"They've got to concentrate on the well being of the digger when he comes home. Straight away. They can't leave it go. No."
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This is the message of Vietnam veteran Paul Naylor in the lead up to Anzac day.
It comes as the Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide is set to release it's findings later this year.
Paul is a busy man. He is president of the Narooma Return Services League (RSL) and president of the Monaro and Far South Coast District Council of the RSL. He is a husband, father and grandfather.
Yet, he has been generous with time; warm and open with his thoughts and recollections.
Born "in a little coalfields place called Kurri Kurri" in 1946, Paul said his family lived in the fire station where his grandfather was the "boss", before moving to Hamilton, a suburb of Newcastle. Here he said he did all the things you do as a lad - school, footy, cadets.
"Cadets were a big thing - I was at an all-male school and everybody joined the school cadets, and I had an older brother that went in before me and, I suppose you know, it looked alright, so I just followed him along.
"And in actual fact he joined the army before I did and I joined after him - the same thing, just followed him," he observes.
Paul, then 21, had married Margaret and the couple were expecting their first child. Paul needed a steady gig.
His brother joined the engineers and did an apprenticeship, while Paul joined the armoured corps. The war in Vietnam was already underway.
12 months after joining Paul found himself serving in a war that would see Australia's involvement span 10 years.
"Infantry battalions went on a rotation through there every 12 months, same with the engineers," he said.
"We didn't do that - we were only a small unit... we'd probably send five or six over at a time just to replace those that were ready to come home."
Paul was stationed out of Nui Dat with the Australian task force. However, his unit worked all over the province moving troops, covering engineers and working with the infantry ambushing. The small team was sent wherever they were required.
On a clearing patrol one night, Paul, an engineer and a driver, came off a mound in their troop carrier. They landed directly on a land mine that had been swept to the side of the road.
Paul doesn't elaborate on what happened next, other than he was wounded and it was his only tour after 12 months in Vietnam. The physical scars aren't apparent, but the conversation finds its way to the other scars veterans suffer.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is something Paul has first hand experience with. On his return from Vietnam he recalled the lack of debrief or counselling.
"You find it very, very hard to settle down. You come home and you're given no debriefing... they give you two weeks leave and they tell you 'this is where your new posting is, see ya later' and you're back to work," he recalls.
Eventually he was admitted to Ward 17, the mental ward of the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
He is scathing of his time here, feeling there was a wide chasm between the 'academics' and the veterans in their care. Paul recalls that it was his fellow veterans on the ward that did the most good for him.
"We [soldiers] wouldn't talk to them. We'd talk to one another. We used to sit up to three or four o'clock in the morning and talk to one another," Paul said.
On the ongoing and prevalent issue of mental health outcomes and veteran suicide, Paul is concerned.
"It's a worry - I haven't seen Nick Kaldas' report from the royal commission, but it will be very thorough given his background.
"I think they've really got to concentrate on the mental health and the mental well being of the service personnel that go away. Not only the service personnel but their families also," he said.
The Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide has been ongoing since 2021.
In his closing address to the final public hearing, Commissioner Nick Kaldas APM acknowledged the "unique sacrifice" of our servicemen and women.
He stated the issue was "extremely complex and multi-faceted" and listed some of the contributing factors.
Such as the challenge of assimilating into civilian society - whether that be finding employment or meaningful connections, as well as physical and mental impacts suffered whilst serving.
Commissioner Kaldas also highlighted systemic failures in the Department of Veterans' Affairs and culture issues within Defence.
Even now the stigma of being seen as "weak", was found to be a barrier to current and former service personnel seeking help.
In his day, Paul says, mental illness was a "yellow dog - you didn't let it out anywhere" - the stigma was strong and there was no admitting to it.
"The Australian male - bronzed Anzac, 10 foot tall and nothing's gonna hurt you," he said of the masculine ideal.
Paul stresses the importance of honouring the Anzac tradition, while at the same time allowing for an open dialogue around veteran mental health and suicide.
"One's too many for suicide. It shouldn't be happening - we should be looking after our diggers," he concludes.
For service personnel, veterans and their families seeking immediate help, please see a list of crisis support services here.
