‘Mentally unstable’ Aussie soldiers sent onto shooting ranges

Medically unfit soldiers claim senior officers are ordering troops onto shooting ranges, armed with live weapons — essentially overriding medical certificates.

Mentally unstable soldiers claim they are being forced onto shooting ranges with live weapons, despite having been deemed medically unfit.

The explosive claims that senior officers are ordering troops to sign waivers that effectively override their medical certificates comes from soldiers across the country.

Senator Jacqui Lambie has been contacted by dozens of soldiers reporting senior staff and has demanded answers from the Australian Defence Force.

Advocates for soldiers say those who refuse to sign the waivers are threatened with charges for disobeying orders.

The Defence document PM101 is the Army’s equivalent of a civilian WorkCover certificate which relies on evidence given by mental health specialists.

The troops who have been deemed unfit to carry weapons, with blank or live ammunition, are among those being sent out on live fire exercises, the advocates claim.

Mentally unstable soldiers claim they are being forced onto shooting ranges.

In a document obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, one troop whose condition is listed as J52 category — which means a psychologist has recommended immediate discharge from the Defence Force — was forced to sign a waiver overriding the psychologist’s advice and allowing him back into the field.

“He was forced to sign the waiver in time for a readiness exercise which involved live fire, blank rounds and mock enemies to refine and hone skills,” a soldier who refused to be named, said.

“This is because the unit did not have enough people actively fit and healthy to do it; so they just fudged everything to make it happen using broken Diggers.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie has been contacted by dozens of soldiers over the claims. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty

Mental health advocates Jesse Bird Welfare Centre, Wally’s ChinWag and the Pineapple Express have joined forces to expose the practice which they say the concerning trend highlights the toxic culture that is being felt nationwide and is leading to suicides.

“These soldiers with psychological issues are still forced to go through the whole thing, playing the role of the enemy, shooting blank rounds; it’s unsafe and it’s outrageous,” a spokesman said.

“These COs go from unit to unit with their promotions, passing toxic culture from one unit to another, so there’s no escaping it,” he said.

“There’s a high probability if they ask for a transfer they will come across these COs again somewhere else. There’s no avoidance; the only way out for a lot of these guys is suicide.”

Senator Lambie raised the allegations in the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee meeting in October this year but so far her questions on notice have not been answered.

“Is it appropriate that a commanding officer is asking his men to sign a waiver that, obviously, he has written, because it is signed by him, so he can get them out in the field or out on the range … and is that becoming common practice of other commanding officers in the military?” she asked.

Lawyer and former Army officer Glenn Kolomeitz. Picture: Four Corners

Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr said he needed to consult and would come back to her with an answer.

Lawyer and former Army officer Glenn Kolomeitz said: “These complaints are representative of a culture of abuse across the ADF”.

“Defence members have no trade union or industrial representation to protect them in circumstances such as this but, rather, must rely on leadership and administrative processes.

“The evident crisis of leadership in Defence and the prevalence of ‘weaponised’ administrative processes denies our service people any protection against such abuse.

“This lends further weight to the need for a Royal Commission into veteran suicide including a deep dive into the extent to which defence abuse is a contributory factor.”

Defence told the Saturday Telegraph the commanding officer of the battalion in question had not required any J52 member to sign a medical waiver to deploy to the field.

“There have been occasions where the commanding officer of the regiment had medically downgraded members sign an acknowledgment that they were attending an activity without a waiver and that they would be employed within their medical restrictions,” a spokesman said.

“This mechanism enabled members to contribute to unit activities, within their restrictions, as part of their rehabilitation.”