Record levels of alcohol abuse in Britain’s armed forces have led to more than 1,600 service personnel – the equivalent of several infantry battalions – requiring medical treatment in the past year.
New figures obtained from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) under Freedom of Information laws show that the number of service personnel falling victim to alcohol abuse is at its highest since incidents first began to be collected centrally by the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme in 2007.
Heart problems, alcohol poisoning, liver disease and alcoholic psychosis are among the conditions which the system records.