Lee Sarich suffers from PTSD since returning home. Source: ABC
LEE Sarich was a Lance-Corporal in Afghanistan when a bullet fired by an insurgent grazed him. He survived. But he's still suffering.
Sarich was just one former soldier who opened up on ABC's Four Corners about the post traumatic stress disorder he suffers since returning home — and the lack of support some soldiers receive when transitioning back into regular life.
Former Afghanistan Liutenant and PTSD sufferer Geoff Evans said a lack of support is too common.
"I felt like a stranger in a strange land ... drinking every night," he said.
"I was so emotionally detached ...
"Good young people who were fine before they went to war are dying, because they're not being supported when they return."
Geoff Evans says soldiers aren't being supported when they return home. Source: ABC
At present, there are no official figures detailing how many veterans have taken their lives as a result of PTSD.
When asked about reports of suicide tolls being three times that of Australia's combat losses in Afgahanistan, Rear Admiral Robyn Walker said on the program:
"We've heard those anecdotal reports as well — we haven't been able to confirm that data. But my understanding is the Department of Veterans Affairs is presently trying to actually get ... evidence for what that might be. So anecdotally we haven't been able to confirm those figures."
Dealing with his own trauma, Lee Sarich turned to intense therapy sessions that force him to relive his memories in detail.
"The most traumatic incident would have been I was in a light-armoured vehicle that hit an IED (improvised explosion device). The ... the driver was killed," he said.
"My first thought was that, you know, like, someone's been hit.
"You could hear people screaming at the driver and I turned and it seemed obvious to me that the driver was dead.
"After the explosion the guys are yelling at me, yelling out to me 'cause they thought I was dead."
Lee Sarich uses intense therapy sessions to help overcome PTSD. Source: ABC
After a second tour he had to be medically evacuated back to Australia — and his mate who took his position was killed.
Following medical discharge, he was broke, couldn't work, was living in his car, and separated from his children.
That's when Lee began to decline.
"At its worst, I start thinking about killing myself. That's, that's pretty much the worst."
Dr Andrew Khoo said that the training soldiers receive is hard to undo.
"The problem is: we are really shit at taking a warrior and turning them back into a human," he said.
Jamie Tanner suffers from PTSD and says he received no help from the Department of Defence when he returned home.
"If I have an episode, I won't speak to anyone for days. I won't leave the bedroom," he said.
"I just thought I was down and out — I didn't realise I had PTSD".
After returning home to a troubled marriage, he took a low-paying job as an apprentice electrician.
Jamie Tanner says he remembers the day he almost snapped. Source: ABC
Remembering the day he "almost snapped" he said he was in a cherrypicker and started to feel the strong urge to throw his tools at people.
He says he wouldn't return to the army.
"No, knowing the way they treated me when I discharged, knowing the way they treat mental illness ... there's no way I could go back to the army".
When asked if she agreed that suicides from combat related PTSD are a serious problem, Rear Admiral Robyn Walker said:
"There are a myriad of causes why people take their own lives — and the loss of any life is tragic."
"We know that PTSD is associated with other mental health conditions — it's associated with depression, it's associated with the abuse of alcohol.
"And there are times when people with PTSD have taken their own lives — so it is tragic when anyone does that."
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health: www.acpmh.unimelb.edu.au/
MensLine Australia 1300 789 978
Lifeline 13 11 14
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