Wessely runs Formax UK, which makes expensive stitch-bonded fiberglass and carbon fabrics for use in industry.

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And the wages Wessely pays are a good three times what the Poles on his factory floor make back home.

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"These guys thank you for letting them come to work, " says Wessely.

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"The difference in the mentality between the average guy from town and these guys who'd come all the way from Poland was huge, " says Wessely.

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Near the English Midlands town of Leicester, Oliver Wessely's company is heavily reliant on the Poles who have poured into the area in search of manufacturing jobs.

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This may encourage sick veterans that a cause of their suffering could finally be found, but Simon Wessely, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry's centre for military health research, is sceptical.

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Mr Wessely, who advises the British army, agrees.

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With the Military Covenant much in the news at the moment, the Defence Committee will be taking evidence on the after-care of military casualties from Professor Simon Wessely, Director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research.

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When Wessely started the business with one stitch-bonding machine in the shell of an old toweling factory in 1999, he found pretty good demand for "multiaxial reinforcements"--they're strong, stiff lightweight cloths used in boat hulls and construction materials.

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