Casualties Of Peace (Channel 4) - The Minstry of Defence declined to comment on accusations made in this documentary about some of the 2,000 British soldiers who've died on duty in non-combat situations in the armed forces over the past 12 years.

Frankly, this wasn't unexpected in the light of stories of misinformation or lack of information related by still-grieving relatives. Many feel unable to get on with their lives, years after the death of a loved one, because the Army is unwilling to tell them the truth. The military seemed uninterested in putting the record straight, either to them or us.

Servicemen and women have died from accidental shootings, drownings, road accidents, explosions, crushings and suicides.

Former Army accident investigator Lt Col Bernard Guignard - whose own son died in an accident caused by faulty tank spare parts - expressed disgust at many of these deaths. The Army or MoD didn't lie, he said, but was very reluctant to come forward with the truth. He condemned the "canker of arrogance" that permeated some of the Ministry and higher chains of command, and their "utterly callous attitude" to ordinary people.

Others are critical too. The coroner at the inquest into a private from Newcastle shot and killed while cleaning his rifle asked, "Is this collective amnesia?" after 15 witnesses said they couldn't remember what had happened.

Gary Richens' relatives had originally been told it was suicide. They were given two different accounts of his death. A soldier told them a third version at the funeral. "We feel there's a big rock that needs to be lifted to see what's underneath," said one of his brothers.

Unfortunately, this seems typical of how such deaths are handled. Melanie Byrne's mother was told her daughter hit her head on the dashboard and died instantly as a passenger in an Army truck that jackknifed while towing a missile down the M4.

The inquest revealed she had been thrown from the truck after the driver had lost control after falling asleep. Under pressure to reach targets, he'd had one hour's sleep in the previous 42 hours. As he was driving an Army truck, he was exempt from drivers' hours regulations.

Keith Hunston was told his son Simon died in a road accident. A newspaper reporter informed him otherwise - he was killed on a night exercise when his vehicle was fired on by another British tank. No further details have been forthcoming. "Someone must know what happened and, if they don't, why not?" said Mr Hunston.

Jason Pears was crushed to death between two vehicles during a training exercise. It took ten days to get the body back from Germany. The corpse had not been embalmed or kept in cold storage, and had deteriorated to such an extent that the family couldn't view it.

So it went on. The trainee signalman who died of pneumonia, simply sent to bed despite coughing up blood. The soldier found dead with his gun beside him, the precise details of his death unable to be established because of the way the Army had handled the evidence, including cleaning the weapon. And the private found unconscious, face down in 18 inches of water, the shallow pool on an assault course he was helping construct.

If the Army hasn't been negligent, it certainly seems guilty of being insensitive. Public relations is clearly not a strong point. As one father said: "If they're telling me the truth, I can forgive. But I don't know the truth."

Published: 15/07/2003