A British army veteran who was suffering from PTSD took his own life after losing nine of his good friends to war. Lance Shingler, 34, had attended the funerals of his fallen colleagues and struggled to cope with the devastation, eventually choosing to end his pain by take his own life at his home in Birmingham, according to BirminghamLive.
- Shingler, a married father of two, had been struggling for years. After serving five years in Iraq as part of an infantry registry known as The Rifles, family friend Leanne Pool admitted that Shingler found it “hard to cope,” especially after losing so many friends to the war.
- While his death was a shock, it wasn’t necessarily a surprise. “His death has come as a huge shock to the family and everyone who knew Lance,” Poole said. “However, Lance suffered from PTSD ever since he left the army back in 2008 While he was there nine of his friends died. He went to the funeral of each one. When he left the army he found it hard to cope at times and he didn’t receive the support he should have from various groups and organizations.”
- Shingler’s family believes more should be done to help ex-servicemen. While the family accepts that Shingler chose to end his own life, they believe he could have been saved had more been done to help him process his PTSD and perhaps even recover from it. “An inquest will be held but the family do feel he was let down,” Poole said. “We will be highlighting the struggles of ex-military and the lack of support for PTSD so Lance’s death isn’t in vain. So much more needs to be done for ex-servicemen because at the moment not enough is being done.”
- He left behind a wife, Hayley, and two children. His two kids, 8-year-old Riley and 6-year-old Elliey-Jane, as well as his wife will no doubt miss the man they describe as “unbelievably kind.” As Poole said: “He would do anything for anyone. He adored his wife Hayley and his two young children. Whenever he got free time, he spent it with them making memories. He loved taking his family on holidays and their favorite place to go as a family was Brean. He was always walking up Brean Down with the kids and loved little random road trips to the seaside. He was also a huge Birmingham City fan and loved to go and watch them.”
A terrible tragedy. RIP Lance Shinglerhttps://t.co/wafIbPvj6t
— Tony Larner (@tlarner) March 3, 2020
