Gerroa’s Glenn Kolomeitz knows a great deal about post traumatic stress disorder. As an army officer who served in East Timor and Afghanistan, he saw it among the troops. In civilian life as a lawyer, he helped and continues to help veterans psychologically scarred by their service.
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And as chief executive officer of the NSW RSL he encountered it first hand when he opened the can of worms that became the expenses scandal.
When Fairfax Media spoke to him shortly after the old guard was turfed out, he reflected on the awful experience he’d had while in the top job – a job he lost when his contract with the RSL was terminated.
The whole process of blowing the whistle on the profligate use of RSL funds for personal expenses by then NSW president Don Rowe had cost Kolomeitz dearly.
His health suffered and, tellingly, he lost more sleep than during his deployments in East Timor and Afghanistan.
Kolomeitz is a principled man who has devoted his civilian life to helping veterans, something the government which sends them into harm’s way too often neglects to do. Looking after veterans was a core component of the RSL’s role when it was established as the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League in 1916 (it became the RSL in 1965).
In a cruel twist, the NSW RSL lost its charity status as a result of the scandal and local sub branches will not be able to fundraise this Anzac Day. The sub branches are sweating on the charitable status being restored by Remembrance Day in November so they can continue their work with veterans.
As a society we honour bravery on the battlefield but we have been regrettably slow to recognise the trauma that often follows. When veterans return, they often find themselves fighting a whole new war to be compensated for the wounds that cannot be seen – the psychological injuries resulting from service.
That fight back home opens old wounds and inflicts new ones. And it’s on that domestic frontline that people like Glenn Kolomeitz continue to serve.
The changing of the guard at the NSW RSL last year was a welcome step. The inquiry that came out of Glenn Kolomeitz’s exposure of financial wrongdoing was also welcome.
Both were watershed moments for the RSL. They present an opportunity return the focus to the welfare of veterans.