Young Aussie Diggers get active in Vic RSL

Former Australian soldier Kimberley Novak is haunted by the eyes of a man whose lifeless body was picked up and thrown in front of a moving truck in Iraq in 2004.

Ms Novak is one of many young veterans whose war experiences have brought on symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"I was driving when I saw people in the middle of a road (in Iraq)," Ms Novak told AAP.

"Somebody king-hit one of the men. Then they picked him up over their shoulders and threw him in front of a semi-trailer.

"I just remember seeing his wide eyes."

When Ms Novak first left the army she lived a like a hermit, without purpose and found it difficult to adjust back into civilian life in Australia.

"I'd hear a loud noise and I would drop to the ground thinking it was mortar fire."

Former soldier Jason Jinks remembers seeing the dead body of a boy lying in the gutter after a car bomb exploded in front of the Australian Embassy he was guarding in Iraq in 2004.

"He had a lemonade stand that he ran for his father," Mr Jinks told AAP.

Mr Jinks says it was years after returning to Australia before he realised how deeply his time in Iraq had affected him.

"I was lucky to get out of my house and go to the supermarket," Mr Jinks told AAP.

Ms Novak and Mr Jinks are two of about a dozen young veterans who gathered on a Melbourne beach on Friday, for a day of surfing to launch the RSL's Active program.

"I had the initial thought it (the RSL) was an old man's club where they go to spin their old war stories," Mr Jinks told AAP.

Ms Novak also encourages all former Australian soldiers to join their local RSL.

"We feel we can talk to each other and know we're not being judged," Ms Novak told AAP.

"If you go home and keep it inside that's when it becomes a problem."

The Victorian RSL has planned events such as bushwalking, cycling, mountain biking and canoeing for the young veterans who are classed as those who have served in wars since the 1990s.