You seem to have a good grasp on how traumatic (or not) it is to be deployed to a war zone. Where did you serve?

Perhaps you just have an understanding of human behaviour and mental illness that exceeds that of the people who study or work in that field.

There is nothing "suss" about military personnel and PTSD. Attitudes like yours just make it harder for sufferers to access the help they need.

oops! Was it something I said?

Thank you for at least making an appearance here, Annie and Big-O.

Unfortunately, neither of you has cared to explore the matter of post-traumatic stress disorder with me to the degree that one is not able to function as a border control navy personnel.

I had been under the impression that military service in Afghanistan was entirely voluntary, and therefore only the hardy and the mentally tough would put their hand up for it.

I just find it extraordinary that we're being told that military personnel who have returned from a war zone are not able to lift bodies out of the water.

I understand perfectly that some personalities are very vulnerable to the fears and stresses of frontline combat, and that upon returning to Australia they may not wish to be in a position to have to deal with corpses.

BigOl64 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2013 at 7:26am:


So enlighten me. I've only been asking questions.

But let me tell you something first. I was brought up in an educational institute that didn't tolerate 'Sacred Cows' of any kind that couldn't be openly discussed and analysed for what truths could be gained from them.

EVERYTHING gets questioned. No Sacred Cows, and no tolerance for mystification on 'taboo' issues.

You Australians are brought up on a steady diet of bullshit about aborigines that you're not supposed to question. It's all a taboo, not to be spoken of.

Europeans have no such Sacred Cows.

So far I haven't managed to elicit a single word from you in answer to my first post, and that in itself tells me you might not have any answers besides insults and abuse.

BigOl64 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2013 at 8:14am:


You're sounding a tad defensive, Big-O. I didn't mean any disrespect towards Australian soldiers.

I was working in an office at the time of the Vietnam call-up, waiting for my marble to drop.

I should know better than to broach these issues with you Australians. Your isolation Down Here at the bottom of the world has made you people a little over-sensitive to any sort of inspection of an investigative kind.

You don't take criticism nearly as well as do the British or the Continental Europeans.

It just struck me as a bit far-fetched that MORE than just a few returning from tours of duty in Afghanistan are deemed to be emotionally incapable of gaffing a drowned body out of the water.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

As a matter of fact I've been watching Ross Kemp's serialised documentaries from the combat zone in Afghanistan. I'm hoping to gain more insight into the whole experience, and how it tears away at one sense of security.

mantra wrote on Nov 30^th, 2013 at 10:57am:


I touched upon a Sacred Cow, and even mentioned that an appalling number of military personnel returning to Western nations after the war in Vietnam and the Middle East were found to be struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

The cheapness and the availability within Asia's Golden Triangle made it more deadly than the enemy itself.

War is 9/10th sheer boredom and 1/10th sheer terror.

I think Big-O may have found my words to be a little too real and a little too close for comfort ~ and for that I apologise.

mantra wrote on Nov 30^th, 2013 at 10:57am:



If you consider his OP as polite then you must also accept my response to be measured and appropriate or neither of us are.


I never said my reply was meaningful, nor was it meant to be, it was just the correct response for the post and the poster.


This place is filled with nasty little scumbags hiding behind their keyboard talking sh1t about our servicemen and women I see no need to show them any measure of respect for their moronic vile little posts.

Why are you talking about PSTD in Soldiers, and mentioning Afghanistan, when your link is to a story about Navy Personnel in Operation Resolute/Soverign Borders?

And, yes, I have seen first hand the impact of pulling dead bodies of men, women and children out of the sea has on our (mainly) Navy Personnel.  I think this is a real problem that will only become more and more prevalent as these young people reach middle age and the impact of what they went through finally surfaces.