THREE service personnel a month were flown home from Afghanistan suffering mental illnesses, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
Military chiefs ordered the personnel to be removed from the front line and returned to Britain amid fears for their health.
The figures were revealed to Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman, who has seen four troops from the town killed in the conflict this year.
He raised concerns over the health issues in a written Commons question.
The figures show that from April 2010 to March last year, 35 service personnel were sent home.
Defence Personnel Minister Mark Francois said: “The UK armed forces mental health report annual summary shows 142 persons were assessed by the field mental health team as having a form of mental disorder, none of which were post-traumatic disorder.
“During the same period, 35 persons were aeromedically evacuated back to the UK from Afghanistan for psychiatric reasons.
“Of these, 24 were described as mildly disturbed psychiatric patients, with the other 11 being classed as either intermediate or severe.”
Up to 10,000 British servicemen and women were in Afghanistan during the 12 months studied.
Mental health experts on the ground were able to treat some mental health patients without the need for them to be flown to the UK.
