Hubs for our Heroes: Mark Preston, a father and Afghanistan veteran joins campaign for Mackay RSL club
Hub for our Heroes: A Mackay father and veteran who served in Afghanistan and East Timor has joined the ranks fighting for an RSL club to be built in the city
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A Mackay father and veteran who served in Afghanistan and East Timor has joined the ranks calling for an RSL club to be built in the city.
It is part of the Daily Mercury’s Hub for our Heroes campaign which also shines a light on plans to develop a first responders and veterans support hub at Kinchant Dam.
Haynes Mechanical leading hand Mark Preston said the social club would be a home for former and current Australian Defence Force personnel who shared a camaraderie like no other.
Mr Preston completed three tours in Afghanistan including time at the Kandahar base where he maintained chinook helicopters amid evening rocket attacks.
But it was an incident outside the base that he said still haunted him to this day.
On May 30, 2011, Australian soldier Lieutenant Marcus Sean Case was killed when he was thrown from an Australian CH-47D chinook.
“We had a close relationship between the aircrew and the maintenance crew,” Mr Preston said.
“That (day) affected me and I know it affected some of the other boys as well.”
He now experienced mood swings and anxiousness in large crowds but could not explain why, and nor did he need to in the company of veterans.
“You can’t compare Vietnam to the Middle East to East Timor or any other conflict … each has its own experiences,” Mr Preston said.
RSL Queensland state president Tony Ferris said the community’s need for the organisation’s support was “far greater and more complex than ever before”.
“Veterans of today come from a professional Defence Force, and many are without the experience of the civilian world they transition into after Defence,” Mr Ferris said.
“Being able to support today’s veterans starts with recognising that their needs are different. Then we need to identify what those needs are and how we can meet them.”
More Hub for our Heroes stories:
Mackay GP, veteran throws support behind Kinchant Dam centre
The tragic cost of serving in the Australian Defence Force
PTSD: ‘If we get them in early, they’ll be all right’
Mackay backs plans for revived RSL club in town
Daily Mercury launches Hub for our Heroes campaign
Hub for our heroes: Plans to find veterans a home in Mackay
Why Mackay should be home to a revolutionary wellness hub
‘We didn’t even have PTSD. We used to call it being bomb-happy’
Mr Preston said Mackay’s Vietnam veterans had taken him on as one of their own and allowed him to open up about his experiences.
“I guess the biggest thing is everyone’s been in uniform,” he said.
“They all know similar sorts of things that you’ve been through.
“You don’t get that sort of camaraderie anywhere else.”
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