisation in a national emergency.
This is no longer hypothetical. It is a deliberate policy choice. Yet the moral question is unavoidable: by what right does a state that has systematically failed its veterans believe it can compel them to serve again?
Years of hollowed-out support, underfunded services, and weak oversight have left veterans struggling with housing insecurity, mental health crises, and social isolation. Government analysis shows that former service personnel experience significantly worse outcomes than the general population in housing and wellbeing, with many living rough across England. Mental health outcomes are equally troubling: elevated rates of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicide risk, particularly among those who served in Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
These are not abstract statistics. They are lived realities: veterans sleeping rough, grappling with untreated trauma, or living in isolation while navigating chronically under-resourced support systems. And yet, the state now seeks to recall them into service.
Loyalty Punished, Justice Denied
The consequences of Britain’s failures extend beyond welfare. One of the most corrosive chapters in modern civil-military relations is the prolonged re-investigation and prosecution of ageing veterans for historic incidents already examined multiple times.
The case of Dennis Hutchings exemplifies this. Hutchings, a former soldier, was repeatedly prosecuted for a 1974 Northern Ireland incident despite serious illness and prior investigative decisions. He died in 2021 before legal proceedings concluded. He was not unique, others faced similar circumstances, with charges sometimes withdrawn only after death.
These prosecutions occurred alongside early release and reduced sentences for convicted terrorist offenders under the Good Friday Agreement, sending a clear signal: loyalty is punished, service is disposable, and protection is conditional. This is the system British governments created, and continue to defend. So now we must ask the only honest question: how dare we ask these people to fight again?
Trust Is Not Optional
Trust is the foundation of defence policy. A state cannot erode it for decades and then demand obedience at a moment of crisis. Who is expected to respond to the recall? Veterans struggling with homelessness? Those battling PTSD or suicidal ideation? Those who have seen comrades dragged through repeated legal proceedings for decades-old incidents?
Until the British state confronts how it has treated those who served, not rhetorically, but materially and legally, it has no moral standing to compel them to fight again. You cannot abandon people in peace and expect them to answer in war. You cannot prosecute service and then demand it back on command.
Rest in peace, Dennis Hutchings.
