Ex SAS Mate Mistreated By Broken System

Steve in his prime as a member of 22 SAS Regiment in 1982

Retired Lt Col Steven Maguire DCM SAS has been badly let down by the UK system for some time. Today as I write this blog post, his son and daughter are at their wits end with trying everything possible to help their broken father receive the help he deserves.

They’re still trying…right now, by as an almost last resort getting his story out to someone somewhere who can say “enough is enough, and this is what we’re going to do to get him back onto the right road.”

Steve is a friend of mine, a good friend. We were opposing amphibious troop members from two different squadrons within 22 SAS Regt for years. We were opposing troop staff sergeants, challenging one another as to which tactics, courses and equipment would be right to see our troops into the future.

We fought one another for what we believed was right for our men…that’s how we work in 22 SAS. There was a couple of times in D Squadron’s SQMS’ store that we almost came to blows over the best way forward. That’s how passionate we were to move the lads in the right direction. But even with these “little tiffs” we were always mates, we were brothers, all the way along I would have the utmost respect for Steve. Apart in peacetime sometimes, to make it work…but together in war time always, to make it work!

I had the pleasure during Gulf War 1 to see just what a leader Steve was during the toughest of times operationally. I was attached to D Sqn as a staff sergeant when Steve was the squadron sergeant major (SSM).

Even in the SAS back in our time, after all we’re all human, we have managers that can manage, yet not every manager was a natural leader.

Steve however didn’t just show leadership back in his daily duties at home in camp, but in war he constantly led from the front. So much so, that in one instance he was wounded by leading from the front.

His wound was a cause for concern, it had an entry and exit wound, the weather was against us, it was the coldest winter in Western Iraq in living memory. We were living rough, sleeping on the freezing stony, gritty and sandy desert floor next to our vehicles…he had to be extracted to a hospital, otherwise his wound could turn septic if it wasn’t treated in a sterile environment soonest.

There was a chance to get Steve out the following night. The US Delta Force lads who were operating a few miles to our flank had run into trouble, they had their own dead and wounded, and needed “choppered” out. The US helicopter was willing to make a detour and pick up Steve too, but he wouldn’t leave the lads…he was a natural leader after all!

Drastically as it turned out, the chopper crashed in thick fog as it crossed from Iraq into Saudi Arabia, everyone on board was killed.

We looked after Steve for a few days more until our own resupply chopper came in. Steve was on it.

When we drove across the border at the end of the war, Steve was the first man I met, waiting with the Colonel of 22 SAS to greet the squadron…yes that natural leader was there yet again.

Steve went on to serve the SAS from the mid 1970s until 2009 when he left at the rank of Lt Colonel.

So, knowing a wee bit about the man, I’m now going to show you an explanation of the situation that he’s in today, and just how he got there.

The following is from his son, who got in touch with me a few days ago to update me on his father’s plight.

He showed me photos of his dad recently, and a photo of mates around him trying to get him to walk upright outside.

I live in New York, I received his son’s text along with an update and photos. I stopped in the street of my local town to view the text and photos. I was standing against a wall, I just broke down and cried…I didn’t even recognize Steve.

Knowing the man, the mate, the military brother, the natural leader, the ex SAS Lt Colonel with honours, it broke my heart.

“My sister and I, concerned about his welfare, and worried about the possibilities of PTSD and dementia resulting from his military service sought help. With the assistance from the SAS Association and Veterans’ Aid he was referred to a series of the following medical institutions:

He was placed in several healthcare facilities all which have failed him. His condition is yet to be diagnosed in its entirety, but we have been made to believe he is currently suffering from Korsakoff dementia. Following a period of alcoholism brought on by PTSD from military service.

Summary of failings

In the recent 12 months our father has attended 3 medical institutions which have failed him and contributed to his regressive ill health along with the current institution he currently resides at.

As a family we encountered:

• Incorrect diagnosis of patients and assumptions based off very little medical history.
• Doctors pushing us to remove our father from their care due to being unable to contend with him.
• The removal of life saving drugs which led to the sectioning under the mental health act of our father and a drastic impediment of his mental cognitive and excessive decline.
• No initial assessment of PTSD and a complete disregard for this. And failure to provide the proper equipped staff to deal with this.
• Negligence from management for failing to provide adequate prevention and control measures leading to the unexplained and loosely thwart incident reports which caused superficial damage to our father.
• A total lack of the military covenant services to come to our aid.
• A section under the mental health act which was unexpected and led our father to be sedated and left to rot without specialist care.
• Contractual and legal obligatory terms and conditions of facilities not being upkept and services which were meant to be provided not being.
• Dismissal of queries and questions from family members in MDT meetings, and diverting crucial information being relayed. (This was noted today when I asked a query regarding PTSD and its effects on day-to-day life for my dad. I was told we cannot give you any advice on this now we can’t go on about this and have a lot to get through, to which I ended the teams meeting by fear of erupting.)
• Medical incompetence from wrong diagnosis, we have been informed of several types of dementia our father apparently has.
• Mis use of drugs, in his current residence he was admitted to hospital due to low sodium due to excessive use of anti-psychotic medication.
• Acceptance of negligence from facilities but failure to act or implement change.

The list goes on, but I hope some of these points will express our frustration isolation and wavering of giving up due to such a lack of medical, professional and Covenant support and trust.

This has caused our family to become divided and caused us excessive heartache and pain, knowing that such a great man who achieved so much and provided the security of his Nation, has been left to rot as if he was nothing.”

So, quite obviously, the system from the Association and Veterans’ Aid doing their bit to then passing Steve on to getting the medical assistance that he requires has failed drastically.

It’s imperative that doctors take the time to go through the FULL history of the individual including all of the stuff that Steve went through in early SAS training that I’ve eluded to in my past posts about my own problems, such as lead poisoning from the early anti terrorist team training in facilities with no foul air extraction to suck out the lead from firing thousands of rounds inside a small single story brick building back in the mid 70s. And of course the myriad explosive entries of buildings using frame charge explosives in it’s most basic of forms way back then.

It’s also imperative that there is a system inside of the MOD to ensure that ex service members are looked after fully from beginning to end…not just passing the buck onto someone else, and therefore sloping shoulders.

I’ve put this post up not only at the request of Steve’s son (who served in the Parachute Regiment), but also to try and do my bit to help a great friend, top soldier and natural leader.

Where are the leaders today, now Steve is in urgent need of one?