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Why donate and support SMEAC?

SMEAC Inc. is a grass roots veteran charity started by veterans and run by veterans for veterans and veteran families.

SMEAC believes in a Hand Up Not a Handout.

SMEAC subscribes to veterans being Warriors Not Victims.

And believes that no veteran will be left behind.

SMEAC is dedicated to Veterans Helping Veterans

Real problems, real people and real solutions. SMEAC Veterans Helping Veterans

The stories below are real stories from real people who fronted up to SMEAC in desperation and in almost all cases at the end of their tether.
They are by no means the tip of the iceberg, not even close, and there are many more where they came from. Mental health wards, broken marriages, gaol, breakdowns, physical and sexual abuse, mental health problems and the list goes on.

SMEAC, when attacking the same hill the same way every time just doesn't cut it anymore.

Sometimes the problem needs revisiting. Generally, haphazardly throwing money at the problem won’t be the answer. Sometimes you just need to go back to basics, poke your head outside of the box or above the parapet and come up with a more practical solution.
SMEAC subscribe to the 3R’s. Reconnection, Retraining and Reintegration for a Purpose. Three very important words that have saved many lives.
Why donate to SMEAC? Because every round you entrust to us will go directly into the fight, and not one round will be wasted.

Soldier Bravo

The story of “Soldier Bravo”.

Not his real name.

Back story: “Soldier Bravo”

When “Soldier Bravo” walked into the SMEAC Hub, then in Bowen Hills, he walked in with the assistance of his care worker, his cane, and the wall.

He was missing a leg, his confidence, his purpose and his voice, when he spoke, he was essentially illegible.

“Soldier Bravo” was a mess…but he didn’t want to be, he wasn’t taking the easy way out, sitting at home doing the whole poor me thing. As it turned out “Soldier Bravo” was an inspiration. He wanted to volunteer with SMEAC, he wanted to come into the SMEAC Hub each Monday and Thursday, he wanted to be a part of SMEAC and a part of the SMEAC tribe.

The following Thursday “Soldier Bravo” turned up to one of our volunteers’ farewells, he was totally legible, walked to lunch without his assistant and his cane, he was cheery fun to be around and a completely different person.

The following Sunday around fifteen SMEAC members deployed to help another veteran in crisis, “Soldier Alpha”. Soldier Alphas’ story is just that but to suffice to say when “Soldier Alpha’s” life fell into disarray. “Soldier Bravo” turned up. No carer, no cane and absolutely no self-pity he was a completely different man. Hobbling around on his one leg handing out water and food, cutting up scrap with an angle grinder “Soldier Bravo had a purpose, “Soldier Bravo was on fire.

The following Tuesday out of the blue “Soldier B” received a confusing letter from DVA stating that his DVA payments would cease within six weeks. We were back to square one, he was incomprehensible, illegible on the phone, shaking, broken and to be honest right back to the beginning.

In an absolute panic and without the ability to think clearly “Soldier Bravo” rang DVA and was passed between three people for the obligatory run around with absolutely no answer. His advocate at the RSL was on leave not able to be reached and to be brutally honest, his words, he was literally right at the end of the rope.

I told “Soldier Bravo” to come SMEAC HQ and for him to bring his correspondence knowing that we had Rod and Sarah from Veteran Law Group over for a meeting.

We were back to the beginning every bit of ground we had gained was gone.

Rod Thompson, (From Veteran Legal Group), asked if “Soldier Bravo would mind if he made a call on his behalf and then made a call to the secretary of DVA and then basically told “Soldier Bravo” don’t worry mate we will look after it from here.

Soldier Bravos’” demeanour changed immediately. He was no longer fighting in his trench by himself, he had people in his corner, he was fighting with his mates, he had effective fire support, and he was Ok.

Update: “Soldier Bravo” now volunteers at SMEAC HQ three days a week, he has purpose, drive and is an amazing individual and a good mate. He has been helped massively by Dr Judith and our advocate Dennis and although not out of the woods has actively helped me with “Soldier Charlie” who was stuck in the RBH Mental Health Ward.

Not out of the water yet: A while later “Soldier B” and I were with Dennis working through his advocacy when he had a complete emotional breakdown, the like I have never seen before, complete with convulsion, distress, and maximum confusion.

To be honest it scared the hell out of me but luckily Dr Judith was in the room next door and knew exactly what was going on and exactly what needed to be done, which she did.

Epilogue. “Soldier B” had taken the first steps of his next journey, and we stomped alongside him doing our best to get him through. It’s been on occasions a rocky road with a few false crests, but SMEAC has been there to pick him up when he fell and to help share the weight and keep him company.

Selfishly I had plans for “Soldier Bravo” and he proved to be an effective weapon in the SMEAC arsenal.

The deal here is that we will carry you until you are well enough to carry the next veteran.

As in life there no seats on the SMEAC C130 for non-combatants. Whatever your skillset because SMEAC believe as does “Soldier B” that we are, Warriors Not Victims, that we believe in a Hand Up Not a Handout and that no Veteran shall be left behind.

ENDSTATE: SMEAC is a massive undertaking…no one is denying that, and it is being undertaken completely by volunteers. No one is being paid, there are no business class flights, expensive lunches or such we will leave that for others.

Like any taskforce we need other likeminded organisations and specialist individuals who really want to make a difference.

If you would like to help, go to smeac.org.au read what we are about spread the word, buy some merch, donate, volunteer or all four.

Really just try and be a part of the solution.

Cheers

Stomps

Acknowledgement / Legal disclaimer: The photo is from the work of Craig Rohse, (Minus the two dots above the O). Craig is a 3 RAR veteran and an extremely talented photographer. These legs belong to Mark Urquhart not “Soldier Bravo”.

Soldier Echo

The story of “Soldier Echo”

Not his real name.

“Soldier Echo” started his life as an infantryman and excelled in the trade but wanted more.

A few years at university and an in-service transfer saw “Soldier Echo” trying his hardest to convince the likes of me that the pen is, really, mightier than the sword. To be honest when staring down the barrel of a T72 Main Battle Tank I’d prefer a Javelin weapon system to a biro anytime. Maybe that’s just me.

A long story short “Soldier Echo” like many veterans was a proud soldier who found it near impossible to seek help and support. He found himself being ground down into the ground with virtually no ability to get back on his feet.

A broken marriage, massive mental health issues, no income offset by ballooning outgoings resulted in mounting pressure on all fronts. Like many who have gone before him all the above pushed “Soldier Echo” to the brink so much so that a mutual friend concerned about “Soldier Echos’” health and welfare reached out to SMEAC for help.

The man was a mess; however, he did mention towards the end of hour-long initial conversation that he was ‘actually’ grinning on the inside and that he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had felt that way.

We got “Soldier Echo” into the HQ, but he was late as he had to see two GPs on the way chasing up his diabetes medication only to be told that because his medication was sought by weight loss folk that there was none left in Queensland.

On arrival “Soldier Echo” apologised profusely explaining his predicament as he arrived at SMEACs’ Veteran Hub. I called out to Dr Judith across the room, asking if she could possibly fit “Soldier Echo” in to see her.

Fifteen minutes later and he appeared out of Dr Judith’s office and his medication was being expressed posted from Sydney.

Every battle and ultimately war is fought by multiple organisations bringing their firepower to bare on a common target and this one is no different. In this case “Soldier Echos’” financial situation was in dire straits brought on by a family breakdown, unforeseen circumstances and extreme health issues which placed an extraordinary amount of pressure on a person who was trying desperately to stay in the game.

We all bring a certain amount of expertise to the battlefield and when I needed assistance in this regard, I turned instinctively to ‘Aussie Veterans’ in particular Mick, Fiona and Dave who do more to help veterans than any other organisation that I know. Whether its advice or financial assistance these guys, (and girls) are my go-to favourite organisation hands down.

Did we win the war? Well, he is still alive.

ENDSTATE: “Soldier Echo” when back on his own two feet, and fully bombed up with full ammo, rations and water and because of his training, background and experience he is going to bring more firepower to the SMEAC battlefield than a regiment of 155mm howitzers.

These are real veterans not fancy photos filling my social media posts. We are running on the smell of an oily rag; we are building Camp SMEAC to help veterans like “Soldier Echo” so if you want to part of the solution please reach out and help any way you can.

Cheers

Stomps

Soldier Foxtrot

The story of “Soldier Foxtrot”

Not his real name.

SOLDIER FOXTROT’ IS NOT OK

At the time of writing this we were being told by those in the know, that, because of the Governments ongoing commitment to the veteran community that no veteran should be homeless.

A cursory look at the 21-22 DVA figures from the previous budget not only told us that no veteran should be homeless but if took out the middlemen, that the funding provided, ($302.8 million for DVA’s – Additional Resources), should not only sort out veteran homelessness but with this funding they should be all in penthouse suits and not in my spare bedroom as was the case for “Soldier Foxtrot”.

‘Soldier Foxtrot’ was blown up in Afghanistan sustaining a Traumatic Blast Injury, (TBI), amongst other things. He was covered in tattoos, to some he may have even looked a little scary, (But not to us). He had literally been thrown into the too hard basket by those charged to look after him because ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ didn’t fit into that neat little veteran box that other ESO’s want their veterans to fit in to. It could look bad if someone dies on their watch.

So, tip for young players, if you have a TBI caused by service in Afghanistan, ensure that you comb your hair, cover your tats and as it turned out keep your hotel room is neat and tidy.

You are not going to find “Soldier Foxtrot” sporting any glossy ESO Facebook promo wearing his gongs, (because they were stolen from his bag whilst sleeping homeless in a park), and as for drinking in the local club telling his story? Maybe not a great idea because grog and ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ just don’t mix.

So, we are off to call the ESOs charged with sorting this stuff out which should have been a sinch because of the forementioned funding boost provided by the Federal Government for just this purpose but… They tell him to go to the Salvation Army, Veteran Homeless Program, (funded by the RSL) who passes it onto Open Arms, (Whose representative is refusing to take or return any calls) who passes it on to Connect 4, (Whoever they are).

Somewhere along the line ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ is passed onto DVA’s Support for highly vulnerable veterans through their Wellbeing and Support Program which was funded to the tune of $23.3 million over four years.

So, we were sitting in SMEACs office and it was pushing towards 1500h and it was a Friday afternoon in downtown Bowen Hills. Liam, a nice bloke from the NDIS was desperately trying to find emergency accommodation for ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ the irony being that the NDIS apparently don’t do emergency accommodation, and we had just been told by the RSL that they could not help ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ in this instance and that we should call 000.

We were also told, and they made it perfectly clear, that they would not be responsible for ‘Soldier Foxtrots’ health or wellbeing if anything were to happen. Oh! and could we please call back to let them know how it turned out.

Tip for young players, if you were suicidal and really hitting rock bottom in 21-22 then you should have gone to an ANZAC Day ceremony overseas in say Turkey, France or Thailand because the Government in their wisdom had allocated $16.68 mil as part of a $32.1 mil over four years as part of the ceremonial package the only downside is you need to be able to afford a ticket first.

On an upside for ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ DVA was, that year, provided with around $28.9 million over two years towards veteran suicide.

Finally, ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ can get his shit sorted, but hang on…that $2.6 million over two years was for a targeted adverse events analysis capability in DVA to look in depth at veteran deaths by suspected suicide, attempted suicide. Then there was $3.7 million over 12 months for strengthening DVA’s capability to provide timely and high-quality information, and $22.5 million over two years for DVA to produce extensive records and evidence, OK well maybe not.

I had to look up all these figures which was heaps harder than trying to work out the financial extent of the government support for SMEAC, who was as it turns out picking up the pieces. Our funding was a sinch…it was exactly zero.

All up $302.8 million for DVA – Additional Resources, comprising of

$12.1 million for Expanding Support for Veterans and their Families

$55.4 million for Veterans’ Health Care

$60.7 million for Wellbeing and Support Funding

$32.1 million for Commemorations and Activities to Honour our Veterans

Supporting suicide prevention and responding to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

But to us that is all irrelevant, it was Father’s Day weekend, and a million dollars sez that, left to his own devices, ‘Soldier Foxtrot’, himself a father would not be alive on Monday.

Thinking on my feet I told him to get into my car and he spent the weekend at my house,

We organised his four-year-old son to join us for Father’s Day and enjoyed a very interesting weekend together.

Was it a perfect fix? No way.

Is he still alive? Absolutely.

Is his war over? Not by a longshot but he is doing much better, living independently and seeing his boy.

As said previously, SMEAC runs on the smell of an oily rag. We are building Camp SMEAC on the Sunshine Coast where if up and running when this story unfolded, we would have been able to provide our own Veteran Crisis Accommodation.

If you can help reach out regardless of whether it is that you can donate, volunteer or even better both.

This story as of writing two years on is still unfolding…

TBC.

Cheers

Stomps

Soldier Juliet

Solder Juliet

Homeless veterans… (yep another stomps Rant)

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS S#@T UP

Marching orders from his ex has seen ‘Soldier Juliet’ homeless since July.

He is not the first and won’t be the last. Motels, a blown engine and storage costs have seen the coffers depleted and even though he has submitted over 35 rental applications from seventy odd open homes it’s been his mates’ couches over the past months that he has called home.

Around 25 years in the battalions has created a very private but proud man who has not asked for our support it came from others because let’s face it we should be looking out for our mates right?

Go to the QLD RSL homeless page and they will promise you the world complete with glossy photos of a digger sitting in his boot reading a real-estate mag, call the number provider and the merry go round begins.

In our case I emailed a contact of ours at the Salvation Army, homeless veterans’ section, with a detailed SITREP for ‘Soldier Juliet’ complete with all details and applicable contact numbers etc etc stating very clearly that he had two days remaining in his current location.

An hour or so later the RSL rang and asked a now very distressed veteran all the questions that were clearly stated in the SITREP. Once that was complete, the RSL said that they were not able to help and for us to call Open Arms.

A call to the Open Arms Crisis line who according to the RSL are there to provide crisis accommodation said that they would call back in the next couple of days and when they did finally call the following day stated, true story, that they couldn’t provide emergency accommodation if ‘Soldier Juliet’ had nowhere to go afterwards. They also offered to call an organisation called Rent Assist (whoever they are).

A return call to Salvation Army who called RSL, (Didn’t hear back from either) and enough was enough time for the old boy’s network because in my firsthand experience over several recent occasions is that these overfunded and bureaucratic bloated organisations aren’t worth a pinch of well you know what.

Last time it was ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ on the Friday before the Father’s Day weekend and now…well right now.

The legends from ‘Aussy Vets’ in “yep Melbourne” are helping with the storage and car and the Grey Men who supported us with ‘Soldier Foxtrot’ have picked up the emergency accommodation all co-ordinated by SMEAC who haven’t received one cent from any government or government organisation ever.

In a perfect world I’d take ‘Soldier Juliet’ to the RSL, and they would walk him through the minefield and out to the other side, however, in reality, they are given millions upon millions of dollars to prop up their ivory towers, tell us how effective they are by unaliasing a massively expensive marketing budget whilst in reality doing F/A.

To Aussy Vets (especially Dave and Fiona) and the Grey Men, (I’d have to kill you if I told you who they are) thank you so much for constantly helping and supporting SMEAC form a taskforce when the s&*t invariably hits the fan.

And no, I’m not into bashing the RSL nor Open Arms I’m just a straight shooter and I call it as I see it and as they say you make your own bed.

To ‘Soldier Juliet’ sleep tight mate it’s been a big couple of days.

Cheers

Stomps

Soldier Kilo

The story of SOLDIER KILO

(Not her real name).

Soldier ‘Kilo’ a mother and a veteran with over 11 years’ service in Army and RAAF who quite frankly found herself, in life, about as low as you could get.

In this story the score for help and support with ‘Soldier Kilo’ was:

RSL QLD: 10/10

Open Arms 0/10

WARNING LONG POST, (But nowhere as long as the Friday that ‘Soldier Kilo’ arrived at SMEAC turned out to be).

‘Soldier Kilo finally escaped a nightmare of domestic violence in another state resulting in a a journey that consisted of trains, planes and automobiles, finding herself living rough in Brisbane a long way from home.

As if things weren’t bad enough things turned south in a big way when she was committed to the Mental Health Ward at the RBH. It wasn’t until SMEAC were visiting another veteran in the same facility that that we first met.

Now when I am talking sleeping rough, I am not talking on a mates couch rough, I am talking about curled up on the concrete bench at St Georges’ Square rough. And add insult injury she had her bag stolen and therefore had absolutely no ID, no Centrelink, no bank account, which had been closed for whatever reason, and about $1.60 to her name.

SMEAC had organised for ‘Soldier Kilo’ to get day release for an hour or so into our care to enable her to see our Nurse Practitioner followed by our doctor prior to seeing one of our advocates. In essence enough time to have a brew and a chat and for us to better understand the issues at hand and for us to try to untangle this unfortunate mess.

To be honest my intent was about getting her out of that hell hole and into a private mental health facility, because ‘Soldier Kilo’ really was not OK.

It was on Friday morning a couple of days later that I get an excited call from an unknown mobile and guess who? Yep ‘Soldier Kilo. The hospital in their kindness had issued her an old Nokia dumb phone with $5 credit. I say G’day and update her number to our system and then I sat down to knock out SMEACs year that was post.

At around 1130h I hear footsteps on my stairs up to my then office I look down and there she was. “They have released me and now I’m homeless” she said as she burst into tears.

Just another day at SMEAC.

We cleared the decks, I knocked up an urgent SITREP and issued it out to The QLD RSL, Open Arms, (OA), and The Salvation homeless Vets Dept. I was acutely aware of the time constraints we were facing and not knowing what our plan bravo was going to be. A call to the Mental Health Ward at the RBH and another at length to Open Arms during which I pleaded, for them to step up to the plate. I was then told by OA that OA was not responsible for crisis accommodation, that they could not help and that it was the RSL’s responsibility.

I explained to OA in detail the catastrophic ramifications ‘Soldier Kilo’ could face sleeping rough out on the streets. “We will call you back in an hour”, They lied.

The clock was ticking for ‘Soldier Kilo’ but finally I got through to the RSL. Albeit an automatic message from RSL homeless that informed me that someone will get back to me within three days, (Awesome). Further conversation with the Salvation Army informed me that they were getting on to it.

Running out of options now getting desperate I called the Government homeless Co-Ordinator attached to the RBH, (nope I didn’t know they existed either).

This one took the cake. “Don’t worry we have a plan in place for her” they assured me, (You really can’t make this stuff up), they told me over the phone that she was going to sleep at St Georges Square and that in their kindness they were going to check on her over the weekend.

The clock ticking, she is crying, and I am almost at loss. We are calling civvy homeless crisis centres, rape shelters, domestic violence shelters, women’s shelters all whilst telling her story over and over only to repeatedly be told, “We can’t help her if she has no ID” or “We can’t help her if she is not on Centrelink” and “Why don’t you try so and so”……

It’s now pushing 1500h and I am aware that the world is about to go on leave for the weekend and ‘Soldier Kilo’ is residing herself to her fate. She is dressed in short shorts and a flimsy singlet, has no sleeping bag, wimp mat and WTF are we going to do with her?

1640h…WTF are we going to do? 1650h I get a call from Susan at RSL QLD, long story short, she has organised four days crisis accommodation for ‘Soldier Kilo’ and, five ton of weight is removed from my shoulders.

As I drive her to the hotel, organise a food voucher, check her in and she is in tears just this time tears of relief all the while I’m thinking of all the times, I’ve heard that there is no such thing as a veteran homeless crisis.

I call her on Saturday, and she is at the hotel gym she is OK, and we will sort the rest out on Monday. Long story short we went to the RSLQ, and they did a great job. Mostly nurses they were compassionate, and a crisis was averted.

This was when things became interesting. Soldier Bravo, (you remember him), from SMEAC spent several frustrating hours on the phone to whatever the transport office in her home state is called all to no avail.

He came into his own and almost singlehandedly over many hours and dozens of phone calls managed to secure her a DVA White Card, a Medicare Card and reinstated her bank account, well she now at least had some ID.

For all of you who have donated to SMEAC you enabled us to create that space, The Veteran Community Hub, where we were able to triage Soldier Kilo which averted what could have been an absolute tragedy and another DVA statistic.

Not one cent of your donation went into SMEAC wages, cucumber sandwiches, Qantas Clubs or flash hotels. Every cent you donate goes directly into the fight and more importantly is that now SMEAC will be able to provide our own organic Veteran Crisis Accommodation at Camp SMEAC.

To RSL QLD, thank you especially Susan and her crew, you did a splendid job and to Open Arms you…well I am just going to leave that there.

Just another day at SMEAC.

Cheers

Stomps

Veteran Xray

Veteran X Was Not Ok!

TBH I thought long and hard about writing this and whether I would actually go through with it but the message is just too powerful and not to get out there…well? Veteran X was not OK.

Day in day out, the grind of wearing twenty hats and dealing with one issue after the next, two steps forward and one step back and just trying to remain focussed on the SMEAC mission can really be a mission all in itself.

And then in an instant something happens and it all becomes crystal clear and the relevance of what we are doing at SMEAC makes perfect sense.

Last night, (Sunday), around midnight I received a video call from an old mate of mine lets call him Veteran X. Now generally speaking a call at midnight on Sunday in this game really needs to be answered.

So I did and the face on the other end was ashen grey, looked exhausted and to be honest looked like he was at the end of the line. Which was confirmed as the talk went on because only a few days ago he was. Dislocation, depression self-medication the list goes on and on and on.

Who are you hanging with mate? No one.

What are you doing each day? Getting up doing X and getting pissed. Etc Etc.

I asked him about doing X, (I won’t mention ‘X’ here as it will ultimately compromise anonymity). Then somewhere during the 40-minute conversation it hit me like a freight train. Veteran X has so much to offer and his skills, if passed on, will in the long run benefit so many other veterans in work shops run from within SMEAC’s Veteran Hub on any given time each week.

Veteran X could not see that he had so much to offer. Like everything we do its not about us it’s about the others. Ring a bell? That is what is pounded into each and every one of us right through our careers. That’s why people do ridiculous things to protect their mates at the risk of injury or death. What makes us belong and makes us who we are.

ENDSTATE: I called veteran X today to check in and I was speaking to a different person. Be like Veteran X if you are heading down a slippery slope…FFS reach out. We all need you your family needs you and SMEAC needs you.

Reconnection, Reintegration and Retraining for Purposeful and Meaningful Employment.

Soldier X you are a bloody legend and so glad to have you on the team.

Cheers

Stomps

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DVA Savvy Doctor

Meet with a specialist veteran GP for an initial or review consult

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Allied Health Services

Physio, Exercise Physiology, Dietician & More

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The Hub Cafe

A place for social connection

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The Hub Job Board

for finding employees and finding work

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Events

Monthly BBQ and social catch up, veterans feeding the homeless and more!

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Seminars

Regular seminars and information evenings on topics including;

Veteran financial planning basics,
Understanding the DVA claims process,
Exercise and mental health,

Where to next?

SERVICES

Located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. The Hub is a place where veterans and their families can come to get help and support to access the services they need.

LEARN MORE