Hi Anthony and Kerrie-Ann,
So many ideas put us all 'on the same page' and that certainly makes for fertile ground in which ideas thrive.
I've always thought that Ex Service Organisation (ESO's) don't do enough outreach activities but sit back and wait for their clientele to come to them. Result- vets with problems are daunted by this as I guess they need that extra effort to encourage their participation. GT's idea re physicians, GP's, counsellors and the like is to coach the approach to their professional bodies along the lines of us seeking advice from them as to how they would recommend we get the message out to vets who may have fallen through the cracks. We could also emphasise the fact that we wish to facilitate communication with their partners too. He feels that this would avoid the risk of them feeling imposed upon.
The current affairs reporter route is so good and was one I was considering for promotion of the PVA. Coincidentally, I was hijacked by a team of roaming reporters last year wanting a sound bite on the Liberal leadership struggle and Robert Doyle. As I'm a first class show off I obliged. They screened it so the next week I rang the reporter and did my pitch and she was very interested. The PVA have used current affairs programs to good effect as well in the past too.
Anyhow. I was considering what to say in an email to her and one concept was to point out that the DVA doesn't recognise the partner as primary carer. They give that title to the LMO's. So the vital job that the partner/carer does is diminished by the Dept in charge. We carers on the other hand do all that we do with little recognition. Sometimes my evil and bitter tongue gets the better of me and I opine,' We provide all the primary care for the vet and sex and all for $94.60 a fortnight'. I think the whole way we look at people who require care has to be changed and all must move from the medical model and be more holistic; it's a TEAM effort and all should be consulted.
As to the problem of getting the young vets to recognise there's a problem, well it goes beyond the individual and can be traced to the culture of the defence forces. Do the powers that be encourage young men to admit to a problem? When they do does the Dept support them or throw them out on their ear? In the Special Forces area many bury their fears for fear of being posted out of a regiment they love. This means that the problem doesn't surface until it's too late to be proactive about it. I think it is not debated enough both within the military or without. Maybe a publicist could get this sort of debate going in the public domain. Something for a not for profit org could develop in the future.
Which brings me to the formation of aforementioned organisation. What about a STRATEGIC PLAN.
GOALS:- Short term
now to 12 months
-continue to refine the forum to support the partners of vets with PTSD
-mount a publicity drive to bring this forum to the attention of young vets and partners.
Medium Term
up to 5 yrs
-have publicity campaign up and running.
- maintain and grow forum.
- start building organisation
Long Term
10yrs+
Organisation established.
What do you think of this?
Hi Kerrie-Ann, This is so long I have run out of time to chat long but suffice to say that the thing I find hardest on the really, truly, madly feral days is that GT and I are not only not on the same page as each other, but we can be reading different books, his in Slovenia and mine in Swahili. Talk about barriers to communication! Often we separate for a few hours so that we can re find where we are in the book we both need to be reading; at the same time and at the same pace. Tomorrow I'll tell you a very funny (ironic) story about the game we use to play to re establish smooth channels of communication.
Cheers LT and her vet.
PS, GT prefers his book to be in Latin rather than Slovenian too Slavic!!!

Exactly. The good thing is LT, is that I have never marketed this forum yet, and just so you know, I have 9 years background in online marketing. Interesting ha? Maybe its time that I started ha!

I believe this is where the real weight in exposure lay, in that current affairs programs can identify with the issue, the military and those of us who suffer PTSD, and spouses off, and project an actual image of the aftermath of military active service in the veterans.

Not sure were your going with that one LT, because when my wife was on maternity leave, she got carers allowance for looking after me from DVA as part of her pension entitlement. Normally she is not entitled to anything because we earn too much money, but when on maternity leave, she generally takes 6 months leave without pay, so that period entitles us to full benefits. The DVA site fact sheet. Is this something different that you are talking about?

I think the problem here, is that the military are very good at covering their arse, and they are, because I have seen plenty off it during my 10 years in service. I have even had to do it on certain operations myself... where things just no longer exist for the sake of all. Just look at the most recent, with the soldier who shot himself in Iraq, and its said that he did it whilst cleaning his weapon. My arse... an infantry soldier does not accidentally shoot themselves whilst cleaning their weapon. More like, he took his own life because he could have possibly suffered PTSD, trauma or some effect that if he said something, and possibly did, would be ridiculed beyond belief, punished internally by his own so called mates, just for speaking up about his emotions and problems.

The inquiry... lost from leaving it at the airport! The militar is more than willing to take a little heat for telling people they stuffed up by losing the report or some nonsense, because the attention is short lived, then the media move elsewhere to the newest and more interesting story. The military know this, so they make it look like they give a rats about it, then it goes away, hence so do all charges and documentation of all events. Seen that happen too... even been involved in a little shredding of evidence before under order. The military is very corrupt in those aspects. If something goes wrong, they do their utmost to cover it up, and they have very good people doing that for them in the media departments. Those people are very good at their job. Conspiracy? No... just facts.

I used to see it all the time in Townsville, with drugs, and events a soldier/s got involved in, and the TV would be saying that 10 soldiers have been charged for drug use, when in actual fact it was more like 30 or 40. Hell, I had 10 just in my trade alone at one stage, which was more than what the media where ever told. The cat incident with young soldiers torturing cats... the media had no idea what was really going on inside, because I knew all of those soldiers, some of which had been under my command previously or where in my actual trade... which was a very small one, so everyone knew everyone.

Pretty good, though I would probably like to reduce it my more, as in 10 years time, well... PTSD could be rife, which is way too late.

Because I haven't marketed this site as yet, I figured I would give this a shot first, see how it goes, draw enough interest and hopefully put together a group first.

Year One

• Market forum both online and offline
• Raise awareness and support of PTSD through forum, press releases and articles
• Focused support for spouses
• Establish subscription based electronic newsletter

Year Two - Three

• Create an Incorporated Association at State level
• [FONT=Arial]Garnish interest from Multi-level corporations for support and donations[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial]Establish a PTSD support network (spouse morning tea / PTSD morning tea)[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial]Gap publicity hole that DVA, VVCS, PVA, VVAA, etc have missed[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial]Garnish support from National newspapers for advertisement[/FONT]

Year Four - Five

• Establish Not-For-Profit Company (gives National scale)
• Continue to garnish National donation support
• Fund sufferers and spouses of PTSD within financial difficulty, not covered by other organisations
• Launch National public PTSD initiative

What I do find funny though is this press release from the minister in regard to funding for DVA, and the billions of dollars used still won't expose the heart of the problem and get help for those suffering, nor their spouses. IMHO, they are looking beyond the problem, over the top as such, as the core of the issue stems much closer to home through National public advertisement and media (TV, Radio, Newspapers)

And it gets even funnier, because if the below statement is true, then there will be no need for us to even establish a non-profit org to cover the holes that currently exist, which I doubt will happen:

I think the order should be something like:

• Establish local groups around the country
• Have each group form an Incorpated Association
• Combine all groups into one Company Non-Profit Organisation

I think that is the key to achieving the goal of establishing a fully functional non-profit organisation.

Hi Anthony,
Need to catch my breath, back to you soon.
LT

Hi Anthony, It'll take a bit longer to get back to you we have a 'power supply' problem so it could be even Tuesday before we are back 'on-line'.
LT

Hi Anthony,

I’ve been offline longer than I wished as we had a problem with the brushes in our generator and had to conserve power in our battery banks as it could have taken quite some time to repair and the solar panels don't put in much when it's cloudy. As with all emergencies, this one occurred on Friday which added an extra dimension to getting anything done re spare parts etc. Fortunately GT is a competent bush electrician/mechanic/tractor repairman/everything and we have good electrician friends in the community who tried to get the necessary bushes on Sat. No luck. But between them they were able to rig up a running repair so here I am tapping away.
We’ve lived with an alternate power system for over 22 years now even though we only live about 55k's from Melbourne but we set the farm up as an organic and alternate living model.

1st..
I wouldn’t wait a minute longer to apply your skills. As the whole online advertising industry is the fastest growing segment of the advertising marketplace, I think it’s a great way to reach the younger generation who are so IT savvy. The advantage to starting here is that you have the skills and we could get immediate exposure.

2nd..
I agree that we need to construct a more realistic idea about the aftermath of military service. Let‘s brainstorm this idea and develop a publicity audit which will show us what we want to say; how we want to say it and who we want to bring the story to. I have always thought that the women’s magazines like Women’s Weekly would be a good one to approach, as well as the Sat papers. Human interest kind of stories which would also be appropriate for current affairs programs too. One shouldn’t forget radio especially Community radio. Do you have any good media performers?

3rd..
What I was talking about here is that partner/carers are often not consulted about the way their veterans are treated, e.g., the DVA gives them no official status beyond that of a dependent, the vet often cuts them out of the therapy loop so a valuable perspective on his effect on the family unit does not get examined and the veteran’s health industry focuses on the vet. I have been part of GT’s therapy right from the start and his psych has provided us with a blueprint for managing the PTSD that affects both of us. He rarely sees partners with their vets. What a wasted opportunity for the therapist and the relationship. In my teaching days the counseling of kids was usually done within the context of the family. This did not mean that the kid did not get individual time but recognition of the fact that if changes had to be made they had a better chance of being effective if the “unit” understood them and were committed to them. I see the same need in the PTSD “unit”. So, if the spouse/ carers/ partner were recognized as an essential element in treatment I think outcomes could be improved all round.
Does that make sense?

4th..
This is “Big Picture “stuff and the internet is a great way of getting debate going on the subject. Have you ever considered getting a blog going? This is a great way to give the small people a VOICE without vested interest the editorial power they exercise on our media.

5th..
I’ve discussed the timing of an outreach program and have wondered if maybe there is a need to catch the potentially damaged vet before they leave the military. While they are obviously not yet coming to grips with the cause of their problem as yet, at least they could be made aware of the existence of all avenues of support available. At least make their families aware of this.

6th..
I say an unqualified YES to all points of Year One. What can I do to help?

My comment on Year Two through to Five is that you could consider building a big enough profile as a provider of welfare support to younger veterans through the PTSD National Network that the group can get included on consultative forums where their representation ensures that the issues they feel are important and that have been overlooked have a chance to be translated into policy. It took the PVA at least 3 years of solid work to get this recognition. They now sit on both State and Federal consultative forums and have earned respect from a number of politicians.

What you hope to build seems much more wide reaching than just support services for vets and their partners.

It’s interesting that your plan to start with small incorporated groups around the country is exactly how the NSW girls started in 1999 after they organized a conference at Myall Lakes, NSW. They expanded from their State by State.

Cheers LT