DRUGS SQUADDIES

SOMEWHERE in Bosnia, 1996; John, a wee guy from Castlemilk, Glasgow, is
crouching by a wall with a gun in his hand and ecstasy in his system.

He momentarily ponders how this might affect his ability to function as a
soldier if someone starts shooting. Which is likely, but his "who cares?"
attitude and the "cool" created by the drug, diminish his sense of
responsibility.

A few days before, a few miles away, three British soldiers died when their
vehicle went over a land mine. In John's own words they were "killed in a
shithole, where no one speaks English".

He only ever wanted to learn a trade, to find a focus for a life which was
largely without meaning, and escape his abusive old man. John certainly did
not want to risk dying. Anywhere.

The threat of being tested positive for drugs and the resulting "admin
discharge" or SNLR - Services No Longer Required - being stamped on his
papers does not seem such a big deal.

The night before, a letter from home had arrived, with the ecstasy tablets
- - UKP60 for ten - Sellotaped to the paper. "No-one checks mail, especially
when you are overseas," he said. A few of his mates had "spilled" [taken]
the tabs in the barracks.

John and his comrades know that even if the medics take urine samples from
every soldier in Bosnia, the "brass" will only test 20 per cent of them.

The odds are good, worth the risk. And "eccies" take the edge off.

John, 25, is a serving soldier and, apparently, one of a growing number who
transfer their civilian youth culture of drug-taking into the military. The
army says there is no problem. John tells a different story.

Last week, at the Normandy barracks in Aldershot, the army town near
London, the soldiers of B-Company of the Parachute Regiment were tested for
Class A and B drugs. A-drugs relate to heroin, amphetamines or cocaine. The
B-drugs are usually cannabis or ecstasy.

Seven paras failed the tests. Their military careers are over.

They join a list of almost 2,000 soldiers who have been discharged from the
army in the past five years for similar offences. John is not surprised.

He never saw any reason to stop taking drugs when he joined the army, but,
once in uniform, the recreational use of drugs, which, he says, is "rife"
was exacerbated by the FPB factor - Fear, Pressure, Boredom.

"You try looking across fields, pretty much like the ones you see at home,
for eight hours at a time, in the knowledge that some bastard might be out
there with a gun," he said. "The fear is ever-present, the pressure
constant and, despite yourself, boredom sets in."

Yet the Ministry of Defence is adamant that there is no drug problem in the
military. Compulsory testing was, it insists, introduced in 1995 to combat
"a threat, not a problem". In 1994, shortly before its introduction, five
members of the Scots Guards were found to have used cannabis and ecstasy.

Since January 1995, when testing began, 1,759 soldiers have been discharged
for drug misuse. A further 365 got off the hook because their sample showed
"ambiguous traces". Another 70 soldiers refused to be tested.

The MoD claims that the ratio of failed tests in comparison to the number
of tests - 323,000 to date - is 0.6 per cent, which represents a far lower
rate than would be found in civilians.

AN MoD spokesman said: "The drug use in the army is smaller in
cross-section percentage than any other facet of the community. If you took
a similar group who were not in the armed services and tested them the
difference would be massively higher."

This may be true, but it remains a supposition on the part of the military.

Three years ago, 22 soldiers in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
failed drugs test to give the Argylls the worst failure rate of any
regiment in the army. It represented 5 per cent, which would look
suspiciously normal for any control group.

In 1995, 18 Royal Highland Fusiliers were discharged.

The same year a fatal accident inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, into the
suicide of a 19-year-old squaddie in the King's Own Scottish Borderers,
heard that drug-taking was prevalent.

The dead boy's mother told the sheriff that her son had only been in the
army for four months before he died, but had told her that drugs were
"readily available".

In two separate episodes within the past three years, 25 members of the
Black Watch have been thrown out of the army for taking drugs.

In 1998, four privates of the Royal Scots were discharged, the same year
that five serving British soldiers were jailed for their part in a major
drug smuggling operation on the continent.

However, the real problem of drug misuse in the army is not the perceived
level of the problem which may exist now, but its potential to grow and the
concomitant affect on efficiency and discipline.

John has witnessed NCOs being "told to go and f* themselves" by "mellowed"
squaddies. He said: "Discipline suffers. Sergeants shouting in your ear
doesn't seem a big deal."

Soldiers, ex-soldiers and sociologists are convinced the misuse of drugs in
the army is merely a reflection of their growing misuse in society, which,
statistically, is increasing.

John said: "The evidence is there to see. In or out of the army. I see it
with my own eyes. I have served in the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy and
Bosnia. Drug use is everywhere.

"Drugs are not just something soldiers misuse when they are off duty. They
bring them back with them; their pals and relatives send them to them. The
mail isn't checked."

John has been tested three times during his career and, in spite of
regularly using cannabis, ecstasy and, occasionally, cocaine and
amphetamines, his record is clear. "The worst trouble I've got is fighting
with another squaddie."

It is common knowledge, he claims, that the army does not test all of the
urine samples which are taken. "If you tested the whole regiment, which has
been done in the past, it would take forever to analyse the samples," he
said.

"The tests usually come back in ten days; we know the big testing is a
smother exercise; analysis is done on 20 per cent max."

"Then you see the guys lining up at the Regimental Sergeant Major's office
or trotting off to the CO or the Special Investigations Branch officers,
the army's cops."

John has been in the army for eight years and taken drugs for nine. "I took
all the usual stuff before I joined and I never stopped. I still take drugs
when I'm off-duty. My mates are all the same. Weekends, Wednesday and
Thursday nights out - bevvy and drugs."

According to John, the squaddies are exposed to the "homespun" lectures
from officers about drugs, "which are rubbered [not listened to] big time."
He added: "In spite of what they say publicly, the brass don't really want
to know. It's easier to fudge it."

The army claimed yesterday that this is not true, that there is "zero
tolerance" of drug use among personnel, who carry deadly weapons and are
often in charge of equipment worth millions. "If they are caught, they are
out," said an MoD spokesman.

He added: "We don't have a problem with drugs. In 1995, we took preventive,
not reactive, action to combat a threat, not a problem. We could see the
trend in society at large and we wanted to nip it in the bud. We have."

However, a lot can happen in five years. Dr Alasdair Forsyth, a sociologist
at Glasgow University who was involved in drug research for 13 years, said:
"In terms of drugs, teenagers who use them in civilian life see no reason
to stop if they join the army.

"They are perhaps working class lads who have already been exposed to the
culture and it's normal to them. There are two distinctive elements here.
The first is the culture of drug-taking. The second is the use of drugs to
solve problems such as stress or fear."

John went on: "In the good old days of King and Country bullshit, guys
joining the army probably expected to fight at some point.

"But for a long time, peace-time soldiering was about learning a trade and
taking part in the occasional game of soldiers.

"Guys like me joined the army to get away from unemployment, family
problems, a dead-end life, not to get killed in some shithole."

INCREASINGLY, the modern soldier is being asked to go into war zones to
fight or keep the peace. In a single generation, British soldiers have
served in such places as Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Gulf, Eastern
Europe and Indonesia.

Dr Forsyth added: "You can correlate drug use to this type of stress area
and the use of drugs to relive it.

"The definitive report is the Robins study of Vietnam, which established
that the US had, literally, an army of 150,000 heroin users fighting in
that conflict, of whom 40,000 were hopelessly addicted because of the
cheapness and availability of the drug.

"Remarkably, the research found that the majority stopped taking drugs when
they got home and were relieved of the pressures of war. Only those from
ghettos, where they encountered a fresh set of pressures, appeared to
continue to take drugs. You see similarities emerging in the Gulf and
Bosnia."

However, one of the few hotspots where drug-taking did not appear to be a
problem was in Northern Ireland. Stevie Reid, 35, who left the Black Watch
more than ten years ago, served in the Province.

He said: "Drugs were just kicking in as I left. You could see a trend
emerging and identify the start of the problem, which, by definition, must
be worse now because drug use in society as a whole has increased.

"However, when I was in Northern Ireland, taking drugs would have presented
an unacceptable risk to your life. When you were on duty, but off the
street, you didn't leave the barracks.

"When you were on patrol, it was essential that you had all your wits about
you. This was a mad place, where people, particularly British soldiers were
being killed. The last thing you needed was to hit the Falls Road with a
stupid grin on your face and the prospect of confronting an IRA Provo armed
with an Armalite."

HOWEVER, Mr Reid was aware that when soldiers were removed from danger,
they used drugs to relax. He said: "I knew guys who took the so-called
recreational drugs when they went home on leave and met up with their old
mates in civvy street. They slipped back into a culture which, for them,
was entirely normal."

John believes that since the Eighties, that line between the use of drugs
in civilian life or on military duty has blurred. He said: "Most of the
boys do take a good drink, which is traditional, and they take drugs when
they go home.

"However, I've been in quarters smoking spliffs of cannabis with other
guys. When you are out of war zones, life is pretty much like civvy street.
You get up and go to your work. You certainly don't worry about how it will
affect your ability to function or your career.

"Most guys I know would welcome being thrown out of the army. An SNLR is no
real threat. It is even better if you get an admin discharge, which doesn't
stipulate on your record that you were taking drugs."

The serving soldier believes, like the sociologist, that the army cannot
disassociate itself from society.

"Of course, we reflect what's going on outside. How could we do anything
else?" he added.