Army enlists help to deter wife abuse

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 26

Army enlists help to deter wife abuse

•PA Wellington. The New Zealand Army has asked Men for NonViolence to provide counsellors for Army families troubled by domestic violence. The request was made of the group, which helps men who physically or sexually abuse their spouses, after a report last year about the abuse of Army wives. According to a spokesman for a working party on the subject, Colonel Bret Bestic, the report by an anonymous Army wife had taught the Army nothing. “The report caused such a stir in the news media though, we thought we had better check our own backyard. It sparked us into action,” he said. Accepting counsellors from Men for Non-Violence was still an “if,” but it would help the problem at a national level. “In the Army, we have a little bit more control than in society — a little bit more ‘thou shaft’ — so instead of just advising a man

to seek help, we can tell a man to go to a counsellor. "If we can then contribute to Men for Non-Violence’s database and information on the problem, so much the better.” . A spokesman for Men for Non-Violence,- Mr Mike Simpson, said the group would be willing to provide counsellors for the Army. Army training could breed aggression in some cases, he said. “There is a high concentraton of stress because of the closed sort of community they live in, with no alternative involvement with other people.” Army training, which taught men to retaliate physically, could carry on into marriage, Mr Simpson said. But Colonel Bestic said that assumption was incorrect because the Army taught self-control and was far more self-disciplined than the bulk of society. He said the Army “came out smelling like a rose”

when police reports of domestic violence were compared between Army camps such as Waiouru and Burnham, and specialised towns such as Twizel and Tokoroa. “There is no reason even remotely to suppose that there is more domestic violence in- the army than anywhere else, but the Army is only a slice of society and if society is not good, then the Army is not good.” In the last two years at Burnham military camp, three women had come forward to complain about violence. “If we accept the advice of experts such as Social Welfare and women’s refuges, then if we have one complaint, we have the tip of an iceberg — the biggest problem is trying to find out whether we really do have a problem.’ 1 A letter had been circulated through all camps saying the Army would not tolerate domestic violence.