Life on the Line

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Lesley Carney, on deployment to the Middle East at the time of recording. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Group Captain Lesley Carney was serving in the Royal Australian Air Force with Joint Task Force 633, as the Director of Support. In 2008, Lesley was posted to the Joint Strike Fighter Program as the Australian...

Alex Lloyd interviews aviation medic and Bougainville and Timor veteran, Glenn Azar. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Glenn Azar served in the Australian Army for 17 years, where he specialised as an Aviation Medic performing Aero-Medical Evacuations in Blackhawk Helicopters. He is the founder of premier adventure trekking company Adventure Profe...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Zion Connors, currently on deployment to the Middle East.   Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Private Zion Connors is serving on Operation Accordion as a unit storeman as part of the Theatre Communications Group Rotation 10, providing logistics support to other operations throughout the Middle East. The 20-year-old s...

Angus Hordern speaks with Crystal Callender about being married to an army veteran. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This is the second ‘partners’ episode of Life on the Line. Today’s conversation is with Crystal Callender. Crystal was dating Garth Callender when the young cavalry officer’s vehicle was blown up by an IED in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2004. Cry...

Alex Lloyd interviews Royal Australian Navy veteran Jennifer Wittwer. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Jennifer Wittwer joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1981 as a supply officer. She went on to have an international career as a thought leader, humanitarian and advocate for women’s rights, equality and empowerment. Some of her roles in uniform...

A trailer for COURAGE UNDER FIRE by Daniel Keighran VC. Podcast host Alex Lloyd is a Senior Editor at book publisher Pan Macmillan Australia, and the editor of Daniel Keighran VC's autobiography. Dan's military memoir, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, is out 27 October. It's now available for preorder. Listen to this short podcast to find out more about the book and hear reviews of it by Mark Donaldson VC, Sir...

Thomas Kaye interviews combat medic Jeremy Holder. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Jeremy Holder was a medic in the Australian Army for 7 years. He served within Special Operations Command for 4 years, which included a deployment to Afghanistan with the commandos as a platoon medic. Jez spoke to Thomas Kaye about his time in Afghanistan and the...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Susan Coyle, currently on deployment to Afghanistan as Commander Joint Task Force 633. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Major General Susan Coyle CSC, DSM is a senior officer in the Australian Army. She is currently on deployment to Afghanistan as the commander of Joint Task Force 633, responsible for all Australian...

Alex Lloyd speaks with Lieutenant General John Frewen about the COVID-19 Taskforce and his military career. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Lieutenant General John Frewen DSC, AM, is currently serving in the Australian Army. He is leading the COVID-19 Taskforce established by Defence, to coordinate the ADF’s contribution to the whole-of-governme...

Alex Lloyd interviews a former captain of the Royal Australian Navy, David McCourt. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. David McCourt served as a career officer in the Royal Australian Navy. After a range of seafaring postings, David was deployed to East Timor and twice to the Arabian Gulf. To see photos related to today's interview, visit our websi...

Alex Lloyd speaks again with Afghanistan veteran Matt Williams.   Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Corporal Matthew Williams is currently serving in the Australian Army. Willy, as he’s better known, had his 21st birthday on deployment to Afghanistan. On his 22nd birthday, he received a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. But he never gave up the...

Angus Hordern interviews Iraq veteran and cancer survivor Tim Reynolds. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Tim Reynolds served in the Australian Army for 27 years. He joined as a mechanic and retired at the rank of Major. He had multiple deployments during his service, including to Iraq in 2005. He began a new civilian career in his 40s before bein...

Alex Lloyd speaks with Samantha Gash about being married to an SAS veteran. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. On this podcast, many veterans have remarked on how vital the support of a partner or loved one has been to them; that not enough is said of just what a difference it is they make. This is the first ‘partners’ episode of Life on the Line, and w...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews father and son veterans Dean and Alan Bretherton. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. In this podcast Sharon Mascall-Dare conducts two interviews with a father and son: Dean Bretherton, a veteran of the New Zealand Air Force, and his son Alan Bretherton, who is currently in the Middle East on operations with the Austra...

Alex Lloyd continues his interview with 2nd Commando Regiment veteran 'H' about his combat deployments to Afghanistan. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. This is the fifth part of Alex Lloyd's conversation with Wes 'H' Hennessey, a senior and highly decorated Special Forces veteran. They discuss H returning home after his combat-heavy 2008 deployme...

Alex Lloyd resumes his interview with Special Forces veteran 'H' about his combat deployments to Afghanistan in 2008. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is the fourth part of Alex Lloyd's conversation with 2nd Commando Regiment veteran Wes 'H' Hennessey, which began in a three-part interview in Season 3. This instalment focuses...

Angus Hordern continues his interview with Australian Army veteran John Cantwell. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's episode is the second instalment of the conversation with Major General John Cantwell AO, DSC, picking up after John's second combat tour in Iraq in 2006 and being made Deputy Chief of Army in 2007. In this episode, John talk...

Angus Hordern interviews retired Major General John Cantwell AO, DSC. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. John Cantwell AO, DSC served in the Australian Army for 38 years, retiring at the rank of Major General. He had tours of duty in the First and Second Gulf War, and the War in Afghanistan. He began his career as a Private, saw intense frontline c...

Alex Lloyd interviews Afghanistan veteran and author Tony Park. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Tony Park served in the Australian Army Reserves in a variety of roles, including as a public affairs officer. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 and had his first novel published in 2004. He spoke to Alex Lloyd about what the army did for him, th...

Angus Hordern interviews Rwanda and Afghanistan veteran Robyn White. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Lieutenant Colonel Robyn White is currently serving as the Senior Medical Officer of 6 Brigade in the Australian Army Reserve. During her service with the full-time army and Reserves, she deployed to Rwanda and twice to the Middle East, including...

Alex Lloyd interviews SAS veteran Harry Moffitt for a second time. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Harry Moffitt had eleven deployments over eleven years with the Special Air Service Regiment. His first conversation on the podcast was in Season 3. In this follow-up episode, Harry shares with Alex Lloyd more highs and lows from deployments overse...

Angus Hordern interviews legendary RAN Clearance Diver Bill Fitzgerald. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with the first Australian Clearance Diving Chief, Bill Fitzgerald. Bill joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1946. He shared with Angus Hordern his stories of blowing up mines and massive ordnance, nuclear exposure, and...

Alex Lloyd interviews SAS veterans Ben Pronk and Tim Curtis for a second time, with the dynamic duo sharing more military stories and lessons of leadership and resilience. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ben Pronk and Tim Curtis are two veterans of the Special Air Service Regiment. The ex-SAS officers swapped their rifles for MBAs and now co-run...

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews RAAF veteran Pete Nugent. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Peter Nugent is a former flight test engineer with the Royal Australian Air Force. Pete told Sharon Mascall-Dare about his early days with the military, his love of aircraft and his deployment to Iraq. To see photos related to today's interview, visit our we...

Angus Hordern continues his interview with former commando and signaller Adrian Humphries. Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's episode is the second instalment of the conversation with Adrian Humphries. Adrian is a veteran of the 2nd Commando Regiment. Adrian shares with Angus Hordern more stories from his four deployments to Afghanistan wit...