Bendigo research shows how veterans rebuild after the military

The soldier had endured a mental breakdown, his relationship had fallen apart and the career he had wanted since he was two years old was over.

"I packed up my house and said 'f*** the army, I don't want to be part of the army any more," he said.

"Being around the army just makes me more and more unwell'."

So Ben left and found a job on a remote cattle station.

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He is far from alone.

Ex-service members often end up in regional and rural areas because they have spent periods at country bases.

Their new lives often come with existential questions about what all of their years of service was for, even when they are not juggling physical or psychological injuries, La Trobe University Bendigo researcher Kylie Carra says.

"More than 50 per cent of people describe that transition into civilian life as difficult," she said.

Ms Carra has just published research in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal exploring how former service members find meaningful jobs and pastimes to "fill the void" when they leave the military.

She interviewed 10 rural ex-service members. Many had served on deployment and spoke to her in a period when conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan had drawn to a close.

Four of the ex-service members left voluntarily and six had been medically discharged.

Many of them felt an empty space where their meaningful job had been and a lost sense of life's purpose.

Isaac*, who had served two deployments during seven years with the army, said it had left him with big questions.

"We do need a way, I think, to just feel whole," he told Ms Carra.

The researcher tracked how ex-service people used work and pastimes to bring back that sense of purpose and to heal.

Some wanted no reminders of their old lives in their new lives.

"It triggers all the memories," former air force member Dean* said.

"I love working with aircraft, but I won't even go out to the local aircraft museum."

A number of service members deliberately sought out ways to reset themselves. One used drums to "reset" his hypervigilant symptoms, relax and have fun.

Others used journaling, painting or rock climbing to moderate their moods and distract themselves from distressing thoughts and feelings.

Many sought out jobs to rebuild their self confidence and discover things they had initially found appealing about military service, like community service.

"That was something people found they had been driven to do since a young age and they wanted to keep serving their community," Ms Carra said.

That included volunteer work like disaster relief or emergency services, she said.

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Others, like Ben, were drawn to work in the veteran wellbeing sector.

"You never know when the light at the end of the tunnel might just all of a sudden blind you," he told Ms Carra.

"And you don't know when you may be that person for someone else, either. So that really changed my perspective on things."

Ms Carra hoped her research would do more than help occupational therapists and other allied health professionals working with ex-service members.

"These sorts of findings really apply to communities and ex-service organisations," she said.

"You need a whole-of community approach because ex-service people really value that connection and sense of belonging.

"People need be welcoming, to try to start conversations about their experiences and learn what their transition has been like."

* Names were changed to protect people's anonymity.

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