Every journalist encounters stories that break their heart. For me, it comes from interviewing soldiers. Big strapping men and clever, clever women who have devoted their lives to making the lives of others better.
Men and women who have farewelled their own partners and children to board planes to Afghanistan and East Timor and Iraq. Men and women who have missed Christmas with their children, and the funeral of their parents, because of their commitment to duty, and to keeping Australia safe.
A few years ago I wrote a report on how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was killing our service men and women, and how we didn’t want to know about it.
We were happy to wave our soldiers off at the airport, but didn’t care too much once they returned home, broken, with vacant looks and changed personalities.
And that’s when we should care most. That one story prompted more than 700 emails — emails I spent hours rereading yesterday, as Australia’s defence shame was revealed.
From wives like Lisa, whose husband had served in Afghanistan. “Twice our son went in to wake his father only to be strangled upon his father being startled. The second time, my son was up against the wall, his feet not even touching the ground. Both times, his father was still asleep, but demanding to know how he got past the guard.’’
Lisa, like others, explained the torture of an outing to the supermarket, where her husband was hyper-alert, how their children had to walk on eggshells — and how, even in his blackest moods, he loved them. The man she waved off, she said, was unlikely to ever return to normal.
“But I don’t give up hope. Hope is all we have left. I am still proud of him, proud of the man, proud of the soldier and proud of the father. He is MY HERO.’’
Lisa’s email was one of those 700, but it wasn’t exceptional in content. Broken marriages; funerals; alcoholism and drug addiction and explosive violence.
“It’s been four years and two suicide attempts since I left,” one soldier wrote. “I was originally told I suffered from adjustment disorder with chronic depression and put on pills. I stopped myself drinking, that didn’t stop the nightmares, I doubt anything ever will.”
“When my babies cried the noise made me go right back to my deployment where I heard horrifically injured babies cry all night long,” wrote another “Now they were in my house. I could see their faces. When my husband touches me I feel like I am being raped… when my children touch me I have to pretend… very hard…. and hug them back. I am a shell. My only escape is the glass of wine I drink. Even whilst writing this.’’
This column could run for pages, with heartbreaking stories from men and women who have served in uniform. They are the men and women we need to think about today, more than the 25 who are accused of heinous misconduct.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has an obligation to deal with the accused, using the full extent of the law. That’s what Afghanistan wants us to do, too.
He also has an obligation to provide moral leadership to a nation rightly shocked that the best of its best would conduct their affairs in this way.
But yesterday’s report also affords the prime minister an opportunity to recognise those other soldiers — the vast majority — who leave with the hopes of a nation on their shoulder. Many of them are returning with PTSD.
In the painful aftermath of this investigation, and the probes that will follow, we should remember what Afghan President Ashraf Ghani noted when contacted by Scott Morrison yesterday: that many Australians had served in Afghanistan with distinction.
He’s spot on. And there are so many more of them pulling on the uniform in Townsville and Melbourne and Sydney and far flung places elsewhere today because they believe in what they do.
For anyone seeking help, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, Open Arms Veterans & Families Counselling is on 1800 011 046, and the ADF All-hours Support Line is on 1800 628 036.
Do we show enough compassion to returned soldiers? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say column.
Perhaps, if the Western ‘liberal democracies’ ceased endlessly fabricating reasons to INVADE other countries, so as to perpetuate their centuries long colonial imperialism, their thirst for inventing mythical heroes (‘representing our values’, and s**t like that) might wane.
Personally, I’m a fan of ‘defence’, not the ‘offence’ that has been practised by the Anglo-European kultchas for all these centuries.
Of course, there’s nowhere near the ‘Return on Investment’ to be had from ‘defence’, and ROI is the most enduring ‘value’ of all.
Well put.
It is the projection of Power which causes the evil.
That was the great ‘eauty’ of the fictional neutron bomb – kill people without damaging things of value, like property.
How about every country have nuclear weapons but without delivery systems?
Build them into the basements of all major cities – who would want to invade?
Maybe if we stop glorifying soldiers as heros and pretending that the armed forces are devoted to “making the lives of others better, commitment to duty, and to keeping Australia safe” then we might be able to face the reality of what the military really does to people. I completely agree that we need to take better care of personnel not just on return but while on active service but you can’t get away from the fact that they are trained to be dehumanised so you can hardly expect them to just slot back into “normal” society. Poor bastards.
One of those statements that is always trotted out is “keeping Australia Safe”. How is that so, as in most of the conflicts we seem to end up in at the behest of the USA have nothing to do with Australia.
You pre-empted almost verbatim what I intended to comment.
I’ll leave it to Cathy Wilcox’ unfunny ”cartoon” – she drew your post.
Really, this article, in the current context, is just plain jarring. “best of the best”, “pull on the uniform cos they believe in what they do”. What does this even mean? There are good people everywhere, so what? Yes, soldiers can have a tough job, but so do umpteen others. The timing is just appalling and frankly I’m sick of hearing glorified, cliche ridden testimonies to how great, noble, self sacrificing (etc etc) soldiers are.
Agree wholeheartedly, Sean.
I’ve long been a supporter of MSF, and recall being more than just jarred, when they reported a trauma hospital they were operating in Kunduz, had been destroyed by the ‘Western values laden’ coalition in Afghanistan. To quote;
“With the exception of Shaista, all the patients in the unit died. The caretakers with the patients died. Dr. Osmani died. The ICU nurses Zia and Strongman Naseer died. The ICU cleaner Nasir died. I hope with all my heart that the three sedated patients in ICU, including our ER nurse Lal Mohammad, were deep enough to be unaware of their deaths — but this is unlikely. They were trapped in their beds, engulfed in flames.
The same horror that rocked the ICU rocked the rest of the main building as the plane hit with alarming precision. Our ER nurse Mohibulla died. Our ER cleaner Najibulla died. Dr. Amin suffered major injuries but managed to escape the main building, only to then die an hour later in the arms of his colleagues as we desperately tried to save his life in the makeshift operating theater set up in the kitchen next to the morning meeting room….”
That’s an extract from a piece written by Dr. Kathleen Thomas, a twenty something Australian intensive care doctor. She’d been at Kunduz about 5 months before it was bombed – repeatedly – by the US led coalition.
You can find the piece on the MSF website.
Or stories of Iraqi fathers walking around with plastic rubbish bags picking up the pieces of their dead children for burial.
From an article at the ABC, on Apr 6, ’16, headed;
“Kunduz bombing survivor Kathleen Thomas calls on Government to push for independent probe”
“The only Australian doctor who was in the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Afghanistan when it was bombed by US forces is outraged no-one has been held accountable for the tragedy…..
The MSF hospital in Kunduz was destroyed by precise and repeated US airstrikes that killed 42 people, including 14 MSF staff members…
The US has apologised for the incident, describing the attack as a direct result of avoidable human error, compounded by process and equipment failures.
MSF maintains the attack was deliberate and it is continuing to call for a war crimes probe into the incident. That call has so far been ignored….
“We were having to make horrendous decisions about who we would try and save and who we could not afford to at the time,” she told the ABC’s AM program.
“And of course all those who did die, I will certainly never forget. I can remember every single patient in ICU who died, every staff member who was working that week, and those who did lose their lives.
“And then of course, who could forget the actual attack itself? And that will certainly stay in my mind forever.
“And friends who we were very close to dying in front of our eyes. It was absolutely horrendous.”……”
Victims of culture, or victims of crime?
What about some compassion for the families of the people who were murdered?
This sort of talk isn’t aimed at helping vets, but just to distract from the issue at hand. It is always framed as looking after the returned vets or making war slightly more comfortable with a better ‘culture’, never asking if the sacrifice of these vets had to be made at all.
Good point
Having worked in the medical arena for many years many people I have known are damaged physically and mentally on their return from constant too often seasons of active duty.I wonder if many of us can imgine walking around every day never knowing if it will be your last and who you are able to trust as you pass.them by. Many of these army veterans enlisted at 18 years old..before their brain had reached maturity and had to be introduced to use skills to survive.There has to be marked desensitization of your mind and soul.
I am concerned our young people now play incessantly on their videos war games of killing.
Kids play a lot of Minecraft and Fortnight now. I wouldn’t be too worried. The existence of games like Call of Duty is problematic, but a vanishing one. Fashion has wrapped around back to the world wars and sci fi for our war fantasies, which don’t drive recruitment in the IRL military like games based in the ‘War on Terror’ did.