At times Grant Meldrum didn’t know if he could recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from the army.
Like many of St Kilda’s Soldier On ambassadors, he suffered in silence before realising an organisation like Soldier On existed.
“Soldier On has been amazing for me as far as my personal recovery,” St Kilda’s Round 3 Soldier On ambassador said.
“I came across the organisation last year and after I was a little bit of a way through my personal journey I got in touch with Soldier On and offered assistance … and since that time I’ve been very active here in Perth organising activities and getting together with young veterans over here.
“We’re seeing some great benefits from that and personally giving myself, (I’m) regaining some personal identity (and) self worth in doing what I’m doing.”
In 2004, Grant volunteered for the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) with his first Afghanistan tour occurring in 2005. He completed further tours of Afghanistan in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
In total, Grant spent two years on deployment in Afghanistan.
He was on board HMAS Kanimbla in 2006 when a Black Hawk was lost killing two members of the Special Forces community. Grant was also deployed a second time to East Timor in 2007 and finished his service in 2012 as a Sergeant.
“There have been highlights and there has been a lot of lowlights as well where members of the unit have been killed and that’s always very difficult to deal with for the unit and the family and friends,” Grant said.
“Returning home initially is not so much of an issue but it’s when the impacts of post traumatic stress disorder become sort of more clear on a day to day basis which can take time to develop.”
“In my case, I probably started to experience difficulties from about 2006 and it took some years and a number of further years of service and tours finally after discharging before I actually realised there was something significant to be addressed.”
While his journey has been a difficult one, Soldier On and his family – who joined him at the Saints Round 3 match against West Coast – have all played a key role in aiding his recovery.
Now, Grant is in a position to help others who find themselves in the same situation and has helped grow a community of ex-service people in Perth that will form the basis for the support Soldier On will offer as they continue in their recovery journey.
And he’s taking every opportunity to share his experience with others, including St Kilda players.
“The experience in talking to the team is fantastic, there are some great parallels between those who serve in the defence force and those who are playing professional football,” he said.
“The commitment, the drive, the dedication, being very goal focussed and orientated. The opportunity to talk to young guys who are playing the game of football, particularly at St Kilda’s club, is a real opportunity and I’m certainly very pleased to be a part of that.”
Soldier On empowers Australia’s wounded soldiers to achieve their dreams and aims to inspire Australians to come together by showing their support for physically wounded and psychologically affected service men and women.
St Kilda Football Club forged a partnership with Soldier On in 2013 and will honour its returned servicemen at AFL games throughout the year.
