the suicides of five young sailors who served on the same base over two years has unearthed a shocking culture of ice taking, binge drinking, bullying and depression within the australian navy the sailors were stationed or had been stationed at the west australian port of hmas stirling off the coast of rockingham, south of perth their families did not learn of their previous attempts to take their own lives and their drug use until after their deaths, according to abc's 730 program scroll down for video  stuart addison was serving on hmas stirling off the coast of western australia when he took his own life  five of the sailors who committed suicide had been serving with the australian navy on hmas stirling  stuart addison hanged himself while he was on shore leave in 2011 and his father, mark addison, was faced with the tough decision to turn off his son's life support after several days in hospital 'it's a decision that i don't think any parent should have to make,' mark told 730 mark was left devastated by his loss and was dealt a further blow when navy records revealed his son had tired to take his own life twice before stuart had also been on psychiatric medication, which the family were also unaware about his father, mark addison, was devastated by the blow and had to make the difficult decision to turn his son's life support  matt henry, who was friends with stuart, said there was a drug culture within the australian navy  'they knew and we weren't told about it we were kept in the dark,' stuart's sister jessica ames said to make sure this does not happen to other families, mark has started up a changeorg petition asking prime minister tony abbott to allow the families of military personnel access to their files when there was evidence of self harm brett dwyer, who was best friends with stuart, took his own life just months later  he wants to make sure the devastating pain he feels never happens to other families it was also revealed by stuart's friend and former sailor matt henry, who had also attempted to take his own life on several occasions, that ice use and drinking was rife within the ranks of hmas sterling mr henry said ice was the 'drug of choice in western australia' because it was so readily available through their sailor friends he said he believed his friends' use of the drug ruined their lives another sailor, brett dwyer, who served alongside stuart took his own life just three months after his best friend brett's doctors advised the navy he should not have been sent to sea due to chemical burns on his hands but he was sent to hmas stirling where he was bullied by navy personnel his rsl counsellor, brian o'neill, said one 'disgusting' incident involved brett being dangled overboard by his legs by shipmates in late 2011, brett was discharged after saying he had used drugs, including ice mr o'neill said the young sailor was not taking the illicit substance and just said he did to break free of the navy 'we woke up in the morning and he was hanging on our balustrade which is in the middle of the house his mother and i had to cut him down,' brett's father, mark dwyer, told the national broadcaster like the addisons, brett's family did not find out about his medical history until after his death brett was on psychiatric medication to treat his depression stuart's family did not know he was on psychiatric medication and sister jessica ames said they were kept in the dark by the navy  rsl counsellor brian o'neill said mr dwyer told the navy he was taking ice to get out of the service  'i wouldn't wish that on any family what they did was wrong,' mark said 'they think of him as a number he wasn’t a number, he was our son' three more similar cases of men who took their own lives were revealed in the 730 report their mental health issues and suicide attempts were kept inside the navy and their families only became aware after their funerals this included jake casey, ewen mcdonald and stephen bebbington both jake casey (left), who was pallbearer for brett dwyer, and stephen bebbington (right) took their own lives  'they're trying to sweep this issue under the carpet,' ewen's sister kenna crichton said he tried to take his own three times before he shot himself in october 2011, following the death of best friend stephen who committed suicide six months earlier while jake casey, who was pallbearer for brett dwyer, developed an ice habit and hanged himself three days before the first anniversary of his friend's death he had ice in system when he was found but one navy wife tried to warn the service about the problem when she found out her husband had a drug habit the wife of bradley livingston said he had a drug problem and took ice, which she tried to warn his commanding officer about  karley livingston said her claims were ignored and she was treated by the officer as a 'stupid navy wife' mr livingston died of a suspected drug overdose, but it is not clear if he wanted to take his own life  karley livingston's husband, bradley livingston, died of a suspected drug overdose and had tried to prevent this from happening by going to his commanding officer she was told by the officer to go to the chaplain and was treated like a 'stupid navy wife' the navy said it was now investigating ms livingston's claim the service has reviewed its privacy policy about suicide attempts and will not be making changes, 730 reported 'defence conducted a review of health information practices in late 2013,' the navy said in a statement 'the review reaffirmed that it is the member who determines who has access to their personal health information and recommended that there be no change to defence policy or practice in third party disclosure'
stuart addison's stuart two years wa hmas stirling
five sailors took their own lives while serving on wa's hmas stirling  suicides happened over two years and some had attempted it before  stuart addison's family didn't know about his other attempts until his death  it was a similar case for four other families, including stuart's close friends  revelations of ice use, binge drinking and depression have also emerged 