That is the concept behind the Australian Warfighters Coffee Van, led by Wagga man and army reservist Justin Prosser.

The former army recruit instructor said he had seen numerous defence members finding difficulties in adapting to civilian life, which sparked the coffee van idea.

“Especially those who move back to regional centres that don’t have large defence communities,” Mr Prosser said.

“They may be struggling to re-assimilate because the civilian world is very different to defence, especially if they’re from a combat corps.

“Everyone can have a chat over coffee, so why not help them do it for a good cause?”

As well as defence, he said those in emergency services were also a target audience.

“In defence, you’ve got various veteran-support groups, but there are not too many for emergency services,” he said.

“We had a paramedic working with us who said it’s not the full-blown incidents that hurt them; it’s things like families crying that do.

“We also need to look after the firies, ambulance officers and corrections officers as well.

“They just fall under the work-cover system, but they see trauma every day, whereas we in defence see it in different patterns and our stresses are different.”

Asked about having a van instead of a storefront, the 34-year-old said “the beauty of having a cafe in a van is that we can move around to different locations in the Riverina”.

”I’m not aware of anything similar happening,” he said.

While the ‘Australian Warfighters’ brand has been operating for a number of years now, which includes a veteran paintball group, the coffee aspect began only three weeks ago in Townsville.

Mr Prosser said the Riverina’s coffee van is set to launch within the next 3–4 months.

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