http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9417871/Commonwealth-soldier-kicked-in-the-teeth-by-Britain.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9417867/Commonwealth-soldiers-face-deportation.html
THIRTEEN years service, five operational tours, four medals - and a fifth offered alongside news from the Home Office that he has to leave the UK.
Bale and Kim Baleiwai came to the charity Veterans Aid in despair - and help to bring their plight to public attention. The Sunday Telegraph, BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4 News took up their case. They are a close, happy family who have made personal sacrifices during Bale's distinguished Army career. And all because a misdemeanour in the Army that was dealt with summarily in a 10-minute meeting with his CO has translated into a criminal record. This migration of transgression applies only to Foreign and Commonwealth service personnel.
Discriminatory? Undoubtedly.
We live in an odd world when a drunken Army veteran who happens to be an MP starts a punch-up in the Commons bar and doesn't even lose his seat, while a former Fijian Lance Corporal provoked into a short scuffle faces separation from his wife and children with only days to prepare. The so-called 'military covenant' has a way to go in terms of meaningful provision for those it purports to protect.
For more see:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2105180/Eric-Joyce-Labour-MP-arrested-bar-brawl-inside-House-Commons.html
http://www.channel4.com/news/should-f-c-soldiers-whove-been-disciplined-be-deported
http://www.veterans-aid.net
