>After that, in 2011, the Australian veteran was deployed to Afghanistan on a "mixed" base alongside Afghan National Army troops where he said he became concerned about sexual assault.

>The commission was told that Afghans at the patrol base would regularly "bring in children" and be sexually abusive to them.

>"I had an incident that happened to me prior to going on ... my leave," the veteran said of his time on the base.

>That incident, the veteran said, was when Afghan troops invited him for a cup of tea and offered him what he thought was tobacco.

>The veteran said he consumed the black substance then recalled his pulse racing and "coming to" on his back, with a bloody mouth.

>He then returned to his quarters on the base where he "sort of processed what had occurred", before seeking treatment from a medic.

>"I didn't really want to believe it but I knew what had happened, and then one of the ANA made out a gesture and I knew," he said.

>The veteran said: "My feeling is that I've had a war crime occur to me."

>When he returned from overseas, the veteran started to abuse drugs and alcohol, gamble heavily, and thought about suicide after comrades in his unit took their lives, before he was discharged in 2017.

www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7620568/adf-inquiry-told-of-dildo-incident/