Nigerian soldiers battling insurgents in the North-East have lamented the military authorities’ decision to keep them in the war front beyond the officially stated time.
According to them, they have spent over six consecutive years at the war front in the fight against the terror groups.
The soldiers, who spoke to The Bureau Newspaper on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, lamented that they had stayed beyond their regular period of deployment and implored their superiors to adhere to the routine troop rotation.
They said that their overstay in the theatre war has caused a dip in morale, adding that their wives are now unfaithful in marriage.
According to them, most of their partners now involve in illicit sexual relationships with fellow colleagues in army barracks and civilians.
They further complained that their low morale and lack of willingness to continue to fight made it possible for terrorists to dislodge some military camps recently.
“We, soldiers of 143bn attached to 144bn, Madagali. About 15 of us have spent more than 6 years in the North-East operation. Soldiers who came after us have been changed but we’re still here.
“They don’t have feelings for us or our families, it may interest you to know that there was a signal for us to leave but we were not granted access to leave.
“Sadly, our colleagues who were rotated went back to the barrack to tell our families that we were the ones who refused to be rotated. Please help us, our wives have started misbehaving because of lies that they were told that we don’t want to come back intentionally. They’re no more faithful and are having sex with our colleagues and civilians.
“Some have lost control of their families totally, while some have been divorced by their partners following their long stay here.
“Other units have changed their soldiers, I really don’t know what we have done to our unit, 143 battalion for treating us this way. What’s our offense for being treated as if we are not soldiers? As we speak, we are the only overstayed unit here. Our morale is very low.”
A study by MedCrave titled “The wounds of terrorism among combat military personnel in Nigeria” revealed a relationship between the likelihood of developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and long duration of Nigerian soldiers’ stay in mission areas.
PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event, with flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event as possible symptoms.
“Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing if fighting terrorism lead combat military personnel to come down with posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“Findings in this study will add to the existing body of knowledge and to guide in clinical information among the Nigerian military concerning the pains encountered by military combatants during and or after war. It was hypothesized that;
“Age in Participation in combat military operation will have a significant main effect on the level of PTSD among Nigerian combat military personnel.
“Duration of serving the Nigerian military will have main effect on the level of PTSD among Nigerian combat military personnel.
“Being wounded due to participation in combat operation will have a significant main effect on the level of PTSD among Nigerian combat military personnel.”