By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
IT’S time for a youth injection into the ageing ranks of RSLs, says Noble Park RSL sub-branch welfare officer John Meehan.
The Vietnam veterans, like Mr Meehan, who are running the sub-branch are nearing their seventies and can hold the reins for perhaps a handful more years.
Attracting the next generation – the returned servicepeople from Iraq, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste – to take the lead is proving a challenge.
Mr Meehan says the sub-branch, run solely by volunteers, has been bolstered with affiliate members – the children of veterans, members of police and emergency services and defence reservists – but only a few ‘contemporary veterans’.
His message is the RSL is there to help the recently-returned veterans with treatment and pension claims for illnesses and disabilities.
“The concern is these kids are out there and not being helped. They’ll be having these troubles with their wives and families and we don’t know about them.
“We want to help them now.”
Only another veteran can fully know the effects of witnessing the “terrible things” these “kids” see in war. The sub-branch can be like a family. It can also direct veterans to specialist services, such as psychiatrists.
“They don’t want to tell these terrible things to their mums and dads, even their mates. It’s so difficult to speak about.
“We used to think of ourselves as young blokes. We’ve been down the same track. We are sympathetic to their cause. We can talk to them about the same things.”
Mr Meehan would go so far as putting out a “We need you” slogan to bring in Gen-Xs and Gen-Ys, males and females.
At the moment, the RSL is a hub for food, live bands, golf, fishing, bowls, darts and an extensive military library.
“We need blokes with newer ideas and better at computers,” Mr Meehan says. “We really want to embrace the kids.”
“We would look at young people taking over from us older blokes and filling up on the committee. Unless we can embrace them in the next few years as volunteers, sub-branches will close.”
