Iraq Veteran Says Vietnam Veterans Support Saved His LIfe

PTSD campaigner Aaron Gray contemplated suicide many times 
Sydney Morning Herald
David Ellery Reporter for The Canberra Times
June 7, 2015

The support of the Vietnam veterans from my local RSL sub-branch (at Woonoona-Bulli in Wollongong) saved my life.

Veteran: Aaron Gray rode shotgun on top of an ASLAV in Iraq.

Aaron Gray, the founder and director of the Australian Veterans' Suicide Register, has first hand knowledge of the dark thoughts that plague many Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers.

Aaron Gray, founder and director of the Australian Veterans' Suicide Register

A veteran of the war in Iraq who rode shotgun on top of an ASLAV with the triggers to a 25 millimetre chain gun and a 7.62mm machine gun at his fingertips, he still carries the scars from one unsuccessful suicide attempt.

"The support of the Vietnam veterans from my local RSL sub-branch [at Woonoona-Bulli in Wollongong] saved my life," he said.

The Nowra resident can't handle large crowds and enclosed spaces such as shopping malls.

"When I began developing symptoms [of PTSD] I decided to leave the army of my own accord," he said. "I didn't want the stigma of a medical discharge; I was told you are treated like a leper [while the medical discharge comes through].

"It took me five years to obtain a TPI pension and that was with the assistance of an advocate."
read more here

The Silent War

When War Comes Home
By Scott Hannaford
IT WAS around midnight when Nicholas Hodge stepped into the middle of the road, lay down on the white line and placed his identity card on his chest. A passing taxi driver was the first to spot him and pulled over. The driver picked up the card on Hodge's chest, reached for his phone and began dialling.

Soon, a police patrol arrived and two officers made their way towards to the large, powerfully built figure lying face-up on the bitumen. One of the officers recognised Hodge: a factor, he says now, that – combined with the way ACT Policing handled him that night – probably saved his life. Under the gaze of nearby diners in the trendy Canberra restaurant district of Kingston, Hodge begins to sob. "I was hoping a car would run me over," he explains. "I just started bawling my eyes out, saying, 'I need help, I need help'."

'Alarming' rise in suicide deaths by former military personnel