Lachlan Woolford vests up for a month for a cause close to his heart

Lachlan Woolford is a well-known Narrabri man who’s a loving husband and father, a mate to many, a local cricketer and is employed as a maintenance planner at his workplace.

He is also a serving member in the RAAF Reserves and he previously served 12 years in the RAAF as an Avionics Technician.

Mr Woolford was deployed on numerous exercises both within Australia and overseas, and he also completed a four-month deployment to UAE as part of Operation OKRA.

After being discharged, he relocated to his hometown in Narrabri where he has since settled with his wife and daughter.

But it was hardly a smooth and simple transition.

Mr Woolford told The Courier that since being discharged, he had noticed that there was little to no support for past serving members like himself outside of capital cities.

“I struggled coming back from my four-month deployment [in UAE] and I didn’t even do anything crazy,” Mr Woolford said.

“I was over there then within two days I was back here, walking around a Woolworths like nothing had even happened, looking at everyone else who have no idea what is going on over there.

“As soon as I was discharged I noticed there was a distinct disconnect, the transition phase was black and white.

“One minute you’ve got the uniform on then next minute you don’t.

“They give us so much training and from when we join up they break us down and mould us into what they want us to be but they don’t give us any training on how to deal with that or forget all that.

“More needs to be done to help us, definitely. There needs to be more support.

“You don’t realise how it’s going to affect you until it does. I didn’t think it would affect me and for a while I thought I was alright.

“I came back and drank more than I did before, that sort of stuff.

“Then you realise how many people are affected by that.”

Reflecting on his own transition inspired Mr Woolford to take action and raise both funds for and awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder for returning servicemen and women.

He created the ‘Vested for a Cause’ campaign through the Soldier On fundraising portal.

During the 31-day campaign, Mr Woolford wore a 10kg weight vest continuously, only removing it to sleep and shower.

The significance of the vest is that when you take it off the weight is removed, however, the weight of PTSD on returning servicemen and women is something that is constantly carried around and cannot simply be taken off.

The vest became a part of Mr Woolford’s life for the month as he worked, trained at the gym and even played cricket with it on.

The campaign also required the Narrabri man to set a target goal for fundraising. He chose $2000 for that goal which he has well and truly smashed as he nears the $10,000 mark which he described as overwhelming.

“I didn’t even think I’d get close to $2000 to be honest,” he said.

“The response I’ve got back from everyone has been overwhelming, from day dot.

“I’d especially like to thank my two major sponsors Phoenix Two390 and Turner Signs. Without these two businesses my cause wouldn’t have made any progress.

“On the fundraising page we’ve gone past $9400 and I still have some cash I need to put in so we are looking at around about $9800.

“People can still donate to help push us past the $10,000 mark.

“The deepest of thanks to everyone who has supported me, it has been tremendous and I cannot put it into words how I feel honestly.

“The goal for me was not the money though.

“It was a knee-jerk reaction that I decided to run the fundraiser, it was sitting on the backburner for a bit wanting to do something then I decided that I needed to do something now.

“Being a rural guy, like many people from out in the country you join up to see the world and get out of your hometown.

“Usually country guys do their minimum term then move back home, but they are still carrying that mental weight.

“You have to deal with PTSD, the stress of what you were put through, then now the stress of living out in the country too, the remote locality stuff that we all have to deal with.

“Then you add the stigma that country lads are supposed to be tough, and joining the army is meant to make you tougher, but you move back home and you now have a mental disability that you struggle with.

“My goal was to create awareness of this, if I could reach out to that one bloke who was sitting at home in the middle of nowhere going through this and he realised that there was support out there then I’d be happy.

“My message to those people is that there is help and support out there, put your hand up and don’t let it spiral.”

Mr Woolford said that he was determined to run the ‘Vested for a Cause’ campaign every year going forward.

He is looking for others to join him in September 2021, and he has already put plans in the pipeline to source more vests for a team event.

“Next year it will be big,” Mr Woolford said.

“That’s my goal now since there’s been such a good response this year, to get it going bigger and better next year.

“There’ll be decent planning heading into September and we will go after a lot more backing.

“This year I didn’t even door knock down the main street, or I didn’t even reach out to Moree or Tamworth or Gunnedah or anywhere like that.

“There’s so much more potential out there and there are veterans out there who want to join the cause and there are so many people who want to do something to help returned veterans.”

Donations can be made to Mr Woolford’s ‘Vested for a Cause’ campaign here.