Ex-paratrooper Sam Bamford who served in Afghanistan reveals the struggles he faced returning to ‘Civvy Street’
A former soldier has revealed how the work ethic he learned in the military landed him in hot water in his first civilian job after leaving the army.
Sam Bamford, 34, from Adelaide, joined the Australian Defence Force straight out of school in 2009 and served his country on a six-month tour in Afghanistan in 2012.
Mr Bamford’s tour was marked by a ‘green on blue’ attack in August of that year, whereby Afghan soldiers turned on their NATO allies, killing three of his fellow Australian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, while another nine were injured.
Two Australian Defence Force soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on the same day.
‘This is our single worst day in Afghanistan,’ the then prime minister Julia Gillard said at the time.
Adjusting to life on ‘Civvy Street’ was always going to be difficult after such a harrowing experience.
But Mr Bamford was caught off guard a few days into his first ‘normal’ job, aged 23, on a building site working on the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval.
‘It was just a completely different world for me. I didn’t really understand some of the unwritten rules,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Sam Bamford (pictured recently), 34, from Adelaide, joined the Australian army straight our of school in 2009 and served his country on a six-month tour in Afghanistan in 2012
Mr Bamford’s tour was marked by a ‘green on blue’ attack, whereby Afghan soldiers turned on their NATO allies, killing three of his fellow Australian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, with another nine injured
‘Like the fact that you are not meant to work in the rain. The weather doesn’t factor in the military. It can be hot, lightening or hail – the war doesn’t stop if it’s raining over in Afghanistan.’
The former paratrooper said the military kept its soldiers in a ‘fight’ rather than ‘flight’ mode for the length of their deployment, so they were ready for action at a moment’s notice.
‘If you’re over in Afghan and you get shot at, you need to fight back. If there’s an IED (improvised explosive device) strike, you need to react or if there’s a casualty you might need to patch him up,’ he explained.
‘But when I got out of the military they don’t really give you that de-sensitisation training to perhaps sit more in the middle of that fight or flight response.
‘One day on the building site it started to rain and I kept working. This guy came up and had a bit of a crack at me. he said: “Hey, mate, what are you f****ing doing?”
‘And my response was “what does it f***ing look like? I’m working. I don’t stop just because it’s raining”.’
Mr Bamford said the man accused him of being a ‘scab’ and brought over a senior union delegate, who approached him in a similarly aggressive manner.
Mr Bamford (pictured on duty in the ADF) was caught off guard a few days into his first ‘normal’ job, aged 23, on a building site working on the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval when a union official accused him of being a ‘scab’ for working in the rain
‘I just went to that fight response and told them all to F-off again,’ Mr Bamford said.
Mr Bamford’s supervisor eventually told the union leaders that he had just got out of the army and didn’t know the rules around working in the rain, which diffused the situation.
‘I obviously now understand that because there are safety rules and regulations and workers’ rights,’ he said.
‘The military doesn’t work like that. They do a great job of keeping soldiers as close to that fight response as much as possible,’ he said.
‘But when you get out there’s none of that like de-sensitisation to get you back into a normal state of mind to be able to function in society.’
Mr Bamford, who now hosts a podcast called 2 Worlds Collide where he hears from fellow veterans about their experiences in conflict and back at home, said his experience on the building site was indicative of the broader struggles of veterans face when adapting to ‘normal’ life.
In April, he is aiming to raise $100,000 by running over 1,000km from Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road for a charity called Aussie Front Line which helps veterans and first responders.
He will run over 52km – more than a marathon – a day for 20 days straight.
‘We forget about our first responders and what they have to deal with on a daily basis,’ Mr Bamford added.
Mr Bamford, who now has a podcast called 2 Worlds Collide where he speaks to fellow veterans about their experiences in conflict and back at home, said the episode on the building site was indicative of the broader struggles of adapting to a completely different way of life
‘Us military guys, we go on deployments for six months and we can stay in that zone, that fight zone, while we are away with no distractions.
‘But police officers, firemen and paramedics do daily deployments. Imagine going to a crash of a family of four, having to pull them out of the car and then that night having to take your own kid to a soccer game.’
Australian Defence Force veterans are more likely to die by suicide than the general population.
Suicide rates for ex-servicemen are 26 per cent higher than the average person, while for ex-servicewomen it is 100 per cent higher, according to The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
