More ADF victims, including a doctor, allege abuse during ADF interrogation training

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

A former military doctor and a former military police corporal have spoken publicly for the first time about their experiences of horrific abuse inside the Australian Defence Force’s interrogation training program

Both were subjected to the secretive Resistance to Interrogation training – also known as Conduct After Capture – while serving in different units and at different times.

It comes after The Nightly last week revealed Australian soldiers were brutally tortured, sexually assaulted and psychologically injured by their own colleagues during top-secret training exercises spanning decades.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has since found that dozens of complaints about the training involved “the most serious forms of abuse” as a potential class action looms.

Steven Scally, a former ADF officer who served for more than two decades across multiple corps, said he experienced the training both as a participant and later as a supervising medical officer.

“The experience was completely horrific,” he said.

“I still live with the effects of it today.”

Dr Scally undertook a 24-hour RTI exercise in 1991 as an armoured corps officer. He said neither he nor his troop were warned, briefed or asked to consent beforehand. No formal debrief or follow-up was provided.

More than a decade later, in 2005, he oversaw three RTI activities as a medical officer, including exercises involving the Special Air Service Regiment at Canungra in Queensland.

From both perspectives, he said, the program caused harm that could not be justified.

“I think the training is totally unjustified on a benefit versus harm equation,” he said.

“It should be radically modified or expunged from military training.”

Dr Scally said the techniques used during RTI training included sleep deprivation, humiliation, sensory distortion and psychological coercion.

He also raised concerns about the role of medical and psychological staff, questioning whether they were able to act independently.

“I do not recall during any exercises a ‘friendly’ psychologist being on staff, who would advocate for the captive,” he said.

“Challenging the wants of command is an audacious, if not career-ending, prospect.”

Despite Defence assurances the training is conducted under strict safeguards – including voluntary participation, oversight mechanisms and support services – Dr Scally said his own experiences “directly refute the disingenuous reassurances of the ADF”.

“The ADF has no evidence basis for the operational benefit of RTI training,” he said.

Dr Scally, who now works as a general practitioner in Queensland, said he lives with the psychological consequences, including “nightmares and guilt”.

“I live with the vestiges of my experiences … both as a recipient and as a perpetrator,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Military Police corporal Gavin Lynch said he was subjected to what he considers sexual assault during an RTI exercise at Canungra in about 2005.

“What I experienced was not training in any reasonable sense,” he said.

“It was degrading, non-consensual, and, in my view, constituted serious misconduct.”

“During an interrogation exercise, I was subjected to what I unequivocally consider to be sexual assault.

“I did not consent to this, nor was I informed beforehand of the nature or extent of what the exercise would involve.”

Shortly after the exercise, Mr Lynch developed shingles across his forehead, which he believes was linked to the physical and psychological stress of the training.

“I have previously raised these concerns with the Defence Force and have sought access to footage of the interrogation. This has not been provided,” he said.

“This training did not prepare me for operational duties. It caused harm.

“I believe those responsible for the design, approval, and execution of this program should be held accountable.”

Mr Lynch said he has never formally complained about the training.

“I have discussed the incident with a psychiatrist about four years ago,” he said.

“The report the psychiatrist wrote was provided to Defence, however there was no follow-up from Defence.

“In my opinion there is a place for awareness of conduct after capture if you are deploying on war-like conditions. This does not include sexual assault.”

A former member of Perth’s SASR, who asked not to be identified, has also alleged he was digitally raped during RTI training at the end of his special forces selection course in the early 1990s.

“I was part of one of the cohorts who got it really bad,” he said.

“There were 30 of us put through RTI and six of us were sexually assaulted.”

The former operator said that by the final days of the 21-day selection course, he was extremely fatigued, malnourished, emaciated and hallucinating when RTI began without warning.

He said candidates were stripped naked, hooded with pillowcases and restrained with cable ties for up to four days.

He described being deprived of sleep, subjected to stress positions and repeatedly humiliated.

During one interrogation, he said he was taken into a room with two women and two men.

“I was naked and the women made degrading, humiliating comments about my body, in particular the size of my penis,” he said.

“One of the men put a blue latex glove on. I was forced face down over a table and something was inserted into my anus. I assume it was a man’s finger, but I can’t be sure.

“I’ve blocked out anything else that happened in the room from that point.”

The former soldier, who served for almost three decades, said the training was not voluntary and refusal would have meant failing selection.

“I now understand the training was filmed, with footage used by the Intelligence Corps for training purposes,” he said.

“I’m disgusted to think others would have seen me in such a vulnerable, weak state, and I can’t bear to think about others witnessing the sexual abuse I suffered.”

The new accounts add to growing scrutiny of the training, which is delivered by the ADF’s Intelligence Corps.

As previously revealed by The Nightly, the Commonwealth Ombudsman received 65 complaints under the Defence Abuse Reparation Scheme relating to RTI and CAC training.

The Federal watchdog found that in 57 cases the conduct met the threshold for the most serious forms of abuse with the claims resulting in payments of almost $3 million.

In a statement last week, a spokesperson said Defence “acknowledges the experiences of those affected by earlier versions of Conduct After Capture training” and remains committed to ensuring the program is delivered safely.

Defence Minister Richard Marles last week sidestepped questions about the latest allegations.

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