Circumstantial. 

Research into circumstances that are of a personal nature are sometimes required for the correct treatment of veterans’ claims. 

This may take the form of researching placements or certain actions or requirements during military operations. 

To this, service in certain tropical areas means that the general use of certain drugs, or certain actions has taken place. 

Likewise, a service situation carried out in arctic conditions or desert conditions has its own idiosyncrasies, which are often unannounced until research is carried out to find some proof of their existence. 

Such research is necessary when an advocate or helper is unfamiliar with the particular service situation for which someone seeks help. 

Often times, proof is required to negate statements of supposed service circumstances that are not correct. Sometimes the military history researchers report on factors that have not really existed. 

Such a circumstance may require research for proof in order that a veteran or serviceperson gains correct compensation that cannot have a prejudiced outlook. 

Since military compensation is not offered outright, a member is required to prove the environment of his circumstances, in order to gain the correct compensation. 

Such research may take the form of record searching, or seeking witness statements, to comply with those requirements. 

The circumstances of the research may not be seen as personal or prejudiced. 

Medical. 

In terms of Medical Conditions, Diseases and Injuries, the veteran community can be seen somewhat as a leader in its approach to causal factors that result in those conditions, diseases and injuries. 

This comes about because of the legal requirement, in Australia, for the need for the study of the causes of onset and their need to relate epidemiologicaly towards that onset. 

Of its own makeup, this is somewhat of an anomaly, since the word epidemiology is a part of the word whose noun is epidemic, and since the Australian Defence Forces {ADF} require its members to be seen as totally fit and without any of the diseases, conditions and injuries, such referral studies arise from outside of the service community. 

Such outside studies, often do not take into account the severe conditions required by service personnel, since the general community which serves as study bases for epidemiology are not required to perform some of the tasks required by service life. 

An outstanding example of this would perhaps be the results of the SR51 Deseal/Reseal Inquiry which enquired into the service-related use of very toxic chemicals necessary for the future functioning of service equipment, in this case, the General Dynamics F111 bomber aircraft. 

The result of this Inquiry showed that service personnel are required, consistently, to go beyond the normal conditions for civilian employment, and the regime of silence, from superiors, command structures (including Department of Defence), medical treatment systems, that ensure that the task is carried out, regardless the outcomes. Such does not normally occur in the civilian populace or its epidemiological studies. 

Further, the service regime leads to the use of youthful personnel who carry out these roles, but who often suffer from related outcomes later in their lives. 

Because of the legal commitment, the Repatriation Medical Authority carries out research within the regime set by the 1994 variations to the Veterans’ Entitlement Act. Such searches lead to the production of Statements of Principle (SoP) being introduced for each condition, disease or injury, with which veterans of services must comply to gain forms of compensation. 

Because of the human element involved, these SoP’s may be flawed, and later studies into the disease, condition or injury, may point towards a change of outlook towards certain causal conditions. 

Outside of the service situation, there are no forms of accepted causal factors with lead to those diseases, conditions or injuries. And those SoP’s become somewhat of an Australian benchmark for causal factors causing diseases, conditions and injuries, albeit with a swing toward the military system. 

So, the veteran community needs to carry out research to ensure that those causal factors are recognised by the SoP’s, since they are a statute of Law within the precincts of the Federal Court of Australia. 

To some degree, those SoP’s are limited, since there is no accepted form of searching by the RMA, into the long term effects that some of those conditions may cause. Such circumstances require more research. 

Further, there are conditions that are not generalised conditions, but which are relative to certain areas. Generally, the SoP’s do not cover those conditions, and often the epidemiological evidence for them is sparse since they are localised and those areas do not often carry out clinical medical studies. 

To some degree, the SoP merely covers some of the more well known conditions, electing to leave research into lesser conditions until they are needed. 

This action also requires a specialised research regime. 

Statements of Principle are required to study causal factors from within three outlooks, according to the Veterans’ Entitlement Act; Epidemiological evidence, reports that comply with epidemiological standards, and compliant with current specialist medical practices. 

In many ways, researching causal factors for such diseases, conditions and injuries, becomes a search into the Medico-Legal aspects of the formation of those acceptances. 

To this outlook, our research must be not personalised or prejudiced, and it must point towards an honest outcome, however, to reach such high standards, it requires a depth that can be daunting. It requires that all avenues are researched thoroughly in an effort to produce a credible outcome. 

AVENUES OF HELP. 

Towards corrections, and toward correct knowledge, our researchers use whatever assistance they can use. 

Records do exist in archives, records of service and personal documents, as well as other persons who served in an area, as well as existing Federal Court of Australia records. 

Medical research can be taken from further afield than simply Australian or American epidemiologic studies. Records of report and current medical practice are researched, along with some of the best specialists in their field. 

In reality, the research must be free from personal or prejudiced input and must not have a personal outlook, such as unsubstantiated personal assumptions. 

Such research must be exhaustive and bear an authority beyond question.