Academic Monday: “Military service provided identity, purpose and belonging for all interview participants.”
Alllllll 113—isn’t that insane?
Heya! I’m Kat Hare. Yep—feline dander. Thanks, mum. I’m an ADF veteran, writer and budding academic looking for creative ways for veterans to benefit from their military service, then, now and always—AKA Emereas!
In Academic Monday’s, you’ll get to stalk my PhD as it unfolds, all the ideas, process, progress and studies that inspire me. Get it free into your inbox every Monday night at 8pm Adelaide time.
Enjoy!
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (RCDVS) is still a hot topic. As it should be. It cost a lot of money and took a tonne of time. But it also gave thousands of people a chance to tell their story.
If you’re tracking John’s book, you’ll know how cathartic that process is.
Ben Wadham (my supervisor!) along with James Connor, Kellie Toole and Emma Thomas were funded by the RCDVS to map service and transition to self-harm and suicidality. It’s probably one of the best reports I’ve ever read. Even though it’s a mighty 216 pages long, it’s easy to read and doesn’t waffle on.
The study looked at the life history of 113 ADF veterans (or their loved ones where the member/veteran had suicided). The interviews lasted anywhere from 30-minutes up to 3-hours, and covered childhood and pre-service, recruitment, service, transition and post-service, including life domains such as housing, education, health and recognition.
That’s huuuuuuuuuge—somewhere between 2-14 days of pure, non-stop data.
Do you know what they found?
“Military service provided identity, purpose and belonging for all interview participants.”
Not 57%.
Not “most”.
All.
Isn’t that insane? As a veteran, it makes sense. It’s how I feel. But to find that everyone else in this very important, ginormous study felt the same? I still feel shocked.
So, I’ve started looking at the identity component.
When does it start?
How does it form?
Why do we lose it?
So far, it’s clear that the process to replace your civilian identity with your military identity starts the moment you join. Drill. Weapons handling. Military history and traditions… we never had a chance.
But I wonder if people hold the pre-requisite traits before they join Defence… What experiences attracted them to serve? What were their values and beliefs? Because if we can identify military candidates before they walk through the door, maybe then we’ll have an opportunity to intervene, support and guide their next steps, rather than let them fall onto their sword.
There’s obviously a lot to sift through, and many (soooo many) important aspects to identity, purpose and belonging. But the start point… before the start point… that’s what I want to know.
For now.
Until next week,
Kat
Reference:
Wadham, B., Connor, J., Toole, K., & Thomas, E. (2023). Mapping Service and Transition to Self-harm and Suicidality. Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.