Hands off our ben rs vc mg

[Doc Vernon]

This may or may not be of interest some may like and others not but felt it should be posted. It comes from our Shipmate John in Oz,,,, Thanks John


HANDS OFF OUR BEN RSVC MG

CanI start by saying that the accusations of ADF personnel conducting
themselvesin a war zone with rude or crude acts, “misbehaving at a
makeshiftbar in Afghanistan,” or drinking beer from a prosthetic leg - none
ofthis should ever have been shared with media, and our media ought tohave
demonstrateddiscretion and decency in the dissemination of that imagery,
outof respect for the contract we have with the soldiers we have sent to
performthe most traumatising of all acts - to kill.

Whatwe have done in Australia, is cognitively and decisively glorifiedour
deceasedveterans on ANZAC Day, on Remembrance Day, and in media suicide
stories(and only ever through the metaphor of maternal grief), whilst
damningour living ADF members and veterans, and forgetting their number one
function(kill or be killed), is a function sanctioned by both Australia and
Afghanistan,demanded of them by you the voters, to protect our national
security,and to stabilise international tensions.

Thenation has decided that the full narrative surrounding veterans isone
wemust not look at. When was the last time you heard the term“terrorist?”
Or“sharia law?” Or “Taliban?” All of these things still exist,little
girlsare still executed if found to be educated, little boys are still
beingtrained to kill, and little kids are still playing dress-ups with
suicidevests and used as weapons. Yet, we as a nation have decided not to
lookat these things… we have allowed our Prime Minister and Chief of
DefenceForce to apologise to our enemies in Afghanistan, whilst hanging our
heroesout to dry by a noose.

Theproblem with trauma, is that the human mind protects itself from
annihilation,by compartmentalising that trauma in a space in the mind’s
deepestrecesses. In the absence of a compassionate society (by which I mean
theabsence of compassionate leadership, and compassionate therapy), this
suppressedtrauma brews like lava until either it is appropriately treated,
orthat volcano explodes in the form of aberrant behaviour, of mental
illness,or suicide.

Ican’t help draw the ironic comparison, between Ben Roberts-Smith VCMG
buryingthis trauma deep inside the mind, and allegedly burying USB drives
insidea pink plastic children’s lunchbox, hiding them from both policeand
militaryinvestigations. In fact this act is not simply an ironic
symbolism,this is exactly what is happening inside the minds of our SASR
soldiers.The information contained on those USB drives, is the exact same
traumathat is stored deep inside their minds’ recesses.

Thatevidence of war trauma, whether it’s suppressed in the mind, in apink
plasticchildren’s lunchbox, or buried 6ft under - it is trauma that is not
onlybeing suppressed and buried, it’s being punished. Suicide attempts
amongADF personnel are still - in 2021 - being met with a military charge
of“prejudicial conduct,” and ultimately a discharge from the ADF,sending a
verystrong message to everyone else to hide every crack, and everyevidence
thata member is in the hurt locker.

Whentrauma is overwhelming, the mind often protects itself by disablingits
abilityto experience ‘empathy.’ And our veteran space is over-burdenedwith
anoverwhelming number of both veterans, and their family members, whose
fracturedsense of empathy has created a landscape that is fundamentally
toxic,culminating in worsened trauma, increased homelessness, mental
illness,suicides... and aberrant behaviours.

IfAustralia wants to make this kind of trauma worse, then by all means-
keepprodding and provoking our most traumatised veterans with
stigmatising,shaming and punitive national judgements... but keep in mind
thatevery one of our 641,000 veterans in this country is trained to kill,
theirrage is rapidly building, and like any volcano - it will eventually
eruptunless an urgent, national refocus of compassion is directed at the
problem.

BenRoberta- Smith VC MG was awarded those post-nominals for killing the
enemywith heroic degree of bravery ... the only thing that haschanged
sincehe was awarded those post-nominals is the increased magnitude oftoxic
envyof everyone around him .

DrDan Mealey
FormerArmy doctor
Afghanistanvet

[Doc Vernon]

Sorry that some of the Text is together but its still readable.
As i had posted something regarding my late Brother that served with colonel Mike Hoare in the Congo Years ago, and then Shot Himself because of the things he went through , i can relate to the above story although not with the Forces that are mentioned.
Thank you for reading

[j hardy]

it is an absolute disgrace what the media and defence chiefs are attempting to do to our troops, from what i have seen and heard, the majority of australians, support all our diggers. i love my country, but i detest most of our media and politicians, all self serving bottom feeders.