Fighting for their country one year, living under a bridge the next.
As thousands of Australians collectively spend millions on the pilgrimage to Anzac Cove to honour sacrifices made 100 years ago, an unknown number of more recent war veterans suffers silently among us, lost to the system, unemployed, and without a roof over their heads.
In a sign of Australia's penchant for symbolism over substance, official efforts to address poverty, dislocation, and homelessness among returned defence personnel go only so far.
One result is that temporary facilities for those visiting Gallipoli are superior to the permanent living conditions of some returnees.
As one senator noted, some veterans have "fallen right through the cracks", and now live in cars or on the street.
Even the size of the problem is unknown. The Department of Veterans Affairs has no firm idea how many ex-service men and women are living rough, revealing in newly released Senate documents that "DVA does not currently have reliable data about the extent of homelessness among veterans".
Answering a series of questions on notice regarding homeless veterans, the DVA revealed it had ongoing links with just one in five of the more recently returned soldiers.
Veterans Affairs Minister Michael Ronaldson said the government took the issue seriously but his department could not say if the problem of homeless veterans had increased or decreased in the past two, five, or 10 years.
"As you appreciate, homelessness is dealt with under Commonwealth-State partnerships, but if DVA finds out that one of our clients is in this position, then we do move very quickly," he told the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade.
"We contact organisations that are providing immediate accommodation, crisis accommodation. We get in touch with Centrelink to make sure they are getting benefits."
But Senator Ronaldson said ultimately it was the Department of Social Services which had responsibility for "funding matters relating to housing and homelessness".
Labor senator for South Australia Alex Gallacher, who put questions to the DVA and its minister, said he had no doubt about Senator Ronaldson's genuineness conceding that if veterans wanted to disappear, it was difficult to assist them.
"Everybody wants to do the right thing here," he said, "but there's a real problem".
"Take Afghanistan for example, after 10 years, some people who have done multiple tours, are badly traumatised, and they resist help – they fall right through the cracks."
The DVA says only about 20 per cent of younger veterans will elect to become its clients. "We will not even know about the other four in five, if they are younger vets, just because of the way in which transitioning members make choices about whether or not they want to access the services of DVA," an official told the committee.
"While the DVA does not have specific data on the extent of homelessness among veterans, we do know from broader studies of homelessness, including international and Australian studies in relation to veterans, what some of these risk factors for homelessness are."
But Moose Dunlop, who runs the organisation Trojan's Trek, which runs "circuit-breaker" outback retreats for distressed veterans, said it was not good enough that the DVA lost touch with so many former defence personnel, arguing a more pro-active stance was required with an emphasis on "early intervention and early detection".
"Why doesn't the department make a greater effort to contact these people after discharge?" he asked.
He said this could be done via a phone call to see how a person was faring, or contact with the veteran's partner.
"I mean if you can alert the system to an emerging problem, and somehow get early intervention, the recovery rates are much better," he said.
"We're talking about broken families, over-use of alcohol, and other substances, among both males and females, and for some reason, the department doesn't see it as in its charter to try and make some pro-active efforts to contact these people after discharge."
The DVA has attempted to understand the problem before. A 2009 report found there were some 3000 homeless veterans across the country on any given night. Other estimates suggest that is optimistic. Homelessness NSW and HomeGround (Victoria) both estimate that around 10 per cent of rough sleepers are veterans.
In Victoria, there are roughly 22,000 homeless people. In NSW, it's about 28,000. This includes not only rough sleepers but also those in shelters, temporary accommodation or dangerous housing.
At least 40,000 troops have been deployed to the Middle East in some capacity since the DVA report, meaning an estimate done now could yield even more concerning results.
Field experts say mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder, is a determining factor,in veterans losing control and thus losing jobs, homes, and families.
A spokesman for the DVA said the department was concerned about any instance of homelessness among veterans, but believed the incidence rate was much lower, numbering in the low hundreds rather than low thousands.
