The Soldier Citizen Study- Discover The Impact of War on Soldiers & their Families.
Explore “The Soldier Citizen” AI research project and understand the impact of war on soldiers and their families- a groundbreaking research project led by Dr. Jonathan Drane, shedding light on the profound effects of war on soldiers and their families.
Focusing on mental health, suicide, and domestic violence, this insightful study delves into the soldier’s journey from citizen to combatant and their challenging transition back to civilian life. Engage with this compelling research to gain a deeper understanding of the silent battles soldiers and their families face and contribute to potential solutions for their reintegration into society.
Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement are shown at the bottom of this page. Please read these before any interaction with the research process of this web page and programme.
Seeking Help if this topic causes distress
Our research project does not seek to provide advice related to mental or physical health and we refer you to such providers like Lifeline, 1800 Respect, Beyond Blue and other similar providers.
About The Soldier Citizen Project
The Soldier Citizen- a not for profit research project about soldier transition into civilian life. The Soldier Citizen research project by Dr Jonathan Drane focuses on understanding the effect of war on soldiers and their families, with an emphasis on related mental health, suicidality and domestic violence.
The research is founded by Dr Jon Drane and is created through Optimum Search (est 1993) which is on a not for profit, benevolent basis. Optimum Search seeks collaborative partners to support the research. For more information please contact Jon through the contact form below.
About Dr Jon Drane and his journey so far
Jon is the son of a WWII soldier and was a teenage cadet under officer in the 1960s in the lead up to the Vietnam War. He is also a mentor with Soldier On and Mentoring Men and runs an independent research centre called Optimum Search (est 1993).
The research was created by Jon’s ongoing quest to track his own father’s war journey and understand its effect on his family. This quest resonated more recently with his experience with Soldier On and its mentor’s and mentees. The project was born in October 2024 after interaction with the Soldier On 2024 programme (this does not imply that Soldier On is a sponsor of this research).
See linked in post:
Research Relevance
The research is formed in an era following the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and a concurrent intense focus by Government on solving domestic violence.
The research seeks to build a cultural data framework for general understanding of soldier journey through social research methods that could help develop potential solutions. (Quotes from the Royal Commission:)
‘One of the many findings from the Royal Commission showed a need to reform the collection of data related to mental health and military service journey’[1].
‘Defence identified issues related to data sharing, data capability, data platforms, data quality, data accountability, and data inconsistency’.[2]
[1] Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide- Volume 1: Executive summary, recommendations and the fundamentals:
‘Item 109: Though Defence and DVA collect a range of data, it has not been used effectively to identify, understand and monitor the impact of risk and protective factors for suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving ADF members.’
[2] Item 110: As recently as February 2023, Defence identified ‘pain points’ related to data sharing, data capability, data platforms, data quality, data accountability, and data inconsistency
Focus: Soldier Journey- A cultural framework
The research seeks to provide a cultural understanding of the soldier’s journey back into citizen society by charting their pathway through original citizenship, recruitment, military training, combat experience/interface and then integration back into citizen society and family.
Why do we research only soldiers and not cover all military service people?
Our capacity to research all facets, actors and impacts across all military service people is limited by our resources as an independent, not for profit, self funded research centre.
We also see combat related soldiers as the canary in the mine and an important place to start before expanding into other cohorts. Feel free to contact Dr Jon Drane on this point if you have valuable input that helps this. See contact form below.
About our use of AI Generation in our Research Programme
The Soldier Citizen research projects involves a central approach of content analysis using thematic research methods. It also includes case studies, interviews and research interactions through this web page and its associated articles. We use Mendelay as our key content analysis and reference manager tool.
Key research content includes our gathering of data from both the Australian War Memorial and The Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide.
The enormous content load and its analysis is helped by use of AI based on our own design of a coding and thematic hierarchy. AI’s foundation is based on a language model which understands and assists with both the content analysis strategy and the gathering and coding of content based data.
We also train Chat Bots to provide information on the research as well as an ability to help soldiers and their families to understand the impact of war on their soldier partners and their families.
We are collating information and establishing a thematic analysis and coda from multiple sources including The Royal Commission Report which we have found is now dormant and subject to ‘creative commons by‘ rights which we observe.
Due to the enormous content we have started training an AI People Bot (see below) to help with queries and to structure our research. The assistance is amazing but we maintain personal scrutiny over the new supposedly magical AI phenomena! We have accordingly classified our people bots as Beta or on a trial basis.
Our first chat bot is called Sofia (see below). Please feel free to ask her any questions you might have.
Learn More from our AI Chat Bot (BETA)- Say good day to Sofia
Share your story or register Your Experience-(anonymous)
We welcome any comments from soldiers or family members who are struggling or simply want to contribute their story to our research.
Seeking Help if this topic causes distress
Our research project does not seek to provide advice related to mental or physical health and we refer you to such providers like Lifeline, 1800 Respect, Beyond Blue and other similar providers
Ethics Statement
Our research programme follows ethics guidelines from UNSW where Doctor Jon Drane is both an alumni and holds a PhD in the growth of cities.
Link to UNSW Library for Published Doctorate
Dr Jon is a member of University of Newcastle’s I2N Integrated Innovation Network where he encourages start ups. He also hosts a podcast called The Never Ending Startup which has interviewed I2N startups.
Terms and Conditions:
The Soldier Citizen project is a creation of Optimum Search and is hosted on The City Whisperer on jondrane.net.
Dr Jon Drane is the founder and lead researcher.
Content created through the AI generator is through the mixture of AI and lived experience data owned by Optimum Search.
The content is issued to any user on a trial basis and the AI generator is a beta.
We appreciate any input and will keep your data private ( see privacy policy below).
By engaging with ‘The Soldier Citizen’ research through this webpage, you agree to our terms and conditions. Your participation in our study is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw at any point without any negative consequences. All information shared is strictly confidential and will be used solely for research purposes. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your explicit consent.
By participating in this research, you understand and agree that ‘The Soldier Citizen’ will have no liability in relation to any harm, loss, or damage suffered by you or by your dependents as a result of your participation in this study. You hereby waive and release ‘The Soldier Citizen’, its employees, agents, and affiliates from any claim of such liability.
Please note that by continuing to use this website and participating in our research, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to these terms and conditions. If you do not agree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not participate in the research. Your participation is an affirmation of your agreement to these terms.
Any queries please contact Jon Drane on the contact form below.
Privacy Statement:
We at ‘The Soldier Citizen’ respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy statement will inform you about how we look after your personal data when you visit our website and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
We collect personal data for the purpose of this research only, which includes identity and contact data. We ensure that all data is stored securely and not shared with any third parties without your explicit consent. We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
Your privacy is of utmost importance to us and we are committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of all visitors to our site. We are also committed to being transparent about what data we collect about you and how we use it. You have the right to request access to your personal data, to ask that your personal data be rectified, cancelled or opposed, and to request data portability. If you have any questions about this privacy statement or our privacy practices, please contact us.
The Soldier Citizen is copyright Jonathan Drane © 2025 all rights reserved.
