‘Just a number’: Digger felt abandoned when he was most in need

An inquiry has heard how discharged veterans have been left abandoned by the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Lance Corporal Ryan Goodwin during his tour of Afghanistan serving with the Australian Army.

Ryan Goodwin was a shadow of his former self when he returned home after fighting for his country in Afghanistan in 2011.

An outgoing, ambitious and academic man, Goodwin found his calling when he joined the army in 2007 after growing up wearing military ­fatigues, watching war documentaries and consuming books about the army.

The South Australian served for four years, including a tour of Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, but was barely recognisable to his family when he was discharged. He suffered a seven-year battle with mental and physical health and eventually died by suicide in December 2019.

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on Monday was told how Goodwin was abandoned by the organisation that recruited him, receiving no proactive support from the ­Department of Veterans Affairs.

The inquiry, which began its second week of hearings in Brisbane, was told the former soldier was given no material support to help him process the traumatic events he had witnessed.

Goodwin’s father Phillip ­described two events before he was posted overseas that left him scarred. These included being a first responder to an incident where two civilians were incinerated in a fuel tanker fire near Rockhampton, and the death of a friend and comrade in a motor­cycle accident at the Enoggera Barracks.

Phillip Goodwin told the hearing his son began to withdraw from his friends and family, stopped exercising and eating properly, and suffered uncontrollable fits of rage which were ­“totally out of character”.

“I realise that individuals need to take some responsibility for their own welfare,” Mr Goodwin said. “(But) if Ryan was a fit enough man and a strong enough man to send off to act of service … I think we as a nation did have a debt to keep Ryan safe in his own country.”

Mr Goodwin said his son later found the Department of Veterans Affairs “very adversarial” and became increasingly frustrated.

“I don’t feel as though he was fully supported by the Department of Veteran Affairs,” he said. “He was just a number there, another statistic, another caseload.

“He just gave up hope all ­together … hope was taken from him. That was probably the biggest tragedy, when he lost hope, that he probably didn’t see a way forward.”

After years of anguish, the former soldier turned to illicit substances to numb the pain, which caused conflict within his family.

The only support outside that of his family was occasional contact with the RSL.

In October 2018, Goodwin submitted a claim of liability to the Department of Veterans Affairs in a bid to seek psychological help for post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is understood he was placed on a waiting list, but died just over a year later, aged 39.

Mr Goodwin said the family ­received a letter 18 months later from the Department of Veteran Affairs acknowledging his PTSD.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call Lifeline (13 11 14) or the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467), or see a doctor.