Aussie Diggers Deal With PTSD Horsing Around

How horses are helping Aussie diggers deal with post-traumatic stress disorder
Daily Telegraph
EXCLUSIVE, Jordan Baker
The Sunday Telegraph
February 25, 2017

“Even in times of high stress, ­afterwards you can think back and know there is another side, that you don’t always have to be hyper-vigilant or stressed or angry.” Ben Tyne

EVER since he returned from his army tour of Afghanistan, Ben Tyne has lived with the mental torture that is post-traumatic stress disorder. The rage, depression and loneliness are relentless, so any escape is precious.

There are currently limited services to assist servicemen and women who return from service. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

To that end, Mr Tyne spends as much time as he can with horses.

“It’s very honest,” he said. “There is no judgment and no ridicule.”

Equine-assisted therapy is rapidly growing in popularity as a way to calm and treat people with ­addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The theory is that horses are ­socially sophisticated animals, and deeply responsive to emotional cues. In order to successfully interact with the horses, patients must work on regulating their own emotions, and keep their anger in check.
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Vietnam Veteran Proud To Be a Digger

Anzac Day 2016: Vietnam veteran David Everitt says he’s proud to call himself a Digger
The Advertiser
Craig Cook
April 24, 2016

“It wasn’t my choice, but I have a lot of respect for the military — it’s a dirty job but they do it well. I’m very proud to be part of a group called the Diggers.” David Everitt

Vietnam vet David Everitt at the Brighton Arch of Remembrance with his grandson Brodie, 3. Pic: Tricia Watkinson.

VIETNAM veteran David Everitt says he’s just an ordinary man who did his duty but is proud to call himself a Digger.

The RSL Board director and Veterans Advisory Council member was a founding member of the Australian Psychological Operations unit (PSYOP) — colloquially known as the “Bulls. t Bombers” — during 13 months of service in Vietnam between 1969-70.

“It was our job to conduct psychological warfare on the enemy by dropping pamphlets from the sky by day and playing loud music at night to encourage them to surrender,” said the 67-year-old, who also served with 9th Battalion, formed in Adelaide in 1967.

“We were in these light aircraft, at 2000 feet (65m), lights out, playing eerie, ghostly music in the middle of the night. It certainly scared me.

“Nobody knew we were up there and I reckon our own side took a few pot shots sometimes.

“It was a great time in some ways and a horrific time in more ways.”
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Australian Truck Driver Paying Price for Cambodia Mission

Veteran pays the price for secret mission in Cambodia
THE AUSTRALIAN
Brendan Nicholson Defence Editor
Canberra
AUGUST 12, 2015

“All he wants now is recognition of the true nature of his service for Australia in Vietnam and Cambodia.”

At the height of the Vietnam War, John Ali was in a team of truck drivers recruited on the orders of the then army minister Malcolm Fraser for a secret mission delivering military supplies deep into Cambodia where US and Australian forces were officially not supposed to be.

He recalls as a 22-year-old ­diesel mechanic being taken with several other young men to ­Parliament House in Canberra in January 1971 and sitting at a table across from Fraser. The minister asked them to “serve your country on a top-secret mission”.

“At the end of it we had to sign the secrecy act,” Mr Ali said. “Mr Fraser told us that when we left the office we were not to talk to anybody about where we were going or why, except our mothers and ­fathers and our wives if we were married.”

By the end of March the men were in Phnom Penh. Over the next 18 months Mr Ali faced the same risks as the Diggers and traveled with convoys laden with arms, ­ammunition and fuel. But he was not formally part of the Australian Defence Force.

Now he is suffering ailments brought on by his service but he has been told he is not entitled to veterans’ benefits.
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PTSD Australian Veterans Not Being Helped to Heal

Territory PTSD sufferer says defence personnel suicides are under reported after another one of his mates dies
News.com Australia
NOVEMBER 18, 2014

“As a soldier you are ashamed and feel weak and like you don’t want to admit it to anyone, especially not your mates.

Veteran Craig West, who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in the army, has spoken out about the high suicide rates Source: News Corp Australia

A TERRITORY digger has claimed suicide deaths among young war veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are under reported because the issue is swept under the carpet in Australia.

Former soldier Craig West – who served in Timor in 2001 – said he has lost three veteran mates to suicide, the most recent two weeks ago.

Mr West, who suffers PTSD, said he “wasn’t surprised” when told the tragic news of his mate, who killed himself after a long battle with the disorder earlier this month.

“I knew how bad (his PTSD) was and how much he was struggling,” Mr West said.

“I got in contact with his family and people tried to help him but it was too late.”

Mr West said he knew of veterans who had attempted suicide and survived.

He said the problem was “a lot bigger than people think”.

“It’s not just the people who have committed suicide, it’s all the others out there who are still struggling,’’ he said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) confirmed in a written statement to the NT News that it “does not record cause of death for all veteran clients”.
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Australia fake Vietnam "Hero" has no excuse

"I never went to Vietnam and I thought, 'maybe I can say I am a vet because I'm associating with them all the time'. Charles Gibbons said after being caught as a fake Vietnam veteran with medals.

Yes, he really said that. I associate with them all the time too, plus spent the last 25 years married to one of them. I can tell you that just being around them makes people admire them, respect them, value them enough that no one in their right mind would ever consider impersonating one of them. People who do such a despicable act can never come close to understanding them because these men and women, they thought about others when they risked their lives in Vietnam. Didn't matter if they found themselves in Vietnam by will to serve or draft number pulled, they all served side by side and risked their lives for each other.

Thirty years this man pulled off a huge lie, used the Vietnam veterans he "associated with" and managed to look them in the eyes when he was spinning his tall tales of glory and suffering. Now he's sorry? Did he admit it all by himself by a sudden awakening of his conscience? No. He was turned in and then he was sorry. Just like the rest of them they are always sorry when they are caught, offering all kinds of excuses for what they did, trying to be what they will never be and will never understand the kind of person it takes to really be a Vietnam veteran. How about all the veterans this man hurt? How about the real ones trapped because they didn't save their paperwork and frauds like this make is almost impossible to be believed? They just never cared enough about the men and women they pretended to be or they would have never, ever thought about trying to take what they did not earn from them, respect.

Service a lie: Charles Gibbons wore beret and medals he was not entitled to on Anzac Day

Man apologises for posing as war veteran for 30 years

Russell Robinson

August 27, 2009 12:00am


A "WANNABE" war hero apologised to Diggers for fraudulently passing himself off as a Vietnam veteran.

For years council parking inspector Charles Campbell Gibbons, 60, claimed he had completed two tours of duty as a military policeman in South Vietnam.

During that time, he claimed, he'd lost a lung.

He would proudly march on Anzac Day wearing the red beret and badge of the military police.

Pinned to his tunic would be seven medals, signifying Vietnam War service, and 15 years regular army service.

But it was all a lie.

"It was done very stupidly. I should never have done it, but I did it and I regret it," he told the Herald Sun.

"I know there are people out there who do this, and I did it.

"I have no excuse for what I did. If I could go back in time there's not a chance I would have done this.

"I am disgusted with myself."

His double life was exposed on the ANZMI military imposters website.
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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25986890-2862,00.html

Diggers suffer in silence with PTSD

Diggers suffer in silence


``Living in no-man’s land’’ is how Vietnam veteran Frank Douglas describes post-war life without treatment and serves as a warning to other ``vets’’, should they refuse help in coping with their wartime experiences.
Broken yet still battling - he is one of many men who gave up their youth to fight for our country and living proof there are thousands of ``walking wounded’’ that have slipped through the cracks and in desperate need of help.
As Anzac Day approaches on April 25, Manly-Lota RSL is pleading with ex-diggers to step forward and accept help.
Men like Mr Douglas, 62, Hal Hillard, 86, and Percy Harvey, 91, are just some of the hundreds of ex-soldiers which the club’s Peter Beachamp has pulled out of a living hell.
As the sub-branch’s advocate, he is sometimes the first contact for local veterans and their partners.
Many are reliving wartime traumas and suffering from not only physical ailments from injuries, but ongoing mental conflicts resulting from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
go here for the rest
http://wynnum-herald.whereilive.com.au/news/story/diggers-suffer-in-silence/