'I was so bloody angry': Veteran honoured for tireless support of stricken soldiers

It's a symptom of the post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] he's suffered for more than 50 years.

"I still get depression and anxiety, I get very fidgety and every now and then I'll have nightmares," he said.

"My nerves are blown apart. The nerves are shot, I suppose I knew that at the time but I thought I'd settle down and I never really did."

As part of the 2024 King's Birthday honours, Mr Dobell will be awarded a Medal of the Order [OAM] for his tireless work in setting up support networks aimed at helping Vietnam veterans with such symptoms.

"I was shocked, it's hard to describe, I'm quite excited by it all, because it's an honour," he said.

"The one thing that pisses me off is my dad's gone, he would have been out of his tree, but that's how it goes.

"I felt honoured, somewhat shocked, and then I look back on what we've done, and we've achieved a lot in 40 odd years."

Among those achievements, Mr Dobell considers the founding of the Vietnam Veterans Association Ballarat Sub-branch to be his greatest.

Since its inception in 1980, the branch has been helping Ballarat's Vietnam veterans come to terms with their experiences.

"[Upon returning] we knew then we were sick, we didn't understand what was wrong, they called it PTSD, we didn't have a clue what was wrong, but we knew we were angry," he said.

"We knew that people needed help, including ourselves, it's those that needed it most that drove the need for the counselling service."

In 1969, at the age of 19, Mr Dobell was sent to Vietnam.

He spent about 6 months fighting in the conflict before being medically evacuated in 1970.

Mr Dobell's memories of the war include hiking through hot jungle, waking up to a tent smeared in Agent Orange and being forced to drink water contaminated with the chemical.

A 1985 Royal Commission concluded there was no link between Agent Orange and veteran health effects, and this is something that obviously still angers Mr Dobell, who described the government's lack of accountability as "bulls--t".

More than 50 years on, these injustices of war still haunt him, as well as many of his fellow veterans.

It's why he also includes his work in pushing for the Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service, now called Open Arms, as one of his most important achievements.

"It [Open Arms] has done wonderful work over the years, and it's still doing it," he said.

"It's doing it for younger veterans, that I'm quite proud of, and so we should be, we should all be proud of that.

"We're helping these younger blokes who - like we did - went in, did the job, came home and didn't know what was wrong with them."

This work with younger veterans has also given Mr Dobell the chance to share invaluable knowledge on how to navigate the complicated reintroduction to civilian life.

"You're just different [afterwards] I was so bloody angry, I remember that, that was one of the reasons I left the army," he said,

"We knew we weren't well, and we know the younger blokes aren't.

"Hopefully we can give them some guidance along the way, because dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs is not a lot of fun, and we've had to learn how."

While he is increasingly working with younger veterans, Mr Dobell's focus doesn't seem to stray far from his contemporaries and the Vietnam War either.

He said many of his fellow soldiers were "dropping like flies", either from suicide, or from post-war health effects.

At least those who are struggling now have a community to fall back on, thanks to the work of Mr Dobell and many others.

While he's proud of this work, it's also a journey Mr Dobell knows he couldn't have done without the support of his wife, Marg.

"The first decade [after the war] was probably the toughest, the kids were little, I had a wife at home that was scared of me probably," he said.

"I would have been very hard to live with, I now know that.

"It was her [Marg] that got me the help I needed. I've often said the girls should have got the medals."

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support, phone Lifeline 13 11 14.

Help is also available, but not limited, via the following organisations. The key message is you are not alone.