“When I put my hand up [with PTSD], I was basically told to f off. The second time I did it, I was told I was lying. . . . It does stall your career, if not halt it completely, youre less of a personespecially for the guys youre less of a man for owning up to having issues”. A former Australiansoldier.

It’s just as well Scottys not in the military. Because he wouldnt be. Like the insurance company policy of not responding until receipt of the claimants seventh letter (why seven?), Scotty could no more do what hes asked than he could go solar.

Regardless, on receipt of the seventh letter, Scotty reluctantly launched a royal commission into Defence and veteran suicide. What circumstances led to the commission? Of myriad problems, the most troubling is this: Compared to their compatriots, medically discharged men veterans are at a much higher risk of self-harm.

Youd say, given existing medical diagnoses, thats unsurprising. But nearly three times at risk of suicide? Yes, on average, during the period 2002 to 2018. The figures for voluntary veterans, on the other hand, mirror those of Australian men overall (female veteran suicides are few).

Whythehigherriskof suicide among medically discharged vets?Thereasons are hidden in plainsight, as are the solutions.That does not mean the solutions willfly far from it.

First, some background. Howhigh isthe numberofsuicides among male veterans? Easily answered? For our government, apparently not. The sector, say some analysts, “is flying blind”. The current government figure is 419 in the period 2001-17. VeteranScott Harris begs to differ; hehascounted 731for the same period.What is clear is that more Australian veterans have lost their lives bysuicidethan have been killed on active duty since 2001.

Trauma forms a common backdrop for suicide. Shell shock, that invisible injury much maligned during WW1 (Malingerers! Cowards!), is now understood as a psychological response to intensely traumatic events. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as it is now known, affects roughly five per cent of the general population, the most common cause being motor vehicle accidents.

PTSD may affect up to 20 per cent ofmilitary veterans(depending on circumstances). Sufferers mayfind themselves reliving, over and over, the feelings aroused by the original trauma, often relating to direct-combat or dangerous-war-zone experiences.

Researchersenquiring into the causes ofveteran suicideamongthem,veteranBen Wadham and analyst Deborah Morris point to severalcontributing factors.Alarmingly, some of the most egregious aresystemictothe ADFitself.Not to pick on the ADFof course(it is, after all, holding the gun).No, allmilitary institutions given five millennia under patriarchy shine bright with everyprejudicedism under the sun.

Clearly, myriad circumstances contribute, directly and indirectly, to suicidality among veterans trauma, poor health, lack of support, and so forth. But here Im pointing to inherent structural factors. Wadham and Morris say the very structure of the ADF encourages “abuse, bullying, harassment and denigration of military personnel”. Moreover, the institution itself gets in the way of veterans accessingfinancial,mental and physical support.

To really understandthe problem, its solutions, and, crucially,whyleaders have danced around veteran suicide war is hell, after all we must dig deeper. To come clean here, I am not a scholar of military affairs. I study the psychology of gender and abuse, and what follows is my best guess as a psychologist.

Arguably,when soldiers are exposed totraumatic events,something else sinks the boot into them while theyrestilldown, namely,twoof themostdangerouslies ever invented.The first? Ifa man isnot a winner,he must bea loser.Second, if hesnot a mans man, then shame upon shame hemust somehowmaybeunconsciouslybefeminine.Ifa man is not beatingbackdemons includinghisown thenhesasweak asthe proverbial.

A man who is shamed, say the old myths, has forfeited his masculinity and to lose his masculinity is to be feminised and to be feminised is to become as worthless as women are under patriarchy. Not worth living. Under such circumstances, who wouldnt kill to retrieve ones honour, ones life? The fear of being feminine is known as femiphobia. As an aside, as regards so-called honour killings, for example, the question is not why some men kill women; it is why most men enculturated as they are into this brutal system do not.

Am not! yells the toddlerhis eyes fillingto the big boys on the see-saw. Am not, am not, am NOT! And his little body is wracked with sobs as he turns toward his mother.Australian playground.

Where doesfemiphobiacome from?The little boys fear of being feminine startsas soon as he is introduced to older male peers (typically earlier). For the rest of his life, that peer group will police his gender behaviour and attitudes. A single pheromone of so-called femininity even if only imagined and all hell breaks loose.

Of course, male peers are not the only gender police:

“I divorce my son!”, she said. “I go there and he has an apron on and hes doing the dishes! I didnt bring up my son to do this! Hes a woman! I divorce him!” - Greek-Australian woman. “There is a feminist march to purge our institutions of masculinity, from the military to universities” - Miranda Devine. “The ‘diversity’ revolution that Lieutenant General David Morrison inflicted on the Australian Army now threatens to diminish our war fighting capability” - Miranda Devine.

Theseabsolutist,black-or-white, all-or-nothing beliefs are demonstrablyuntrue. But that is of no consequence in the face offive millennia of patriarchal rule. Not just women and children, but young men too, have reason to fear the old men the gender police of the tribe.

The lies about honour and shame, that a shamed man, for example, has lost all value, are so ingrained, so naturalised as to have become part of our psychological DNA. And nothing short of consciousness-raising can help us break free. And that would be right up the militarys alley challenging its own ideas about what it takes to be a man.

We tend to not share our feelings and thoughts as we feel it appears un-masculine and because we fear being ridiculed by our peers and society. Unfortunately, men are portrayed . . . as powerful, solitary and confident heroes. 18-year-old Taylor.

Traditionalidealsofmasculinity,asdescribed by Taylor above, are increasinglyseenbyresearchersasinjurious, both to men and to those around them.Just as debilitating is theopen orcamouflagedabusesuffered by many boysas they are growing up.What better way of showing a boyhemustbe toughthan byattackinghim?And so it goes.

Abuse isendemic to patriarchal systems.And it starts early.On average, eight out of every ten American boysreport havingbeensexuallyabused.Boys aged ten or eleven made up nearly90 per cent ofvictims of church-workerabusein one Australian state.

In the US, military victims of sexual abuse, more so than civilian victims, suffer more serious long-term effects, including PTSD, anxiety, dissociative, and personality disorders, substance abuse, and double the rates of self-harm and suicide attempts.

Abused boys and menoftenblamethemselves for being attacked, just as they might blame women as ‘asking for sexual assault. Following the same logic, the boys see their own unconscious femininity as responsible after all, why would a man assault me unless something about me attracted him?

Could the way that many military men think about masculinity be a factor, along with PTSD, in provoking suicidal feelings

Weare born intoour cultureasfishareinto water.Though permeated by it, wecannot see it.Just as fish do not ask, Where is the sea?, we do not ask, Where isthissystem you speak of? This is just the way things are.

Look,really look, at this system. It rests on the toxic notion that the female is a mutilated male(Aristotle) or is simply naturally inferior (Freud). The lie has run deep in warrior’s veins for at least five millennia. The system says weakness equals feminine. Hence, whenever men experience trauma or PTSD, they are at risk of interpreting their natural human responses fear, horror, disgust, helplessness, rage, and so forth as weakness.

Bythe abovelogic, a medical discharge signifies weakness, and themanmay see himselfas having beenintolerablyfeminised by hisphysical or mentalinjury.The shame maylead him toattackwhat he perceivesto bethe feminine inhimself(self-harmor suicide)or, for example, in his partner.Aman in this situation is at risk oftearing into himselfand/orthose closest to him.

Returning to the question of solutions, whyareour leaders unlikely to actionthe recommendations of veterans and analysts?Menwhobegin toquestion their own enculturationas men will inevitably question the culture itself.Our military leadersfearthatditchingitshonour-and-shamementality which is central toitstraditionalfunctioningwilleventuallybring the entire edifice crashing down.

AswithSex DiscriminationCommissioner Elizabeth Broderickspastinquiryinto theADFs treatment of women,the fear is palpable.Said soldier-turned-MP, PhillipThompson, recently: TheADF hasgone a little bitwokeover the past few years.

BlameformerChief of ArmyMorrison, I say. More generous souls said hed been woke, that is, he had his consciousness about sexism raised. Morrisons enemies said hed been feminised by his fireside chats over tea and scones with Liz Medusa Broderick.

MurdochjournoMiranda Devine saidMorrison had beenno, not Rogered, but rather,Brodericked. And,saidDevine,next to beBroderickedwas the AFP:Take a male institution, add a sexism scandal, and call Broderick & Co to the rescue.

MP Thompsonslittle bit wokeworry isstandard-issuebrotherhoodanxiety aboutwhatcivil societycan do to military men.Civil society, saysWadham, is “the militarys feminine”. So, wouldnt delving into the femiphobic core of the matter radically destabilise the institution itself?

What institution of masculine honour wants to confront its own fear of being weakened, feminised and therebymade worthless in the eyes of men?A psychologistwould say, Feel the fear and do it anyway. Plenty have,andtheyvelived to fight another day.How else will we mature as a species?Perhaps the military will make an appointment.

And, as a nation, could we move away from imperialist aggression and the coalitions of the killing to adopt the perfectly honourable defensive position that many nations do? Would these solutions satisfy those of imperialist bent the old femiphobic men of the tribe? Would Scotty go solar?