Team,
This is a hard one for me.
I’ve been sitting on it a couple of months, processing it, since my old patrol medic gave me the unfortunate news.
I’m not afraid to admit that I have tears in my eyes as I type this.
I served with Paul (aka Springs) at B Sqn, 2/14th Lighthorse.
As an older bloke to the rest of us striplings, Paul brought a real easy-going, calming influence into the Sqn.
He was a bloody experienced hand too, being one of the few pure chock Diggers with a LAV-25 gunner’s qual that he picked up from serving with 6RAR in the old Battlegroup trial days in the mid- to late 90’s. A lot of blokes from 6RAR really showed their respect for him when they bumped into him around the 7Bde area.
He was also one of those eccentric, slightly oddball blokes in the Sqn. He’d tell us how his wife Wanda just couldn’t understand why he’d want to play soldiers and devote his spare time to country and community. He really picked up on the Sqn joke at the time of “camping with my army buddies”.
He had a heart of gold and was a beautiful soul.
A top bloke, and all up - a beautiful man.
The news that he had taken his own life after his tour in Iraq hit me like a sledgehammer.
The next piece of information hit me even harder:
Paul, that beautiful man... was bullied and tormented by most of his chain of command whilst in Iraq. It had severe negative impacts upon his mental health.
When those of us who served with Paul previously read his wife’s account of his behavior on his return to Australia, all of us agreed that such behavior just wasn’t the Paul we all knew and adored.
That this happens in our ADF is a travesty of justice and what we should be standing for.
If you, or any of your mates are doing badly... realise that you are not alone and that your mates WILL move mountains to look after you, just like we did in the service. The Tribe will also move mountains for you.
You just have to stick your wanking spanner in the air and tell us.
We’re not islands, we are beautiful, gregarious creatures that sometimes go through rough patches.
So.... please, look after your mates. Look after yourselves.
I’ve been beset by feelings of guilt and helplessness that I wasn’t able to help my old mate when he needed it. We have to look after our own. We have to do better at this.
I’m not planning on doing any research on that unit’s manifest at that time period, because I’m likely to hunt down twits, horsewhip them and set them alight.
https://www.mamamia.com.au/remembrance- ... australia/
