Just when the Defence Force Ombudsman states that the Department of Defence has improved the way that it handles grievances, reflecting a new level of maturity in the ADF, we read of “Gilly from Timor” an artillery officer, who sent an open e-mail detailing his impressions and movements whilst (and presumably – still) on active duty in the Australian Army in Timor.

He describes his infantry comrades as “dumber than I thought”. He says of his RAAF colleagues that they are “jack pricks.”

Responses from fellow enlisted people to Gilly, reveal a similar culture of disproportional, base responses.  These have been swift and blunt with comments such as:

“It’s good to see another fine product from ADFA is getting his moment in the sun. I hope those blokes from 1RAR who were such a hindrance to you appreciate the fine, three year taxpayer funded holiday you went on in Canberra made you the tactical genius you appear to be.”

“What a cock – if he doesn’t hang over this, I will tongue my own a..e.”

“This bloke should be broken like a shotgun and horsef…ed.”

The ADF is spending tens of thousands of dollars on recruiting young people into their ranks. They advertise heavily in magazines that attract a young demographic. However, I doubt even the most immature teenager would not see the culture displayed by the four ADF members above for what it is – Puerile.

“I firmly believe the Services offer a fantastic range of career opportunities for young Australians, and every ADF member needs to convince others to join us.” – Director General Defence Force Recruiting Brigadier Simon Gould.

Obviously the Brigadier is just another aca-fucking-demic from Canberra.

Image from here

Image from PostSecret, an amazing blogspot found here.

The video footage showed many empty seats when our man honest john spoke in Ireland. You wouldn’t think that our PM would go all the way to the Díospóireachtaí Parlaiminte to talk about terrorism and the need for everyone to do their part for the illegal war in Iraq, but he did.

This is a snippet of what he said:

“We live in a world that confronts the scourge and challenge of terrorism. In the fight against terrorism Ireland and Australia are united. None of us, no matter where we live or what attitude we take on individual political and foreign affairs issues, can regard ourselves as immune from terrorism. Irish citizens died in the World Trade Centre. Australian citizens have died in various places as a result of terrorist attack…” – HoWARd at the Dáil Debate.

Read the entire speech here if you want more cringe!

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Today’s Courier Mail has an article about the Australian military casualties of the war that is the invasion of Iraq.

When we think “casualties of war” we often think of physical wounds- wheelchairs, scars and missing limbs. Forgotten and less visible casualties of war are the many Iraq veterans who are suffering from mental health issues. No prosthetics or empty trouser legs neatly pinned up out of the way for these men and women. What they endure, whilst not so obvious, is just as pervasive as a physical wound- involving gaps in cognition, coping, memory, connection and hopefulness.

The article states that approximately 6000 ADF troops have served in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, and 52 have since been discharged with mental health conditions ranging from anxiety and depression to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Just imagine, 2 out of every 250 military personnel deployed to Iraq, in a period of 0-3 years after their return home, will end up having such a severe mental health issue that they will be classified as medically unfit and discharged from the ADF. No more military career.

The ADF will no doubt blame many factors other than the member’s deployment experience in Iraq for a veteran’s anxiety and depression diagnosis, and perhaps this can be justified. But what obfuscation will the department of defence attempt to dismiss the connection between the Iraq war and the prevalence of PTSD in its Iraqi veterans cohort? Unless a person has been raped or in a serious motor vehicle accident, then war is the most common cause of PSTD. Moreover, anxiety and depression have been shown to be co-morbid with a PTSD diagnosis. So, to knowingly deploy someone to Iraq who has/is suffering from anxiety and depression is negligent and may be actionable. The military is not caring for, or taking responsibility of, the mental health of its people.

I have a relative who voluntarily discharged from the army as soon as he could after the invasion of Iraq. He tells me he wishes that the army had lost him as well as they had found him which covers a period of a decade. He is in private practice and he knows a lot about Subjective Units of Discomfort Scale (SUDS) as he treats ex-military survivors of traumatic stress syndromes.

“I have no idea how what happened in Iraq did this to me, but I know I am not the same person I was before I went over. We lived, slept and breathed a highly stressful environment for six months. When I returned to Australia I was driving down the road looking for the bad guys – you start to realise how close to death you were.” – Gordon Traill.

Members of the ADF are still compliant, however in the UK, those that are refusing to kill are active and mobilised.

ADF chief psychologist Len Lambeth said the military “would be silly” to expect every soldier deployed to return home perfectly well. He said the rate of mental illness would be unlikely to decrease.

In the future refusing to obey lawful orders may be more successfully argued as a right to not be exposed to a psychological injury.

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Tuesday is ANZAC day. A day where many Australians honour the men and women who laid down their lives to make this country free.

This year the Victorian RSL is giving official permission to the descendants of WWI Turkish soldiers to join in the march of veterans. The Victorian RSL President, Major-General David McLachlan says,

“the Turkish were a very honourable enemy.”

On the same day, Veterans who feel that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has abandoned them and their claims for acknowledgement of their PTSD, and compensation for their PTSD, have been told they cannot use the day to highlight their frustration by wearing an orange armband.

What is the message being sent to Australians? Is the right to march as a veteran only reserved for those that don’t challenge the ANZAC story of honour, bravery, sacrifice and compliance? Or are we as Australians mature (and honest) enough to have the discussion that might be-

“War can physically and psychologically injure our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Airwomen.”

Recent polls would suggest that Australians are not as sympathetic to the Iraq cause as they once were. Australians are also not voting with their marching feet as they walk past military recruitment centres around this country.

NewsRadio mentioned an Australian Soldier ‘incident’ in Iraq this morning. I will continue to search the news to find the story.

Whilst, of course, I hope for an end to the deaths in the war in Iraq, I know this to be impossible as the reality is that people are still dying daily.

I wonder how many ‘hurt’ Australians it will take for this government to feel the backlash?

I wish the orange armbanders nights of sleep with only one nightmare.

Image from here