[Host]Hello, and welcome to 4x4 Reports Interactive. We're doing a live chat this evening with Colonel Bob Stewart who featured in our Fit To Fight programme. Let's start with our first question.

[Question] Jason Hay: I served in HM Corps of Royal Engineers from 1987 until I left in July this year to attend university. Firstly, I would like to comment on the Clansman Harness Radio System. I have a unique perspective on this, because not only have I used it in the field, but my father was on the original development team. He informs me that Clansman Harness System was state of the art when it was designed but, as with all government-funded projects, it has not been further developed since its inception.

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] Jason, the real problem I had with communications in Bosnia was because we had to use HF Communications because VHF did not work. As you know from your experience, HF bounces like a ball being bounced between the earth and the ionosphere and our problem was so often, the ball didn't bounce where we wanted. In short, no communication. Clansman did its job in the past.

[Question] Paul: What support is there available for sufferers of PTSD?

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] Paul, I'm not sure, but the Ministry of Defence have enough psychiatrists in uniform to help with PTSD.

[Question] Taz: I fought in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and am completely disillusioned with the state of the armed forces.

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] Well, my answer to that is the state of the equipment in the armed forces is very worrying, but if you will recall, the people are great.

[Question] Geoff Burke: Do you think the government and MOD use the secrets act to hide behind?

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] No, I don't think they do. The people in the MOD are like you and me. They wouldn't put up with something that put our soldiers' lives at risk. They would not agree with a cover-up if our soldiers' lives were at risk.

[Question] Alan: I was involved in the installation of clansman and even then they were out of date. What happened to all the promises of sat coms?

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] Satcom was what I was promised too in 1992. It was the only way to communicate with my soldiers in action. We had no Satcom and so we did not communicate. That was wrong.

[Question] Spineman: On a personal level having been medically discharged some six years ago I suffer nightmares/flashbacks and my wife is scared to wake me during these episodes because of my "Battle Reactions". I feel there is no support out there - what can I do?

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] I don't know. I think you should contact the local British Legion representative immediately. I believe the British Legion will give you the best advice. Good luck.

[Question] Adrian_Read: Why does the military 'still' have such an outdated view of PTSD and its obvious effects? Publicly, it states that there is support for such sufferers, but privately all serving members know they will be stigmatised.

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] I haven't been in the army for seven years. I don't have such a view because I know how frightened I was, and I'm very lucky that I seem to be OK - so far. I hope everyone with PTSD is properly looked after, but I can't promise it.

[Question] team800: Don't you think the colonel has been briefed on what he can and cannot talk about ie. he won't publicly admit that the equipment we have is very poor.

[Question] MARTIN: To Spineman contact 01952-820335 "Combat Stress". Help is at hand. You are not alone.

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] What on earth do you think I was saying on the television? I said my radio equipment was totally inadequate. If I had been briefed, I would have said it was brilliant. I only talked about radios, so I do not understand what you mean. I certainly was not briefed by anyone. Best of luck.

[Question] Lobby: As I understand it, all military equipment has to go through exhaustive trials before being accepted, so why do we keep having these equipment failures?

[Colonel-Bob-Stewart] A very good question. Probably the answer is for one of these reasons: First, it's not being used for the purpose it was designed for. Second, it was not used in the place which it was designed for. Third, it's very old. Fourth, we demand higher standards now, because the modern battlefield is extremely fast. Finally, we do not have the money to maintain it properly.

[Host]Thanks everyone for all your questions, and thank you very much Colonel Bob Stewart for answering them. Sorry we didn't have time to use all of them in this chat. We will be posting more of your comments on the website throughout the week. Thanks and goodbye.