Australia is leading the way in looking after its Defence Force

After reading 6000 Veterans Commit Suicide Last Year thread it baffled me as to how in this day and age this could possibly happen, especially in a country full of young strong minded people, a country that relies on its defence force and its people.

I have never taken my country Australia for granted and I have I have always known it is the lucky country and it certainly is.

We not only look after our own but we stretch out our hand to those who need it, and we do it with love for all humankind.

We look after our mates and we have a lot of mates, they live in many different countries and live many different lifestyles, and this shows highly within our defence force.

Australian Defence Force engineers and craftsmen and women are proud to be put to work in helping others.

Australian diggers will battle through blood and mud to protect those who are defenceless.

They purify drinking water they build houses and build play structures, supply bedding, The Australian Defence Force travel and tread great distances far and wide giving out provisions, they love all of the children, teaching them skills and preparing them to take care of their own communities and country’s for the future.

Australia knows how precious its Defence Force members and their families are , the wives the husbands, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. It is those people that help hold the nation together, and we applaud them by taking care of them.
I’m not saying we don’t have problems, and I’m not saying we have no suicides. But I do know we have people working long and hard in trying to help in these matters and who care about what is happening within the ADF Australian Defence Force.

The Army, The Navy , The Air Force combined make The Australian Defence Force, I feel the best in the world in taking care of its members.

Legacy : Legacy is dedicated to caring for the families of deceased veterans.

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Defence housing Australia : Defence Housing Australia (DHA) was established in 1988 to provide housing for members of the Australian Defence Force and their families.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1bb76bf9fcd3.jpg[/atsimg]Last week local member for Corangamite, Mr Darren Cheeseman MP, officially opened eight Defence houses in Point Lonsdale.

Defence Families Australia : Defence Families of Australia (DFA) is a group formed to represent the views of Defence families. Its aim is to improve the quality of life for Defence families by providing a recognised forum for their views and by reporting, making recommendations and influencing policy that directly affects families. ADF families can contact DFA to represent them regarding an individual situation or to advocate an issue concerning many families.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4921930a0de7.jpg[/atsimg]Chief of Air Force, AVM Mark Binskin addresses DFA in February 2010

Defence family matters : defence family matters (dfm) is tri-annual (sent around April, August, and December) news magazine sent to all permanent ADF personnel or those on Continuous Fulltime Service who have one or more dependants. It is also sent to Defence personnel, or their families, who have taken up the offer of a free subscription. In all, including personnel based overseas, and some reservists, dfm goes to around 30,000 homes and another 5,000 issues go to establishments and bases

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Defence Special Needs Support group : Helping Defence Family’s with special needs.
In late 1993 a small group of families, each caring for someone with special needs came together to form the Defence Special Needs Support Group. During 1994, this small group spread its wings across Australia and now some15 years later continues to provide support, information and assistance to Defence Families with Special Needs

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ADF Family Health : and Defence Health: The ADF Family Health Trial is one way the Government is supporting Defence families as they support our Defence men and women

SWAP: The Defence Service Workforce Access Program for Partners (SWAPP SELECT) provides services and initiatives to assist partners of ADF members in Australia to become job ready and access the workforce in their new posting localities.
In other words they help spouses find a job

REDLO : Regional Education Liaison Officers are professionally trained teachers who understand both the different State and Territory education systems and the Defence lifestyle. They can advise Defence families and children on education issues, particularly related to relocating. REDLOs can assist with changing schools between the various State and Territory primary, secondary and tertiary education systems. they provide the key link for families to access the type of support that meets the needs of their particular child. REDLOs are also linked to schools and education systems, working to raise the issues that affect Defence families and ensure that equity of educational opportunity is available to all mobile Defence children

Emergency Support for Family’s Scheme : The Emergency Support for Families Scheme (ESFS) has been developed to provide short term assistance to an ADF member’s dependants in an emergency situation where the member is absent from the dependants location for Service reasons
The scheme is designed to provide confidence to the serving member and their dependants that if an emergency occurs in the member’s absence, their dependants will be supported appropriately

Department of Veterans Affairs : Our mission is to support those who serve or have served in defence of our nation and commemorate their service

Originally posted by Whateva69
6000 Veterans Commit Suicide Last Year[/url] thread it baffled me as to how in this day and age this could possibly happen,

I suppose if the Australian government were illegally invading third world nations for no sound reasons, committing blatant war crimes, and openly torturing people, our military would become pretty depressed too.

But Australians are very different people.
Our military are professionals very proud of the excellent job they do.
Morale and morality go together.

I think our strong heritage and respect for our ANZAC's goes a long way towards this, And also the addition of rememberance day.

I just cant understand why in other countries, that veterans have hard times surviving. It completely baffles me

[edit on 12/5/2010 by OzWeatherman]

Swan did mention some funding for defence force personnel in the budget yesterday didn't he? ...

Why are we in Afghanistan and Iraq? When you can't find a suitable answer to this question your opinion and attitude towards the armed forces may change.

Originally posted by Silver Shadow

Originally posted by Whateva69
6000 Veterans Commit Suicide Last Year[/url] thread it baffled me as to how in this day and age this could possibly happen,

I suppose if the Australian government were illegally invading third world nations for no sound reasons, committing blatant war crimes, and openly torturing people, our military would become pretty depressed too.

But Australians are very different people.

Australian troops HAVE illegally invaded other countries and are currently illegally occupying these countries.

How do you know what the soldiers do in Afghanistan and Iraq? No army is a 'good' army. I do agree that from what we know, the Australian army is not like certain factions of the U.S. army (Guantanamo, etc.), but anything can be made to look 'good' when you compare them to these monstrous acts.

reply to post by serbsta


Australian Defence Force members are working throughout world.

I am not a military Strategist and I do not organise military campaigns, but what I do know is that when the ADF members are away from home working, they work knowing there family’s are fine back home, and that makes their work easier.
And when and if they do discharge from the service they will be looked after.

Originally posted by serbsta
Why are we in Afghanistan and Iraq? When you can't find a suitable answer to this question your opinion and attitude towards the armed forces may change.

We are in Afghanistan because we are a member of the United Nations.
When the combined UN membership vote to do something, every member nation takes part.

We are in East Timor for exactly the same reason. It is a United Nations effort, and we are doing our share in Timor.

We are in Iraq for two reasons. Firstly to distribute humanitarian aid, and help rebuild what the US military destroy, and secondly provide security to out Australian embassy in the Green Zone. We are not at war with anyone in Iraq, and have not been since 2003 when Desert Storm ended.

Why should that change my attitude?
Australia has done, and is doing the right thing, and we can all be very proud.

We are no longer allies of America, and have not participated in any American war since Vietnam. That was the very last time. Our hands are clean.

All the wars and peace keeping operations that Australians have been involved in (since Vietnam) have been multinational United Nations operations.

So basically we are a UN member nation, but have nothing at all to do with America or any of the wars America starts.
A very important difference.

reply to post by Whateva69


Fair enough. We are lucky in this country and I suppose that will allow the troops to have a more stable and comforting mentality. Like Oz said, it's the ANZAC heritage that fosters this firm belief in the importance of protecting those who have served.

But I do not advocate or defend war, and there is never a 'good' soldier.

Originally posted by serbsta

How do you know what the soldiers do in Afghanistan and Iraq?

My Husband is in the ADF. ive helped him pack his trunk a few times. i have an idea.

Question is. How do you know what the soldiers do in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Originally posted by serbsta

Australian troops HAVE illegally invaded other countries and are currently illegally occupying these countries.

Care to name these countries ?

We have military combat troops in three places right now.

Iraq, East Timor, and Afghanistan.

In Iraq, we are guests of the Iraqi government, and you should understand that we are not occupying Iraq, and we are not carrying out combat missions there. Zero combat, zero combat casualties in seven years we have been there. That is because nobody is firing upon us in Iraq. We are there as friends of the Iraqi people and Government.

In East Timor and Afghanistan, we are there as part of a UN multinational Force, properly constituted under international law.

So where are we illegally invading, please tell me.

reply to post by Silver Shadow


Australia is part of the U.S. led coalition (or MNF-Iraq) forces which are currently operating in Iraq. I'm sorry, but Australian troops are serving American interests in Iraq and to state that we are not at war with Iraq is an absolute joke. Reverse the situation upon yourself and see how you would examine someone else occupying your nation.

United Nations? That body was only ever setup to serve U.S./Allied interests, to state that Australia is helping the UN and not helping the U.S. does not make any sense. There is a reason why the U.S. has such a powerful veto in the UN and why it has used it 13 times since its installation.

Let's not kid ourselves, its clear who's serving who.

Oh Please this thread is not about what ADF members are doing in their work.
It’s about How they are treated better than any other Defence Force around the world

Originally posted by serbsta
reply to post by Silver Shadow

 

Australia is part of the U.S. led coalition

There is no such thing as the US led coalition.
That exists only in the minds of some Americans.

Some stupid Americans still believe that Desert Storm was when the US booted Saddam out of Kuwait.
But actually it was forty nine other nations there, besides the US.

Even more stupidly some Americans still talk about "the coalition of the willing" fighting insurgents in Iraq. When America is the only nation there fighting the ordinary Iraqi people.

So go ahead and believe what you want, but the truth is, ALL the western nations in Afghanistan are UN member nations, and that is the reason they are all there.

Originally posted by Whateva69
Oh Please this thread is not about what ADF members are doing in their work.
It’s about How they are treated better than any other Defence Force around the world

It has everything to do with what the ADF have done, and are doing.

They are treated well because they are loved and respected.
And they are not suiciding, because they are proud, happy, and have a clear conscience in what they do.

reply to post by Silver Shadow


I fully agree, i stand corrected.
I just didnt want my first thread to turn into a hate thread

Your saying that your military answers to the UN, then that's saying your military answers to the president of america, obama, because he is also the president of the UN its illegal but he is, look it up.

I don’t think our Military answers to the UN at all, if they ask for assistance and we can offer it and if we think it’s wise to do so, then we will. Yes we are a part of the Un along with allot of other countries.

And even though I personally think they are corrupt, the Australian Defence Force personal do a bloody good job in helping out allot of overseas, towns and villages in the meantime.

List of United Nations member states

The military of each nation is responsible ONLY to the government of that nation and nobody else.

Now the UN is a sort of voluntary club of nations. They discuss matters and vote on what should be done if an international crisis arises. If a vote is passed to carry out some sort of military intervention, every nation contributes as best it can to a combined effort.

But nobody is forcing anyone. If Afghanistan becomes unpopular enough, as is happening, the UN may well decide to pull out. And that too will be put to a vote.

The American President is just one world leader with one vote. The president of Spain has just as much voting power as Obama has in the UN.

George Bush wanted the UN to invade Iraq a second time, and the other UN members just laughed at him. They all knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that Bush was just a complete fool.

Bush also wanted to attack Iran, the UN said no to that too, and still says no.

If Obama wants to attack Iran, he will have to do it all by by himself.
America now has zero allies, since Britain pulled completely out of Iraq.

Saying Obama is leading some massive multinational coalition of military forces is just hilarious. The reality is the exact opposite.

But if the UN ever decides that Iran is a serious threat to world peace, then all fifty nations will act together to do something pretty decisive about it. That does not look as though it is ever likely ever to happen.

It is highly amusing that Americans always assume that the US President has absolute power over every other nation on Earth.

reply to post by Silver Shadow


did you actualy look it up though? you might stop laughing, obama is the first president of america to ALSO be the president of the UN, maybe the other nations wouldnt follow him if he lead them to another war like you say, but this case is different as america isnt JUST a member nation of the UN but it now also presides as its president, like i said look it up before you laugh.

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MEAO (Middle East Area of Operations) Health Study


The MEAO (Middle East Area of Operations) Health Study is an important research initiative being conducted for Defence by centre for Military and Veterans Health.

This study is part of a comprehensive large-scale program aimed at assessing the impact of deployed to the MEAO on the physical and mental health of ADF personnel.

The centre for military and Veterans health (CMVH) is a collaborative research centre of the Universities of Queensland and Adelaide and Charles Darwin University.