AUSTRALIA'S defence hierarchy failed veterans severely wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots around the globe for almost a decade, with a new document revealing scores of wounded Diggers ''falling through the gaps''.   

A 280-page review of the Support for Injured or Ill Project (SIIP) - run from August to December 2010 - will be released by the Defence Department and Department of Veterans' Affairs on Monday after a freedom-of-information application by The Saturday Age.

The review found that while Defence had provided immediate and trauma medical care to wounded, injured and ill members, there had been serious inadequacies in the systems that ran the processes of rehabilitation, compensation and, in many cases, transition to civilian life.   


Many of the 200 soldiers and sailors wounded in Afghanistan alone by late 2010 were, at times, being effectively abandoned due to a mire of bureaucratic and institutional failings.   

The number of wounded in action from the decade-long war now stands at 219, with 32 dead. The toll from the six-year engagement in Iraq was three dead and 27 wounded in action.

''Some members are falling through the gaps and not receiving the support they are entitled to [and] require,'' the review says.   

It found the families of some wounded Diggers had been effectively locked out of the process, despite the fact they were often bearing the brunt of the physical and emotional after-effects of the soldiers' wounds.

A lack of communication between Defence and Veterans' Affairs, which manages issues of compensation and support after a Digger has left the military, was also a problem.

''To achieve sustained improvement … these initiatives firstly require organisational commitment to and implementation of more systemic change within Defence and transformational change to a new partnership and understanding between Defence and DVA,'' the report says.

The review made 31 recommendations, including overhauls of inadequate IT systems that failed to effectively record case management; the Defence review board, which decides whether a soldier should be retired from the army; and the slow claims processing system.

Last year a former Special Air Service soldier, Anthony Oliver, described his disillusionment after suffering spinal injuries in a 2006 Black Hawk helicopter crash off Fiji.

While the army paid for all his medical treatment, Trooper Oliver was troubled by the personnel who dealt with his discharge and compensation.

He said: 'They were more focused on budget rather than the best situation for this guy.   

''There are a lot of wounded soldiers. The organisation is structured to deal with World War II veterans and hasn't evolved.''

Since the 2010 review, Defence has begun to overhaul the process, creating more streamlined systems and improving co-operation with Veterans' Affairs.

The new Chief of Army, Lieutenant-General David Morrison, will stake his legacy on improving the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and the rate at which they return to duty.

He concedes that the army is ''relearning the lessons that were part and parcel of Australia's last major conflict, the Vietnam War'', especially because of the complex rehabilitation needs of Diggers maimed as a result of the increased use of improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan. 

''I will be judged on how I set the army up for the third decade of the century - how I create a more diverse workforce and [care for] the injured and the maimed,'' he told The Saturday Age.

The current practices for the care, recovery, rehabilitation and transition back into work, military or civilian, were ''not perfect'', General Morrison said.   

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/forgotten-diggers-lone-battle-20120420-1xcpn.html#ixzz1scRTkC9x

"The number of wounded in action from the decade-long war now stands at 219, with 32 dead. The toll from the six-year engagement in Iraq was three dead and 27 wounded in action."

Thats pretty darn good for a 10 year war.

SOB

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Apr 21^st, 2012 at 8:31am:


Of that 219 and all the others that served, how many will have long term and on going mental health problems. How many will receive the help and support they need? not many. The record is there.

Just because our losses were small how many innocent civillians died in Iraq. Is that justifiable is it? just because we have developed ways to minimise casualties on our side because the public will no longer accept high death rates does not mean war is acceptable nor a high death rate of the combatant.