Army officer honoured for welfare work

Captain Brian Johnston was the Regimental Welfare Officer with 1 R IRISH when the unit, based at Inverness in Scotland, was deployed on operational tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, tragically suffering a number of fatalities.

"I was looking after the families here [Inverness] and that included the soldiers' parents, be they in Northern Ireland or any other part of the UK," he explained.

The role of the welfare officer is a complex one and is often emotionally very demanding so when he heard that he had been allocated the job he was a bit apprehensive:

"When people say you're going to do the welfare, you go oh! You know it's going to be a hard job and it was probably made more difficult by the fact of the two operational tours and we lost people during the tours. The support from the home service battalions and the regimental family helped me through it."

According to Captain Johnston, originally from Antrim in Northern Ireland, and who joined the regiment over 20 years ago, the job has given him a fresh perspective and understanding of the battalion and what the families of the soldiers go through.

The most difficult aspect of any soldier's job is how to cope with the loss of a colleague and for Captain Johnston and his team this was difficult both professionally and personally:

"When we suffered our first casualty from Afghanistan; that was really difficult," he says. "It's not as if we don't know the people; every man's name that was mentioned, every time we got a casualty or fatality we knew the people personally, so for my team it was on them as well as everybody else to be with the families and help them through. It was particularly hard at times, when there were young children involved. It can drain you. You can get emotionally involved," he explains.

"People say don't let it get in the way of work and keep a distance, but it's very difficult if you know each other. In a family regiment like ourselves you can't just walk away from it. You know who they are. You know what's happening and you try your best to help them."

When he first heard that he had received the MBE in the New Year's Honours List he said he felt "very humbled" because he felt that he had got it for helping the families of killed or injured soldiers:

"I'd like to think it wasn't just for that reason," he says. "When I spoke to the previous Commanding Officer he said that it was for the overall two years of the welfare, for what we did and how we did it."

Up until fairly recently the unit had been based at Fort George, an 18th century star fort that sits on the windswept shores of the Moray Firth. Lying 14 miles from Inverness it became, according to Captain Johnston, a "real community":

"It had really good community spirit and I like to think I helped build that spirit."

Since he joined the Army he has seen a steady change in the pastoral care offered to Service personnel and believes that it exceeds the levels offered in civvy street:

"It's really taken off," he says. "What community do you know that has a welfare office for their beck and call, 24/7 for the families? We have our own crèches. We have our own buses laid on - we can take families here, there, and everywhere when the husbands are away."

The regiment prides itself on its strong family links, with a number of brothers, cousins and even fathers and sons serving together. Combined with the fact that Captain Johnston has spent a large part of his life in the Army, and exclusively with 1 R IRISH, this has meant that the welfare role was a little bit easier:

"Being an infantry unit it's so much easier, given the fact that we move around together and we know each other," he explains. "During the welfare job I got to know all the children as well, so you see the children grow up. My own two children grew up in the Army environment. That's all they know and it is a unique environment. In a way the children and the families are probably cocooned in a wee stable area of the world where there's no graffiti, there's no drugs, there's no problems on the patch; any problem there is we're there to sort it out and help them where we can."

Captain Johnston says that his parents are proud of his achievement and found it easier to deal with than initially he did:

"I think they probably took it easier than I did, to be honest. It took me a while to get used to it, to understand why and to think it out thoroughly - whereas my family, my wife and my two girls are very proud."

Captain Johnston is now the Regimental Careers Officer for 1 R IRISH.