NOTHING could have prepared Val Wiseman for the day she lost her husband.

She knew the risks of being an Army wife. There was always the possibility David, a former military investigator, could be taken from her while on duty.

But she never thought she would lose him the way she did. In the years before his death David was struggling. Two decades of active service had begun to take their toll. But it was an incident in East Timor that Mrs Wiseman believes “tipped him over the edge”.

She told news.com.au her husband was investigating an internal matter and was unhappy with the way it was handled. It ended up causing him great distress.

Not long after he retired from the Australian Defence Force in 2005.

A year later he was dead.

“I was the one who found him,” Mrs Wiseman told news.com.au. “I got up that morning and I knew something was wrong. I just ran around the house looking for him and I saw him through the window.

“I tried to get him down but he was already gone.”

David had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Before he took his own life, the father-of-two had been admitted to hospital and was under the care of a psychiatrist.

Mrs Wiseman said she believed the therapy was helping and her husband was recovering but he never opened up about his personal battles.

“He was very, very closed off,” she explained. “He had trouble eating, sleeping, he would lose his temper and raise his voice.

“While that might have been common at work it wasn’t at home.

“I encouraged him to see a psychiatrist here and I had to admit him into the psyche unit.

“He had two or three stints there and I would see him every morning.

“There would be times he appeared to be doing quite well but then would fall down in a heap again. But he would never speak about it.

“I only found out about some of the things happening when we were at the Veterans Affairs office and he broke down.

“He was trying to get the gold card. One thing that was playing on his mind was that he wasn’t bringing in any money. He was unable to work. They were stalling his gold card and it was very stressful for him.

“They approved it three days after his death.”

David Wiseman’s private battle is one that is all too common among Australia’s returned soldiers.

According to Queensland-based charity, Walking Wounded, since 1999, 49 soldiers have been killed while on active duty, 239 veterans have taken their own lives.

Founder and chief executive Brian Freeman said many veterans struggled adjusting to civilian life, and without the proper support could spiral into deep depression that could cause them to take their own lives.

He set up the charity to provide counselling and support to those returned soldiers and to promote a zero tolerance of veteran suicide.

“Life in the defence force is so far removed from that of the average Australian,” Mr Freeman said.

“When that way of life is taken away, for whatever reason, it’s a new battle that these soldiers face — one that can include homelessness, incarceration, family breakdowns and sadly in the worst instances, suicide.

“Soldiers have struggled for many years losing mates on the battlefields; we certainly shouldn’t be losing those we fought alongside, back on home soil.

“At Walking Wounded we know if we can provide returning soldiers with early mentoring and counselling, we can help stop these issues from developing. And let’s be frank, what price do we put on a life, and indeed on someone that has been brave enough to serve our country?”

It is this support Mrs Wiseman said she wished they had access to when David first came home.

She explained there was very little for either of them around the time of his death and that she wished she could have spoken to someone who was going through the same experience.

That is why she is now sharing her story as part of Walking Wounded’s campaign to end veteran suicide which features her husband David in billboard posters around Queensland.

The couple’s daughter Tara posted on Facebook just this week how proud she was her dad was part of something so powerful.

“I am honestly so grateful that my amazing dad is part of the new ad campaign,” she wrote. “If he wasn’t a face for it due to his suicide he would have been on the front line promoting and supporting it.

“I’m not going to lie, I cry every time I see his poster or billboard but it gives me hope that other people will see and notice it and he can help make a change.

“Love you so much my daddy for giving your entire life to other people.”

Mrs Wiseman said she hoped that by sharing their story it would help other army families reach out for support and prevent further deaths from happening.

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit its website.