Rowan* joined the Australian Army in 1999. In his six-year career he served in East Timor with the 4^th Royal Australian Regiment, providing security and stabilisation through the transition to independence of that country.

He says the experience in East Timor was a ‘good’ introduction to a conflict.

“We had a fairly smooth tour of East Timor. The only hiccups were casualties from the other side of the border, Indonesian soldiers; and an incident where a teenage boy had hacked his father to death with a machete. That was as rough as it got.”

Rowan suffers from what has been diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He says he didn’t know the science or the symptoms until recently, and a series of misdiagnoses led to him dealing with what was happening erratically.  

He suffers from night terrors and night sweats, waking up drenched in sweat every night or second night. He might go back to sleep only to wake up drenched again, racked by violent dreams.

“I’d be disoriented all the next day. I was driving a heavy rigid vehicle and getting to my destinations without any memory of the trip.”

While in Timor Rowan was given mefloquine, an anti-malarial drug. He says its neurotoxic properties are well-known in the UK and US and it is restricted there, but still used by the military in Australia.

“A lot of the support group, including myself, were on that drug in East Timor. It portrays all the same side-effects as PTSD, but they are ongoing. There might be no end to it.

“I have never had any extreme situations that might have caused PTSD.”

Rowan says his claims for compensation are  being stymied, with the Department of Defence saying the side-effects are ’minimal’. In the meantime he is out of work – ’trying to get his head right.’