At least 45 Australian soldiers who attended the “Prisoners of War” training to deal with potentially being captured and tortured, took their own lives afterward, an inquiry was told on Wednesday.
Colonel Simon Dowse from the Defence School of Intelligence told the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide that the force’s conduct after capture (CAC) courses were designed to help members cope if taken hostage, according to the Australian Associated Press.
The course is mandated before international deployment.
During the third day of the public hearing in Wagga Wagga city, Mr Dowse said that to his knowledge no Australian Defence Forces (ADF) members had been captured.
The royal commission is holding hearings into the treatment of defence force personnel and their dealings with agencies in charge of providing support.
The ADF’s alleged handling of the controversial training course, known as CAC level C, prompted one traumatised ex-soldier to complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission and prepare a federal court case challenging its legality.
The force is reportedly yet to investigate if the training was a trigger for the deaths of the soldiers in the past two decades as there has never been a study to establish the correlation between exposure to CAC and the higher risk of troops dying by suicide.
The inquiry was told that participants of the course had to sign consent forms that warned they would be subjected to a “close simulation” of the nature of the treatment they might expect to receive “as a prisoner of war”.
The “authorised stressors” included that “it may be required I remove my clothing”, the news agency reported.
When pressed by Peter Singleton, the counsel assisting the commission, about other “potentially more severe or more distressing aspects” that were part of the training, Mr Dowse said he was constrained from answering questions that would give the Pacific nation's adversaries “an advantage”.
“Do trainees ever start talking in an incoherent manner, suggestive of stress, or at all?” Mr Singleton said.
“Trainees can and have talked to themselves,” the colonel replied. “It’s not common. Often it’s found to be people singing, although it’s not songs as we know it.”
He added: “It is… part of their coping mechanism, trying to think of every song they ever heard from year four and sing it, just to help deal with the environment they find themselves in.
“That’s in line with what we suggest by way of coping strategies.”
The counsel questioned: “Given the very serious nature of people dying by suicide, does it not occur to you or your colleagues or the ADF as an institution that that’s a sufficiently high number to warrant an inquiry… into whether or not CAC training creates risk factors for suicide.”
Mr Dowse responded by saying: “For me, the numbers start at one, when it comes to being tragic, they really do.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
