Source: Radio New Zealand
Former defence minister Ron Mark. RNZ / Dom Thomas
A former defence minister says the story of a young soldier with PTSD who was failed by the Defence Force is a textbook example of its mismanagement.
This come after former soldier Jack Wesley who attacked a taxi driver in a drunken rage said the NZ Defence Force (NZDF) failed to get him desperately needed help after a traumatic stint training Ukrainian civilians for war.
Wesley said he was a ticking time bomb when he got back from Operation Tieke in the UK, drinking heavily and haunted by the deaths in Ukraine of people he helped prepare for the front line.
Former soldier Jack Wesley. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Following his six-month deployment in 2023, he was diagnosed with PTSD.
Former defence minister Ron Mark told Morning Report he had seen this situation play out before, as a soldier and as minister.
“Sadness and disappointment to be honest,” Mark said.
“I’ve had concerns about, the way in which the military has treated their people who are suffering from mental health issues, in particular, PTSD for quite some time, both when I was in the opposition and when I was in government as a minister.
“It just saddens me that we still seem to be repeating the same mistakes.”
Mark said he was disappointed the culture around mental health had not improved.
“When I sat there as a minister talking to people, I get told, ‘Oh, we give them this book and they can go online and do modules’. I’ve got to say, as a former soldier myself, and as a former private in the army, and later an officer, and then as a person who’s tried to get the military involved … when I to try to get them to talk to Dion Jensen, who wrote an incredible book about PTSD, the positive story, and his way of dealing with it, the disinterest was palpable.”
It’s long accepted the military had a particular culture of harden up, toughen up, get through it, he said.
“People who were suffering from issues and PTSD, would be very reluctant, particularly junior ranks… to go and talk to anyone senior, for fear that would be detrimental to their career, it would hurt their reputation that they would seem to be weak.
“Very often, we always saw that their problems would manifest themselves through changes in behaviour, drinking, getting into trouble and problems at home, marriage break-ups and deterioration, and finally, generally, the person was exited from the service.”
He said that was exactly what happened in Wesley’s case.
“I bet it’s because no one has been observing, taking note or taking action.
“It does raise the questions that, what are you doing pre deployment to prepare people? What are you doing post deployment when they return home, to interview them and ascertain whether or not people have problems.”
Defence has failed to respond to questions about the timeline or delay in getting Jack Wesley care – something Mark said he finds deeply concerning.
A veterans’ charity said there was growing concern about the lack of mental health and transitional support within the Defence Force.
No Duff Charitable Trust’s Aaron Wood said Wesley’s case was “unfortunately a rinse, soak, repeat situation”.
There were too many soldiers being discharged from the NZDF without the support and help it itself indicates they require, he said.
In Wesley’s case, Wood said the NZDF’s representative told the judge in court that his sentence of home detention for his crimes would not affect his employment and that they would work around it.
Two months later, the NZDF held a retention hearing and terminated him, Wood said.
“His brigade commander specifically noted he needed, and I quote ‘appropriate support as he exits the service’ and he got nothing. Not transition plan, no handover to civilian services, no safety net. They cut him loose at his most vulnerable, right when continuity of care was critical.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
