Suicide in the ADF

The Australian media have picked up on the common myth that the ADF is rife with bullied, suicidal soldiers. This old chestnut gets hauled out every time a member of the ADF commits suicide. Additionally, it gets wheeled out after every inquiry into said suicide, and then again when family members drag it up again. It’s a fairly natural response from members of the family who have lost a loved one. It’s a traumatic experience for all involved.

Whilst my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a family member or loved one through suicide, blaming the system is just an easy way out. Statistically, the ADF has a suicide rate about half that of the broader community. Given that the ADF targets and consists primarily of the peak demographic for suicide; that is an impressive achievement.

Admittedly, psychological screening on entry to the ADF does rule out some of those predisposed towards suicide, which would fudge the figures. On the other hand, members of the ADF are exposed to far greater stress situations than their civilian counterparts. By that, I’m not referring exclusively to the operational environment, as stressful as that is. There are also a number of other factors that create significant levels of stress and could lead to mental health problems.

The ADF targets its recruiting specifically at school leavers and young adults. The reason for that should be fairly self-evident. The training required to make the transition from civilian to soldier/sailor/airman is necessarily quite intense. These young people are taken out of their familiar environment and comfort zone, and exposed to a strict and sometimes overwhelming training environment designed specifically to prepare them for combat. Once that is complete, they are sent to another training institution for further development into their specific trade. Only then are they sent to a unit and life regains any semblance of normality, although that normality is not the world they left behind at the recruiting centre.

They are immersed in a world where discipline is key, where the chain of command controls almost every aspect of their lives. They are different people to what they once were. That is not to say they become inhuman. They will have friends like they never had before, people with whom they have conquered adversity and come out laughing on the other side. They are instilled with values like courage, initiative, teamwork and mateship.

At no stage in a military career can they expect to have what anyone else would refer to as a “normal” lifestyle. They are expected to maintain a high degree of fitness. An injury can cause serious career problems from that perspective. They can expect to move every 3-4 years, sometimes more frequently than that. Not across suburbs, but interstate and occasionally overseas, and often to remote locations away from their family and friends. They can expect even in peacetime to be away from home for extended periods for exercises or courses. They can expect to work long hours for no additional remuneration. They can expect that as defence tries to save more money each year, that they will fill two or even three jobs at the same time. Then there is operational service.

Operational tours cause a whole raft of difficulties just in and of themselves. Six to eight months overseas in a dangerous environment with limited ability to communicate with loved ones and in almost always very basic living conditions is difficult enough. Throw in actual combat or situations that are beyond the realm of rational understanding, and it only gets worse. That is why significant effort is made to screen all returning servicemen for psychological trauma during and after a deployment, but no routine program will ever identify every problem that lies dormant in the subconscious.

That is why military training institutions are hard. They are designed to be so that they can prepare, as much as humanly possible, a person for the career they’ve chosen. It says a lot about the military in this country that even accounting for initial entry screening, the rate of suicide is still half that of the rest of the community. Remember that ADF members, whilst exposed to all of these additional stressors, are also still people, and will experience all of the usual emotional disasters that befall the rest of the community. Relationships will fail (more so than outside the military for all of the reasons stated above), there will be deaths in the family, and poor financial decisions will cause additional hardship.

There are a number of support mechanisms in the ADF to help people deal with all of these additional burdens. The Defence Community Organisation exists to help families cope with the demands of service life. There are equity advisers in every unit and formation and are outside of the chain of command to deal with complaints about harassment, bullying or unfair treatment. There are people trained specifically in suicide prevention. There is a medical system that is trained to deal with mental illness and a dedicated Australian Army Psychology Corps (with appropriate counterparts in the other two services). There are philanthropic organisations like the Salvation Army and the Everyman who deploy to the field and even overseas sometimes. There is the circle of mates that only ever grows throughout your time in the service, and of course there are the Padres.

The padres deserve their own special mention. Chaplains in the ADF are a very special breed. The churches of the world could take a leaf out of their book for the advancement of humankind. They live and breathe ecumenicalism. The unit padre might be a Catholic and you a Protestant, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, or devout Atheist; he couldn’t care less. When your world is turned upside down by absolutely anything from a fight with the missus to a close mate dying in your arms, the Padre will be the first by your side. He is often as filthy, wet and tired as you are, but he’ll make a hot brew and listen to you pour your heart out. He has powers that other officers couldn’t even comprehend. He’ll shirtfront Generals if need be, to see a problem resolved. Anyone who says that they had no one to turn to with a problem whilst serving in the ADF is either ignorant or lying, and from personal experience, it is very hard to be ignorant of the existence of the Chaplain.

Bullying does exist in the ADF, like it exists in any other workplace. Sometimes there is a fine line between discipline from a superior and bullying. Sometimes there is a fine line between training and bullying. It is worse in training institutions because they are necessarily hard. Some examples of workplace bullying have led to suicide. That is tragic. To tar the whole ADF for the few and isolated instances where that has taken place is ignorant, inaccurate, unfair and just plain lazy.