Army bullying claims: a woman’s torment

An Australian Army medic has detailed for the first time ­alleged bullying by colleagues that led to her attempting suicide.

Dani Martin details bullying allegations in a YouTube video.

A young Australian Army medic has detailed for the first time ­alleged bullying by colleagues and a “false” accusation of an affair with a doctor that she said led her to ­attempt suicide while serving in Afghanistan last year.

Dani Martin also claimed she was tormented during her recovery, leaving her suffering an extreme case of post-traumatic stress disorder and making it difficult for her to have personal contact.

The Australian Defence Force has previously declined to discuss the circumstances leading up to the incident while Ms Martin, a corporal, was serving on Operation Highroad in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on March 31 last year.

“I tried to end my life due to bullying and harassment. There, I said it, there should be no shame in it. The shame should be in the ­system that was in place around me that I felt I had no other way out of the situation I was in,’’ Ms Martin wrote in a Facebook post last week.

“It’s also a timely reminder to the Australian Army that they need to make changes, the systematic bastardisation and bullying that occurs on a daily basis that is considered normal.”

Ms Martin also posted a video to YouTube titled “I attempted suicide in Afghanistan — Aus­tralian medic” in which she sits in front of a camera and details the trauma she is still dealing with.

“Something needs to change, whether it’s in our Defence Force, the way they treat their soldiers from the bottom up, the way soldiers treat ... each other, the way sergeants treat their corporals and privates,” she said.

Last year, Queensland-born Martin had posted a suicide note on Facebook alleging she had been the victim of psychological warfare and extensive bullying before taking an overdose.

She was found by medical staff and evacuated to Germany where she was successfully treated and returned to Australia to undergo psychiatric treatment.

At the time, the ADF declined to confirm or deny Ms Martin had been subjected to bullying but said an investigation was under way.

Ms Martin opened her video by appealing to anybody having similar thoughts to seek help.

The seven-year veteran of the ADF, who had previously deployed to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, goes on to say she was the most junior female member of the health team in Afghanistan.

“Right from the beginning, I knew there were going to be problems,’’ she said.

“One particular person in the team and right off the bat there was bullying happening.”

Ms Martin said being the junior female seemed to be the reason she was picked on — starting with her identity card being ­stolen. I don’t want to say it was a male-female thing but unfortunately it was,’’ she said.

“My ID was stolen from me and then when I received it back, I was given these humiliating punishments.”

Ms Martin said she and others tried to rectify the situation by reporting it to headquarters and to the equity and diversity section.

She also said general bullying was going on, with a sergeant stealing live ammunition from soldiers during training.

“Rounds were being taken out of the boys’ magazines whilst we were doing our weapons training … yeah, rounds have been stolen in a war zone,’’ she said.

Ms Martin said things escalated to the point where she was falsely “accused of having an inappropriate relationship with her best friend on the deployment — one of the doctors.

“It was basically that I was ­accused of sleeping with him and that was my breaking point.”

This occurred, she said, while she was in a high-stress environment having to treat casualties, including one instance where she had accidentally put her hand into a patient’s brain cavity.

“I was pretty messed up that we had deceased casualties and I was so reliant on friendships because your mates get you through deployment. They support you. They’re integral to your mental health but instead of being able to have that friendship, it was seen as something else, made into something else by my hierarchy because they wanted to punish me.”

Ms Martin said she was brought in for a talk where she was directly accused of an in­appropriate relationship.

“That was the breaking point for me,’’ she said.

“After that, I could see no option other than ending my life.

“Now, of course, I see so many other options.’’

Ms Martin said the accusation was false and had been made by her chain of command.

Following her suicide attempt, she said her resuscitation was like “an act of violence” that left her with such severe PTSD she cannot bear to be touched.

She alleged medical staff used the threat of a urinary catheter to try to force her to tell them what she had taken.

She likened the experience to being raped.

Ms Martin yesterday declined to comment to The Australian on the grounds she was still a serving soldier and prohibited from talking to media.

The Australian consulted her before publishing her identity.

Defence was contacted for comment yesterday but had not responded by deadline.

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