Pain medication bludged off his mates was how Justin Huggett endured a back injury early in his time serving in the Australian Army.
The veteran had a distinguished 14-year career across East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan between 2000 and 2013, rising through the ranks to Section Commander and earning a Medal for Gallantry for his service.
But when he suffered a back injury in 2004, he said he had to argue with medical staff to receive proper treatment.
"The most frustrating part in the beginning was it wasn't taken seriously," Mr Huggett said.
"It was like the staff that were helping me were going to have to fund the MRI scan out of their own pocket, that's what it felt like."
Eight weeks later, Mr Huggett was diagnosed with two bulging discs in his back.
He now works as a veterans' advocate.
On Wednesday, he gave evidence before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, telling the commission he regularly hears similar stories from other veterans.
"That's what a lot of people feel like to this day," Mr Huggett told the commissioners.
"If I was a rugby player, no dramas, I would have had an MRI five minutes after I hurt myself.
"Simply put, rugby league players and AFL players are treated better than what our own soldiers are, and that's disgraceful."
Soldiers hide injuries to stay in the force
Mr Huggett told the commission he went on to hide his injury to avoid being moved to lighter duties.
"The first thing you worry about is being taken out of your platoon and put in another organisation," Mr Huggett said.
"That's when you can get yourself into mischief because you start self-medicating, bludging medication off people.
"You're looking for different treatments off base, so that you can stay in the job."
He said the inadequate early treatment of his injury, combined with his decision to hide its impacts, has had long-term effects.
"I took so many [painkillers] managing that injury that I'm not allowed to take ibuprofen ever again," Mr Huggett said.
"It's damaged my stomach lining, so I'm now on a different medication to manage that.
"I was bludging strong pain med, opioid painkillers, off people to manage to treat an injury that was treated poorly from the very beginning."
'Absolute rubbish': Huggett disputes ADF critical incident support process
On Tuesday, the commission heard from ADF psychologists and health leaders who outlined the mental health support offered to members following "critical incidents".
Mr Huggett disputed claims that psychological assessments were undertaken following critical incidents in the field.
He said when he saw fellow soldiers killed while serving in Afghanistan there was a culture of "getting on with the job".
"It was the most dangerous place in the world at that stage, and when it did happen it was shocking to see, shocking to be around," Mr Huggett said.
"But you need to squeeze that back down.
"There is no 'pause' when there is an incident – you have an incident, you suck it up and you get on with your job."
He said it was a harsh and challenging training environment that prepared him for the trauma in the field.
"I can say, wholeheartedly, that that hard training I got gave me the ability to deal with all of that.
"I would say that if I wasn't exposed to that really hard training, both physical and mental challenges that came with the training, I don't know whether I would come out the back end of some of those horrible things in the state that I did, or whether I would be sitting here in the state that I am now."
