Australian veterans taking their care into their own hands—by going digital.

See a need, fill a need.

The military is a brotherhood. It’s a tight-knit family affair that builds strong bonds between mates. It’s a life of discipline, of hectic schedules and a new base—and a new home—every three years. It’s one of those ‘not a job but a lifestyle’ kind of gigs, and it’s hard to build relationships outside of the service.

So, imagine being cut off from that.

Imagine that your whole life changes overnight and suddenly your support system, the people you’ve lived and worked beside day by day for years, are no longer there. When you discharge, once you leave the brotherhood, you can fall right off of the face of the Earth–you disappear. That’s something the veterans in this country have to deal with, on top of all the other issues that come with turning civvy street.

In our modern tech-driven world, communication, connecting with others, should be the least of a veteran’s concerns. Why should they lose that cameraderie when they leave the service? There are so many veterans out there—641,000 counted as of 2018—but they’re not connected. As improbable as that sounds, not all veterans are down at the local Returned Services League (RSL) having a piss up and when you’ve spent your whole life training to be silent—loose lips sink ships—creating a digital presence and engaging with civilians in their—let’s face it, often self-centred—social media, is incredibly uncomfortable.

So, how can we connect the unconnected? How can we take these technologically savvy and incredibly private people and connect them to others in the same boat, without a drink? You ask the users. You ask a veteran to come up with a solution. This is the story of two veteran made, driven and created digital solutions.

REDSIX - We’ve got your six.

REDSIX is an app created by Somalia and Bougainville veteran, Michael Handley. Retired in 1998, Handley spent years battling with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. Disengaged with society and his former comrades, Handley noted that veterans were not prone to seeking outside assistance—after all, how can a civilian understand what they’ve been through—and often withdraw from society because of this. So he sought a way to connect veterans with other veterans, to someone they could speak to who would understand what they are going through. The ‘battle buddy’ system instilled by years of training inspired the REDSIX app.

The ‘battle buddy’ system teaches soldiers how to work together and look out for one another. You’re assigned a buddy and together you go through training, you become reliant on one another and form a bond. This bond often extends into the soldier’s personal life.

The REDSIX app allows a veteran to create a profile and nominate a few mates as their nearest and dearest—people they know care for them. Alongside this are four mood buttons which the veteran selects to indicate their mental state. A green button means they’re feeling good, yellow means that they’re ok and red sends an automated SMS to their battle buddies telling them that the veteran is not in a good place. Through the app, the battle buddies can call the veteran and check in on them. If none of the listed buddies responds within a set period of time, an alert is sent to all veterans located in the postcode given by the original veteran when setting up their profile, informing them that they have a comrade in need. If need be, the administrators can locate the veteran through the app in order to send emergency services their way. The black button will send a call to trained professionals at Open Arms—a veteran mental health service. Based on the initial assessment, emergency services could then be actioned.

Swiss8 - Better at life.

Another app aimed at the veteran community is Swiss8. This particular app is also available to the general public, but it was originally designed for veterans to regain the order and discipline in their civilian lives.

Imagine this, it’s 0600. The bell rings, you’re called awake. You have structured personal training (PT) with your mates, followed by a shower and then breakfast in the mess. You head to your station and you’re there until lunch, a meal that is again provided for you in the mess hall. Dinner is the same. Your days are structured, ordered, repeated.

Now imagine that all stops.

Suddenly, your days are free. There’s no plan, no structure and no one preparing your meals. You can do whatever you like, whenever you like. This often isn’t as fun as it sounds. From discipline to nothing. From structure to nothing. From the tribe to going it solo. It’s hard to find a purpose, to get motivated. And after leaving high school and entering straight into the military, many don’t even know how to do a grocery shop, let alone set a meal plan.

Imagine the toll all of this takes on your mental health.

How did you feel when Covid19 hit and you were forced to self-isolate, self-entertain and you lost your routine? That’s what it’s like for veterans, except that can be their entire life, not just a blip in their memories.

Adrian Sutter, a veteran of East Timor and Afghanistan, found this to be the case. Since leaving the service in 2012, he has lost six of his mates to suicide. Sutter became frustrated with the reactive mental health care system. Under the current Department of Veteran’s Affair (DVA) program, by the time someone admitted that they needed help—which is often when they reach breaking point—it could take a further year to find the appropriate care. By then, it can be too late. And so he invented Swiss8, an app designed to deliver a holistic health program to veterans.

The app works on eight core principles: fitness, nutrition, mindfulness, sleep, minimalism, time management, personal growth and discipline. It aims to teach veterans to bring these principles into their daily lives, allowing them to regain structure, reduce anxiety and increase a positive outlook. The app provides a personalised workout program laid out on a scheduling calendar. Gamified to ensure motivation and accountability, it allows users to progress and slowly gain control of their health, diet and exercise. Most importantly it mimics a veteran’s structured service life, granting them the tools to take control and slowly wean themselves into civilian life.

The app was recently released to the public following an interview with Channel 7 News.

Veterans helping veterans.

So, there you have it. Two veterans who saw a need and sought to make a difference. By embracing technology and beginning their own businesses, creating apps that filled the needs of their community, they’ve connected thousands of veterans across the country—potentially saving hundreds of lives. Isn’t it amazing what a little app can do?