Major General (ret) John Cantwell discusses his battle with PTSD

Cantwell talks about his battle with PTSD

Updated Mon Sep 24, 2012

Exit Wounds
The former commander of Australian forces in Afghanistan, Major General (ret) John Cantwell discusses his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder and the prevalence of the disorder in the armed forces.

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By Melanie Sim (with Alex Sloan) Australian Forces Commander in Afghanistan in 2010, John Cantwell writes: "When I sent 10 [deceased] soldiers home from Afghanistan I failed that trust and it broke my heart."

Alex Sloan began her interview with General Cantwell by saying it is one of the finest and bravest books that she has read, and it is a book that has changed her life.

General Cantwell's "Exit Wounds, one man's war on terror" is an account of his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and then his very personal war with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Horror

General Cantwell says he saw many horrific things during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The killings were overwhelming horrible," he told Alex on 666 ABC Canberra Mornings. General Cantwell was in Iraq in 2006 and says his most "horrible memory from that time was confronting the scenes in a market place after a car bomb had gone off.

...Each Thursday, mothers and their kids would go to market places all over Baghdad and exchange their gas bottles. Regrettably just as I was down the road...a car bomb detonated in one of those market places and I will take to my grave the memories of that day."

Stress

Events like this started to affect him, but he says he made a great mistake with the way he initially dealt with them.

"The dumb mistake I made was burying the issue and denying it to myself and denying it to my friends and my family ... because I thought it was a sign of weakness that showed I was less of a solider than I thought I was,"

"It's not part of the job profile to have PTSD but in reality it is very much part of the job profile."

General Cantwell says mental illness isn't something to be ashamed of, and he says it is frustrating with the way that PTSD is treated.

"To have an emotional response is absolutely normal and human, otherwise you'd be some sort of psychopath, and it's important that people recognise these terrible memories."

And he says it's more important that after people recognise this, that then they do something about it.

Treatment

In the early days tried to access counselling but was told he was a big sook, so General Cantwell buried it away, yet it didn't go away.

Going to war

People have questioned why he wanted to be in the army, when the obvious destination was a war front.

He explains he was very determined to go to war.

"Teachers want to teach kids, and surgeons want to operate on people, and soldiers want to go and fight. The trouble is the big adventure sometimes isn't as much fun as you think."
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