SAM Weller knows about the scars of war. The 55-year-old served in the British Army during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the mid-1970s.

At the time, thousands of soldiers would bury their problems with drink and, he says, not much has changed.

In this county, about 10,000 people are employed in the armed forces and many would have seen active service.

Mr Weller’s fear is that a generation of ticking time bombs is waiting to explode.

The sights many have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan may have left devastating mental scars and hidden cases of post traumatic stress disorder.

Now the Government needs to step up to the plate.

Every week we see the bodies of servicemen repatriated in ceremonies outside Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

More needs to be done to help servicemen and women back into every day life.

We should be a more caring society.

It’s time to banish the stiff upper lip.