SAS troops have lost faith in commanders to protect them from legal witch hunts, their ex-Colonel Commandant says.
General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith said serving troops felt abandoned.
In rare public comments, the former Army chief and SAS boss told The Sun: “For the first time in my experience, the serving generation today don’t believe their chain of command can guarantee they won’t face a lifetime of hounding.
“They don’t believe the MoD is able to stand up for them, which is a corrosive and toxic mix hardly conducive to morale and military effectiveness.”
His furious intervention comes as the Special Air Service, whose motto is Who Dares Wins, faces multiple legal probes into missions in Northern Ireland, Syria and Afghanistan.
Sir Mark said: “No one thinks it’s their problem other than the soldier standing in extreme danger at the tip of the spear.”
He also rapped defence chiefs for hiding behind a “neither confirm nor deny” policy, known as NCND, on the Special Forces.
He challenged ministers to act, insisting: “NCND doesn’t cut it with people risking their lives.”
The Sun revealed last week Sgt Maj George Simm, 70, a former SAS regimental sergeant major, had warned that UK Special Forces faced a “terminal” threat from lawsuits brought under human rights laws.
Defence chiefs insisted human rights laws “do not prevent the UK from taking effective action to counter terrorism”.
The MoD said: “It’s right our Armed Forces operate within the law.”
