Life on the Line

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Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories.

Episodes

Tuesday Aug 29, 2023

#144 Phillip Thompson

Tuesday Aug 29, 2023

Angus Hordern interviews Afghanistan veteran and Federal MP Phillip Thompson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Phillip Thompson is the Federal Member for Herbert and an Australian Army veteran. He deployed to Timor and Afghanistan, and was blown up by an improvised explosive device. He represented Australia at the Invictus Games in 2014 and now represents Townsville in Canberra. This is his conversation with Angus Hordern.

This episode was edited by Sophie Hu.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

To see photos related to today's interview, visit our website - www.lifeonthelinepodcast.com - or follow us on social media: @lifeonthelinepodcast on Facebook and Instagram, @LOTLpod on Twitter and 'Thistle Productions' on LinkedIn.

Tuesday Aug 15, 2023

#143 Rebecca and Ashley Semmens

Tuesday Aug 15, 2023

Alex Lloyd interviews navy veterans Rebecca and Ashley Semmens.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Rebecca Semmens served in the Royal Australian Navy for 18 years, and was medically discharged in 2020 at the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Bec was a medic, and deployed to Timor and Afghanistan. Her husband, Ashley Semmens, was a Clearance Diver, also serving in the navy for 18 years. Ash had multiple deployments, including to Afghanistan. He was a Clearance Diver, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal expert and was in Kabul during the evacuation as the Taliban retook the country in 2021. He medically discharged in 2022 as a Chief Petty Officer. Bec and Ash spoke jointly with Alex Lloyd at the Gaythorne RSL in Brisbane.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Aug 01, 2023

#142 Mark Direen

Tuesday Aug 01, 2023

Thomas Kaye interviews Special Air Service Regiment veteran Mark Direen.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Mark Direen deployed multiple times to Afghanistan as a member of the SASR. He experienced long range reconnaissance missions, more kinetic operations and was injured by an improvised explosive device. He also worked at the Australian Embassy in Kabul. Today he runs his company Point Assist, its goal to assist people to evolve through experience. This is his conversation with Thomas Kaye.

This episode was edited by Sophie Hu.

Tuesday Jul 18, 2023

#141 Rob Manton

Tuesday Jul 18, 2023

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews army veteran Rob Manton.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Rob Manton served in the Australian Army for 30 years. His time in uniform saw multiple command appointments, an operational deployment to Iraq, and advisory and peacekeeping roles with the United Nations. Today, he’s the Chair of the Veterans Advisory Council in South Australia. He spoke to Sharon Mascall-Dare in Adelaide.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Jul 04, 2023

#140 Mike Armstrong

Tuesday Jul 04, 2023

Angus Hordern interviews Afghanistan veteran and artist Mike Armstrong.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Michael Armstrong joined the Australian Defence Force in 1998 as an aircraft technician. He went on to serve as a signals officer, deploying with 2 RAR to Timor and with the 2nd Commando Regiment to Afghanistan. He was on the last plane out of Afghanistan in Rotation XX. Throughout his time in the army Mike also taught as a hand-to-hand combat instructor, drawing on his martial arts background. He moved to work in Cyber before medically discharging. Today he keeps connected with the veteran community through his ‘Voices of Veterans’ artwork.

The episode referenced at the end of the podcast is #97 Paul Cale.

https://voicesofveterans.com.au

Tuesday Jun 20, 2023

#139 Ryan Shaw

Tuesday Jun 20, 2023

Alex Lloyd interviews former sniper team leader Ryan Shaw.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ryan Shaw joined the Australian Defence Force in 2006. During his 14-year career in the military he was a sniper team leader, deployed to Timor and Afghanistan, and worked in border protection. Today he’s the Director of Gaythorne RSL, in Brisbane, where he spoke with Alex Lloyd.

Tuesday Jun 06, 2023

#138 Rod Henderson

Tuesday Jun 06, 2023

Angus Hordern interviews Army Aviation veteran Rod Henderson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Rod Henderson is an Australian Army veteran. He has served as an infantryman and in Army Aviation, working with Black Hawks and Chinooks, including as a door gunner. Rod has deployed on warlike and humanitarian operations to Timor, Pakistan, New Guinea and Afghanistan. He’s now a volunteer guide at the Australian War Memorial.

This episode was edited by Sophie Hu.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday May 23, 2023

#137 John White

Tuesday May 23, 2023

Alex Lloyd interviews Vietnam War veteran John White.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. John White was an officer in the Australian Army during the Vietnam War. He was decorated for outstanding gallantry in the 1968 Battle of Ngok Tavak in South Vietnam. In the first episode of Season 7, Alex Lloyd spoke with John at Gaythorne RSL in Brisbane.

This episode was edited by Sophie Hu.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday May 16, 2023

Season 7 Trailer

Tuesday May 16, 2023

Welcome to Season 7 of LIFE ON THE LINE, Australia's first and leading veterans podcast, from Thistle Productions.

In our 7th year, after 6 seasons, 2 miniseries, 261 podcasts, 17 video episodes, 188 veterans and over 1.7 million downloads, Life on the Line is back. We now present Season 7. Our ongoing mission is to track down Australian military veterans and record their stories, from World War II to the 21st century. The vision of Life on the Line continues to be to capture the raw human stories behind the broader brushstrokes of history, and to explore service: why people serve, and how a life of service changes them. From acts of valour to the trauma of conflict, and how veterans can grow and change from that trauma. This podcast seeks to discover the human side of war, the truth of battle scars and what it’s really like to put one’s life on the line.

This season, we will bring you conversations with servicemen and servicewoman of all ranks from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Forces, who have been on peacekeeping deployments, and seen action in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. On Tuesday May 23rd, check out your preferred podcast app, YouTube or our website for our first episode, with a veteran of the Vietnam War who was decorated for outstanding gallantry on the battlefield. We'll release a new episode every fortnight.

Our website is www.lifeonthelinepodcast.com. Find us on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook @lifeonthelinepodcast, on Twitter @LOTLpod and on LinkedIn @ThistleProductions. Life on the Line is brought to you by Thistle Productions. Artwork by Big Cat Design. Music by Dan Van Werkhoven. Thank you for listening and Lest We Forget.

Tuesday Mar 21, 2023

For School and Country

Tuesday Mar 21, 2023

Alex Lloyd introduces the WWII video documentary FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY, now on YouTube.

FOR SCHOOL AND COUNTRY is a five-part video documentary miniseries, created by us, Thistle Productions. The series chronicles the lives and service of twelve WWII veterans who went to school together and took up arms when war broke out. This production was originally released on DVD in 2015 - the first ‘Thistle Productions’ project - and it is finally available for free via streaming.

These dozen veterans served across the whole theatre of war. At sea they fought the Bismarck and the Admiral Graf Spee, and sailed in the Mediterranean Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, including at the largest naval engagement of the war. On land they fought at Tobruk, El Alamein and Tarakan; and they trekked through the jungles of New Guinea and landed on the beaches of Balikpapan. And in the sky they flew over Europe for Bomber Command, over the Middle East for the Desert Air Force, and with the Forgotten Army in Burma. Many had narrow escapes, including one sole survivor when his bomber crashed in enemy territory.

Watch the episodes via www.youtube.com/lifeonthelinepodcast now:

Find out more about the documentary at www.lifeonthelinepodcast.com/documentary.

Tuesday Dec 20, 2022

Christmas on the Line Vol V

Tuesday Dec 20, 2022

Veterans of Season 6 share their stories of a Christmas in uniform.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Veterans of Season 6 share with the Thistle Productions team their experiences of Christmas in uniform, from deployments overseas and back home in Australia.

The episodes these veterans were featured in earlier this season include:

Our previous Christmas specials from Seasons 2-5 can be found here:

Tuesday Dec 06, 2022

#136 Curtis McGrath

Tuesday Dec 06, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews former combat engineer, Paralympian and IED survivor, Curtis McGrath.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Curtis McGrath OAM is a soldier turned sporting superstar. He was a combat engineer in the Australian Army, and lost his legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2012. From there, he set himself a seemingly impossible goal – to compete in the Paralympics. Today, Curtis is a world champion paracanoeist, having won over a dozen gold medals at numerous Paracanoe World Championships and at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics. In the Season 6 finale, Curtis spoke to Alex Lloyd about his military career, the day of the blast in Afghanistan, his remarkable outlook on life, and how he turned a potentially life-ending moment into something remarkably powerful and life changing.

Tuesday Nov 22, 2022

#135 Donald McDowell

Tuesday Nov 22, 2022

Angus Hordern interviews AATTV veteran Donald McDowell.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Donald McDowell is a veteran of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. The AATTV was a specialist unit of Australian Army military advisors, active from 1962 to 1973. It was specifically raised as part of Australia’s contribution to the Vietnam War. It’s one of Australia’s most heavily decorated units, including four Victoria Crosses. Don spoke to Angus Hordern about his military career, his time in Vietnam, and his reflections on the war.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include: