A career that began as a 20-year-old in Vietnam

Joe’s story is a familiar one. Enlisting in the army straight out of school, he trained as a Field Engineer, and was deployed to Vietnam when he was only 20 years old. This posting would go on to have a lasting impact on his life – one that he wouldn’t fully understand until decades later.

"I’d been in denial for a very, very long time and once I had that bit of a shake up and scare, I realised that there was probably a lot more not working as it should."

Enlisting as a Field Engineer

Joe Cazey served in the Royal Australian Engineers as a Field Engineer for 25 years, where he was deployed in Vietnam early in his career, and then went onto other locations, including Papua New Guinea, Singapore and the Middle East.

Joe had always wanted to study engineering after finishing high school, but the credit squeeze of the 1960’s had hit home, making it difficult to find opportunities in the building industry, so Joe enlisted in the Australian Army to complete his studies.

Being deployed to Vietnam as a young, 20-year-old officer, the experience made a big impact on him.

“My Field Engineering unit was always involved in many different activities. We were out with the cavalry in their APC’s, and we were out with the infantry soldiers,” Joe said.

"Our squadron was unofficially known as ‘the tunnel rats’. If tunnels were discovered, we were the people who went down into the tunnels to clear them."

“We built things, we knocked things down and we laid mines, we destroyed booby traps and provided services, such as water supply.”

Emotional scars that weren’t healing

Joe was having flashbacks to his time in Vietnam. There was one particularly traumatic event where he and his soldiers were laying mines. After a short rest break one of them accidentally stepped on a mine, setting it off, and causing several casualties.

Amazingly, the fellow soldier survived despite having horrific wounds including a leg and part of his arm amputated, but Joe lives with the memory and the thought, ‘It could have been me’.

Later in life, long after he had left the army, Joe came to the stark realisation that he had some of the hallmark symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Well, initially I thought I just had the fair wear and tear stuff, such as joints, hearing and skin damage, but in time, I realised that there were other issues, mental health issues, that needed addressing."

An introduction from a mate

Remaining friends with many comrades from the Defence Force, Joe didn’t have to go far to find a warm introduction to Mates4Mates.

“A mutual friend introduced me to Mates4Mates, because another one of our compatriots was coming to Queensland to speak at a gathering about Kokoda Trekking. I attended that night and I joined Mates4Mates the following day,” he said.

But as an older generation veteran, Joe recalls some hesitation about getting involved.

“Initially I was a bit standoff-ish, because I thought it was mainly for younger ex-service personnel and that I didn’t need to be going there every day.”

“But everyone has been really welcoming, and I have since become a lot more involved.”

“I do yoga and hydrotherapy regularly as a part of my weekly schedule, and I do organised cycling and bush walking trips with the group too. There is a whole raft of activities on offer – coming here three times a week is not at all uncommon.”

Helping Joe’s ongoing sleep issues

One of Joe’s biggest issues was that he had difficulties sleeping. Every night he was having terribly broken sleep, which was slowly eroding away his quality of life.

“Life without sleep, or broken sleep, is not very much fun.”

Through Mates4Mates, Joe has found attending restorative yoga classes incredibly helpful.

"Yoga has been probably the most beneficial thing. Again, I was a bit cynical to start with thinking ‘This can’t possibly have a positive effect!’, however it has been marvellous.

“Yoga has given me skills and practises that have allowed me to get a much better night’s sleep.”

“Mates4Mates has done this for me, so it’s been wonderfully beneficial,” Joe said.

The activities that have helped Joe are offered by Mates4Mates, which is funded by the Dream Home Art Union (previously RSL Art Union) – and your VIP Club membership.

“I’d like to say an extremely large thank you!” Joe said.

“Mates4Mates is having a very positive impact on people, including myself, and without the funding it just wouldn’t exist.”

“The work that RSL Queensland does for veterans is good work, but it needs to be funded and the Dream Home Art Union is a positive way of this happening,” he said.