By Paul Dobbyn
BRISBANE archdiocese’s chaplain to the ex-service community Deacon Gary Stone has met “too many veterans who are traumatised, living without hope, and struggling to forgive themselves or others for what happened in conflict zones”.
His response has been to set up a ministry known as Veterans Care, receiving enthusiastic support from Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
Every week since establishing the group recently, Deacon Stone is hearing from veterans saying they have turned back to God and the Church as a result of the ministry.
“These men and women may have survived the battlefield but they’ve often gone on to become casualties back in Australian society,” he said.
“Australia has lost 40 men in overseas conflicts in the past decade or so.
“But in that same time it’s estimated as many as 203 have committed suicide since they’ve returned from active service, unable to deal with stress resulting from their deployments.
“More young Australians have now served in modern conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan than the 55,000 baby boomers that went to the Vietnam War.
“We have had more than 60,000 service people deployed on overseas operations in recent years, most of whom are now discharged from the military, and about one-third are now living in Queensland.
“Thousands of them suffer the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as physical and relationship problems which plunge their lives into a downward spiral.”
Deacon Stone, with a long and distinguished history of military service spanning 45 years, discovered from personal experience that a connection to spirituality was essential in the process of healing from such trauma.
He hasn’t managed to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs of this.
“DVA has yet to take up the possibility of offering spiritual support; some of this is to do with a turf war with some clinicians who see medication and cognitive therapy as the only valid treatments,” he said.
“Also the department will raise arguments such as it doesn’t want to be seen to be promoting any one religion – but the fact is that in the USA, the DVA there has thousands of veteran chaplains ministering from a range of religious affiliations.”
Deacon Stone said Archbishop Coleridge was overwhelmingly positive about the creation of Veterans Care.
“The Archbishop said he was gravely aware of issues facing veterans and was delighted the ministry was starting up,” he said.
Deacon Stone said the need for such support was growing exponentially, pointing out that World War II went for six years but Australia’s involvement in other conflicts since then had gone on much longer.
“We recently marked the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, but we should also reflect on the legacy of Australia’s service people being deployed to numerous conflicts over a period of 15 years” he said.
“My son Michael, for example, has been deployed for eight years overseas on and off; many others have been on multiple tours to Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan and so on.
“They get worn out and exhausted, and their families suffer too.
“All our veterans need help but it’s still seen as a great stigma within our society to acknowledge difficulties and ask for help for mental afflictions.
“However, as a society we can’t abandon these men who have served on our behalf.
“The experience of combat is extraordinary and an extraordinary response is required.”
