Young dad ‘never recovered’ from nine-month tour of Afghanistan

Brock Hewitt was just 22 when he was medically discharged after a tour of Afghanistan. His parents say he never recovered from his period of service and if more help had been available he might still be alive.

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Another grieving family has joined the call for a royal commission into the treatment of veterans, with the parents saying they’ve been left “heartbroken” after their son’s death earlier this year.

Jan and Rick Hewitt’s son Brock toured Afghanistan for nine months, serving with a cavalry squadron, but was medically discharged in 2012 at the age of 22.

His parents say he never recovered from his period of service and if more help had been available he might still be alive.

Afghan veteran Brock Hewitt went missing and was found dead three weeks later.

“They get months of training to build them up to be the men the ADF want them to be, but when they come back to civilisation they just let them go,” Mrs Hewitt said.

“Our Brock went to Afghanistan but our Brock didn’t come back and he struggled big time.

“He was a totally different person.”

His family never found out whatever happened to Brock on his tour of Afghanistan, but it changed his life — and theirs — forever.

Following his discharge, the young soldier went to live in Townsville with his then girlfriend. He desperately tried to see a psychologist before making a frantic call to his mum in Western Australia.

Brock and his mum Jan Hewitt. Picture: Supplied

“When he called up pleading for help I was so scared that I rang the psychologist begging them to take him in, but they said they were fully booked,” Mrs Hewitt said.

“I was far away from him and I couldn’t just put the phone down and get to him instantly.”

In 2013, Mr Hewitt moved back home to be with his family and was put on medication for his PTSD which, according to his mother, was handed out to him “like lollies”.

“For the next few years he was working fly-in, fly-out and eventually stopped getting help because he felt that they were no longer supporting him,” Mrs Hewitt said.

“Just before he took his life he wanted to see a psychologist but because he hadn’t seen one in a while he had to go through this whole process again.”

The 29-year-old young father, who had an 18-month-old son Byron, went missing on January 7, after his appointment.

His body was discovered three weeks later on Australia Day near a river.

Julie-Ann Finney, whose son David took his own life after the DVA ignored his pleas for help, said Brock’s story haunted her.

“I anguished so much when I heard they found him dead, not knowing that I was going to be the mother who receives the same knock one week later,” she said.

Six months later, the family have been left asking how many others will be left to suffer like their son.

Lifeline 13 11 14

Originally published as Young dad ‘never recovered’ from nine-month tour of Afghanistan