Tag: Anzac Day

Why The RSL Must Look To The Future

Posted on by Chad Dobbs

In the past few days there has been a lot of coverage in the news and on social media about the RSL NSW office dictating what will and won’t be allowed during the Sydney ANZAC Day march. To say this has caused a wave of emotion to boil-over various Defence affiliated social media groups is an understatement. The sentiment most being expressed is one of Veterans being fed up with the attitude of the RSL and their efforts to control the very thing that is central to our identity; the ANZAC legend.

I have been critical of the RSL previously and have even participated in some of the online debates about what my opinion is of the current issue surrounding Veterans and marching with their unit banners. As with most discussions regarding the RSL and Veterans opinions and experiences; sadly the negative seems to far out-way the positive. In the midst of a robust discussion about the relevancy of the RSL in these modern times; I posted a rough opinion piece that I have fine tuned and censored for this blog post.

Many of the negative experiences Veterans are facing today aren’t from the club side of the RSL. We are literally being told to “go away” by sub-branches. I don’t give a rats arse about the bar, bistro and pokies side of the RSL; my concern is with the Veterans support side turning away my generation because of perceived differences.

In the past 18 months we have seen more than twenty suicides of Veterans under 40 years of age! While every suicide is both concerning and a tragedy; I’ve now buried more friends to suicide than have been lost in war. We are on the edge of an epidemic spilling over and the sad fact is that Veteran suicide is the new Elephant In The Room for Australia and Australia’s Veteran community. The simple reason for this is because the support isn’t there when it is needed and that support certainly isn’t coming from the RSL anytime soon!

We all wore a uniform and we all served Australia, but to a very small minority in positions of authority in the RSL National, RSL State and RSL sub-branches, this means nothing. In the months after I left the Army I tried to reach out to the RSL, the same sub-branch my Grandfather was President of for 40+ years and was told by the new President “fuck off, we don’t want young blokes with tatts”.

The RSL needs to realise there are other Veterans support groups, social groups and avenues of support available to the Veteran community aside from them. The Vietnam War era soldiers didn’t have the support of the RSL when they needed it but eventually the tide turned and now a lot of Vietnam Veterans are running the sub-branches. The Vietnam Veterans went through decades of lobbying and some still won’t walk inside an RSL. Unfortunately they didn’t have the groups and support networks we have available to us today.

Put simply we have other support and social mechanisms in play that won’t ostracise us and turn us away. Until the RSL at the State and National level fully understands that they are no longer relevant in their current form and start listening to what ALL Veterans want (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Foreign Aid/Relief, Border Security and Middle East) they are going to see a continuation in the already rapid decline in numbers and attendance.

There are many sub-branches that are doing exceptional things in the Veteran community but their good deeds are being overshadowed by a leadership that won’t look towards the future.

The Central Point Of Failure – The Department Of Veterans Affairs

Posted on by Chad Dobbs

I wasn’t sure if I should write this post.  My last opinion piece about the Department of Veterans Affairs was received quite well by the veterans community and prompted DVA to contact me to discuss my and many other young veteran’s issues.  What has prompted this follow-up piece tentatively titled “You Ignorant Fucking Bureaucrats!”?…

On the evening of 11 November 2013, undoubtedly scheduled to coincide with Remembrance Day, Channel 7’s Today Tonight aired a story about young veterans and the ongoing struggle for support with PTSD and mental illness entitled Fighting A Mental War.

The story began as a fairly straight forward account detailing the struggles of those who have had the unfortunate distinction of dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Frustration, anger and depression are some of the emotions one can feel when dealing with a Government Department seemingly intent on ignoring your calls for help and ensuring you don’t get access to quality support services and ultimately rejecting financial assistance for your national service at war.

This may seem like an extreme statement but when the person asking for support is a young service-person trying to access help for depression and/or assistance after experiencing a highly traumatic incident(s); being rebuffed by the very organization founded to help you only causes more stress and compounds an already volatile situation.  It is a fact that more young servicemen and servicewomen have taken their own lives post-deployment than have been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ordinarily I would take a story broadcast on Today Tonight with a few dozen grains of salt.  But after watching Keith Payne VC fire up (a man I have had the pleasure of spending time with in both Afghanistan and Australia) and the pitiful response from DVA Mental Health Advisor Dr Stephanie Hodson I was poised to hurl my remote control at my TV in disgust.  I sat staring in disbelief, I wanted to break something, I could feel my pulse rising and my face getting hotter as my skin became flushed with rage.

Ultimately I calmed down but not before I fired off a steam of questions and statements to DVA via Twitter, Facebook and email.  Minister for Veterans Affairs Senator the Honourable Michael Ronaldson was also in my sights and received a highly sanitized and more eloquent email demanding answers about his representative’s insulting statements.

What did Dr Hodson say?  Below is the transcript from Today Tonight’s segment.

“Any suicide is tragic, and the department actively monitors suicide in veteran community,” Dr Hodson said.
“We actually do need to work on getting our staff more trained, but also about getting through these claims more quickly.”

Dr Hodson denies the department’s failure to plan ahead is resulting in long delays, leaving claims and lives in limbo.

“The department is processing claims as quickly as possible, but we acknowledge that some claims can take longer than we want,” she said.

Dr Hodson claims part of the problem lies with the veterans themselves.

“The problem is that it’s not until someone is in crisis that they will actually start to look for the services,” Dr Hodson said. “The treatment is there for veterans; we just need them to come and put up their hand and get it.” 

The full video can be found here:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/19777434/veterans-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/
Dr Hodson’s comments on behalf of DVA start at approximately the 8 minute 15 second mark.

I want to stress I am not launching a personal attack on Dr Hodson; she is clearly a very competent and qualified medical professional.  She previously served 22 years in the ADF as a psychologist and has been with DVA for the past decade.  This is a woman who has dedicated the majority of her career helping service-persons with mental health issues.

I am however attacking the Department of Veterans Affairs for the systematic failure of the past 40 years.  I’ve watched as my Father’s generation has been let down by DVA and his mates have been driven to suicide.  Decades later the same thing is happening to my generation.

By Dr Hodson’s own account, DVA needs to do more work; but also claims that the Department’s failure to plan ahead is not to blame.  So to Dr Stephanie Hodson and Minister for Veteran’s Affairs Sen the Hon Michael Ronaldson I put this to you:

The last Australians withdrew from Vietnam on Anzac Day 1975.  That was 38 years, 6 months and 18 days ago; and yet Australian Servicemen and Servicewomen are still not getting the support that we deserve and have fought for.

To have not learnt from the past and continuing to ignore the Department’s ongoing mistakes is akin to giving a Soldier with PTSD a noose and pointing him or her in the direction of the closet tree with a strong branch.