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Joining the army was so important to Dawn Roberts' son that he turned down a chance to train with Birmingham City youth football squad to become a soldier. Now, instead of celebrating his success on Remembrance Sunday , she is mourning his loss as, on August 22, after going missing, Rob Turner, 35, took his own life. Just 19 when he left for his first tour of Afghanistan with the Royal Horse Artillery, he returned with post-traumatic stress disorder. “His death didn’t come out of nowhere,” mum Dawn says. “He left the army in 2015 and started having physical and mental problems like severe headaches - over the years he tried to take his own life four times. “When he went missing a year before he died he wasn’t given the proper support he needed. I didn’t feel like the emergency services were trained in veteran trauma. “We need to introduce specialist crisis intervention for armed forces personnel, so they can access support as soon as they need it - day or night.” Dawn is speaking in support of the Mirror's Missed campaign, run in partnership with the charity Missing People. After launching the campaign on Mother's Day, we are calling on the government to introduce a national strategy to support missing people and their families. According to Beacon Alert, which provides information about missing armed forces personnel, veterans face unique challenges: trauma, transition to civilian life, perceived stigma in seeking help, and exposure to high-stress environments. And veterans who go missing are 14 times more likely to commit suicide than other missing people. Dawn’s grief is still raw but she’s channelling her pain and anger into making the government sit up and listen to families like hers. While she feels like her son has been let down by the country he served, she says she will continue to fight for justice for Rob and other veterans. “The system needs to be made accountable because it’s broken,” Dawn, 56, a consultant and campaigner, says. “Four friends of Rob’s are walking from Bromsgrove to Downing St to give a letter I’ve written to the Prime Minister explaining that my son took his own life after serving for his country.” Alex (Rob’s childhood best friend), Ben, Mark and James, are walking more than 100 miles from Bromsgrove to 10 Downing Street over four days to hand deliver a letter from Rob’s mum to the Prime Minister on Tuesday November 11. Working in partnership with Beacon Alert they are raising funds to launch Rob’s Watch , a rapid response crisis intervention project for veterans which will provide former personnel in crisis with immediate support. His mum also wants testing and recognition for traumatic brain injury - which she says is often the route of complex challenges faced by veterans. “This can affect their emotional regulation and decision making but there aren’t currently any tests in place.” Traumatic brain injury (TBI) from being in the army can be caused by a variety of factors, including blast waves from explosions, impacts from vehicle crashes or falls, blows to the head during training or combat and less visible exposures like repeated shockwaves from weaponry. “After Rob tried this own life the first time I founded Stepway - a charity to help veterans transition into civilian life. We saved so many lives along the way but I was unable to save my son. I feel badly let down - veterans are promised support on paper but when it comes down to it - it's not working. "He wasn’t offered suitable housing and couldn't get mental health support when he needed it. He was the kindest person I’d ever met and always put others before himself. But when he needed help he was left to fall through the cracks. Remembrance Day is hard." * Missing People's helpline is available every day for anyone affected, call/ text 116000.
