Life on the Line

This is the audio-only version of our Life After Service episode with Glenn Kolomeitz. Watch the video documentary episode now on YouTube ! Former aircraft technician, military policeman and legal officer, Glenn Kolomeitz is the next veteran in the Life After Service series. In our podcast interview with Glenn (#22), we covered his early life, military career, and ongoing work in the veteran commu...

Angus Hordern interviews 2nd Commando Regiment veteran and IED survivor, Damien Thomlinson. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. This is our second video podcast - you can watch the whole conversation between Damien Thomlinson and Angus Hordern now on YouTube . Damien deployed to Fiji, Timor and Afghanistan with the 2nd Commando Regiment. He lost bot...

Angus Hordern interviews Gulf War veteran Chris Oxenbould. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Chris Oxenbould was a Rear Admiral in the Royal Australian Navy. Among other deployments, Chris was the Commander of the Royal Australian Navy Task Group both during and after the First Gulf War. There, his task group became part of the largest grouping of...

This is the audio-only version of our Life After Service episode with Sarah Watson. Watch the video documentary episode now on YouTube ! An intelligence officer to Iron Man athlete to veterans advocate. Sarah Watson is the first veteran we feature in our series Life After Service. In our podcast interview with her (#76), we discussed her time in the Australian Defence Force. In this documentary, w...

Watch the trailer for our new video documentary series on YouTube ! From World War II to modern-day conflicts and everything in-between, LIFE ON THE LINE has been bringing you the stories from veterans far and wide that have done their part for their friends, family and nation. Covering their reasons to join, who they are behind the uniform and focus on their time in service. LIFE AFTER SERVICE is...

Alex Lloyd interviews army veteran Monika Georgieva. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Monika Georgieva was the first female to attempt selection for the 2nd Commando Regiment and the Special Air Service Regiment. She made two attempts at SAS selection, then went on to be Australia’s first female infantry officer, having commanded a rifle platoon...

Alex Lloyd interviews 2nd Commando Regiment veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, Heston Russell. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. This is the first episode of Season 5, our 207th podcast, and our 102nd veteran conversation. In all that time we've brought you stories from World War II to the modern era. Today's chat is with a Special Forces veteran of...

Welcome to Season 5 of LIFE ON THE LINE, Australia's first and leading veterans podcast, from Thistle Productions. Season 5 of LIFE ON THE LINE begins next week! Subscribe to get all content. Continue to listen to breathtaking Australian stories as you've never heard them before. This year we will also do a handful of video podcasts, released exclusively to our YouTube channel. This is in addition...

Alex Lloyd interviews SAS veteran Bob Hunter. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. The Season 4 finale is with Bob Hunter, a former Squadron Commander in the Special Air Service Regiment. Bob was in command the night of the 1996 Black Hawk disaster, where two helicopters collided, and 15 SASR and 3 Aviation Regiment soldiers lost their lives. Bob spo...

Veterans of Season 4 share their stories of a Christmas in uniform. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Veterans and other guests of Season 4 share with the Thistle Productions team their experiences of Christmas in uniform, from deployments overseas and back home in Australia. These stories have not been previously featured on the podcast. Featured gues...

Thomas Kaye speaks with Renee Wilson about being the partner of a military helicopter crash survivor. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This is the third ‘partners’ episode of Life on the Line. Today’s conversation is with Renee Wilson. Renee was engaged to Gary Wilson, a signaller attached to the 2nd Commando Regiment, when Gary was injured in a Black...

Thomas Kaye interviews 2nd Commando Regiment veteran and Black Hawk crash survivor, Gary Wilson.   Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Gary Wilson was a signaller attached to the 2nd Commando Regiment. Gary survived a catastrophic helicopter crash in Afghanistan, on 21 June 2010. Gary was severely injured, including a traumatic brain injury. Three A...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Timor, Indonesia and Middle East veteran, Phillip Condoleon. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Sergeant Phillip Condoleon is currently serving in the Australian Army in the 1st Psychology Unit. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Infantry in 1994 as a reservist and became full-time in 1999. Phillip deployed to Timor...

Alex Lloyd speaks with ABC journalist Siobhan Heanue about the relationship between the military, the media and the public.  Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Siobhan Heanue is an ABC journalist based in Townsville for ABC North Queensland. She was previously the ABC’s South Asia correspondent, where she reported from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan...

Angus Hordern interviews Vietnam veteran Madelon Heuke.   Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Madelon 'Del' Heuke was a nurse in the Royal Australian Air Force. In 1965 she was deployed to Butterworth, Malaysia, where she nursed Australian soldiers that had been wounded in action in the Vietnam War. She also flew into Vietnam for medevacs. She share...

Alex Lloyd interviews 2nd Commando Regiment veteran and renowned martial artist Paul Cale. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Paul Cale is a veteran of the 2nd Commando Regiment and a black belt in eight different styles of martial arts. He has been involved with the Australian Army for 30 years, either as a soldier or a preferred contractor, as he...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Benedict Farrell, currently on deployment to the Middle East. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Flight Lieutenant Benedict “Eggs” Farrell joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 2015, going into RAAF Intelligence. He transferred to Logistics in 2018, and has gone to Darwin, Japan, Guam and Las Vegas on various milit...

Alex Lloyd interviews Victoria Cross recipient Dan Keighran and retired Major General John Cantwell. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Daniel Keighran VC is the 99th Australian to receive the Victoria Cross, our nation’s highest award for bravery. Dan served in the Australian Army, 6 RAR, for a decade, deploying twice to Malaysia, once to Timor, o...

Alex Lloyd interviews Iraq veteran Kylie Graham. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Kylie Graham served in the Australian Army for 16 years and is going on 19 year with the Royal Australian Air Force and Air Reserves. During her full-time years in the Air Force, she deployed to Iraq. She’s now a Welfare Officer and a psychologist. This is her conve...

Alex Lloyd speaks with Ben Mckelvey about his new book, Mosul, and the 2nd Commando Regiment. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ben Mckelvey, author of Cameron Baird’s posthumous biography, has released a new book, “Mosul: Australia’s secret war inside the ISIS caliphate”. The book tells the stories of the late Ian Turner of the 2nd Commando Regim...

Angus Hordern interviews submarine captain and Cold War veteran, Ian Roberts. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ian Roberts served in the Royal Australian Navy for 25 years. He earned the coveted Dolphins badge, marking him as a submariner. He went on to become one of the first Australian-born officers to command a Royal Australian Navy submarine....

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Kelly Hammant, on deployment to the Middle East at the time of recording. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Warrant Officer Class One Kelly Hammant has served in the Australian Army for 24 years and had 10 deployments, including to Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan and border protection. She deployed to the Middle East wi...

Alex Lloyd continues his interview with 2nd Commando Regiment veteran Dean Parkinson. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's episode is the second instalment of the conversation with Dean Parkinson, picking up after Dean's first combat tour in Afghanistan in 2009. In this episode, Dean talks to Alex Lloyd about his 2010 combat deployment, losin...

Alex Lloyd interviews former Commando and Afghanistan veteran Dean Parkinson. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Dean Parkinson is a veteran of the 2nd Commando Regiment. Despite significant injuries in an aircraft accident in training, Dean eventually became a commando and deployed twice to Afghanistan. He’s also competed at the highest profession...

Angus Hordern speaks with Dr Brendan Nelson about Australia’s 101st Victoria Cross recipient, Teddy Sheean VC. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Teddy Sheean received the Victoria Cross posthumously for his heroism during the sinking of HMAS Armidale on 1 December 1942. Seventy-eight years later, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II approved the award o...