MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Majority of Malvinas veterans tormented by war memories

Malvinas war veterans

Almost 40% of former Malvinas war combatants have attempted committing suicide according to a report and survey among veterans complied by Argentina's health services experts and released in coincidence with the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic conflict.

Another 78.2% suffer from sleeping pathologies, while 62.5% have at sometime thought "it was better to be dead" and 69.5% still remember "with great intensity" events lived in the Falklands during the war. The report is from PAMI, Argentina's main health and social services organization which deals with the country's retired and pensioned personnel. The survey includes a universe of 200 veterans and explores the sufferings and possible psychological, social and medical therapies to overcome the problems stemming from the 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The report also shows that 47.8% of interviews admitted that when having alcoholic beverages, they normally have over a liter, although the experts point out that the percentage is higher "when data is analyzed by direct observation". "Many of them on returning and not being able to find an adequate social reinsertion, with no therapeutic support, no contention found that alcohol helped them forget and mitigate their anxiety and tormented existence", argue PAMI experts. According to the survey 65.2% admitted having consulted a psychologist or psychiatrist some time, while 86.9% usually feel far more irritable than others in their group, be it family, friends, etc. As to symptoms of the former Argentine combatants the report enumerates: anxiety, fear, blame for being alive, fury, sleep pathologies, panic attacks, suffocation feelings, unmotivated crying and nervousness. The report also looks at people living or sharing with the veterans, and 53.3% of wives admitted having fears of violent reactions from their husbands. Furthermore the report shows that two out five children from Malvinas veterans have conduct and learning difficulties. According to Malvinas veterans associations over 350 of their colleagues have committed suicide since the end of the conflict in 1982. Other sources indicate the number could be even higher. The number of Argentines actually killed in combat during the war was 654.