Life on the Line

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

Episodes

Tuesday Nov 08, 2022

#134 Graham Goodwin

Tuesday Nov 08, 2022

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Timor and Afghanistan veteran Graham Goodwin.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Brigadier Graham Goodwin CSC is currently the commander of 9th Brigade Australian Army. As a Reservist, Graham has had a significant career in the ADF and South Australia Police, including deployments to Timor and Afghanistan, and serving in recent domestic operations in response to bushfires and COVID-19.

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 Oct 25, 2022

#133 Peter Watt

Tuesday Oct 25, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews Australian Army veteran Peter Watt.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Peter Watt enlisted during the Vietnam War. He has been a soldier, articled clerk to a solicitor, prawn trawler deckhand, builder's labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant and adviser to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. Today, he is a volunteer firefighter with the Rural Fire Service and an author. His new novel, CALL OF EMPIRE, is out now in print, audiobook and ebook, and Alex is Peter’s publisher at Pan Macmillan.

Tuesday Oct 11, 2022

#132 Michael Greenway

Tuesday Oct 11, 2022

Angus Hordern interviews Australian Army veteran Michael Greenway.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Michael Greenway served in the Australian Army for 36 years. He was in the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps, and spent most of his career working in supply. He deployed to Namibia, Timor, Iraq, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan, as part of peacekeeping and military operations. Michael spoke with Angus Hordern about highlights from his career and the vital role of supply in allowing our armed forces to do what they do.

Tuesday Sep 27, 2022

#131 Sabrina Smeaton

Tuesday Sep 27, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews Afghanistan veteran Sabrina Smeaton.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Sabrina Smeaton is a veteran of the Australian Army. She served in the artillery corps, working as a Weapon Locating Radar operator and a Scan Eagle UAV operator. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. Sabrina spoke to Alex Lloyd about her passion for military service, why she joined, her experiences in artillery and in Afghanistan, her transition coming home and life after service.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Sep 13, 2022

#130 Trent Burnard

Tuesday Sep 13, 2022

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews army veteran Trent Burnard.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Colonel Trent Burnard has worn an army uniform for 32 years. He went from soldier to officer, deployed to Rwanda and East Timor, and worked in Intelligence. Today he focuses on teaching leadership and resilience as a co-founder of Hindsight Leadership.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Aug 30, 2022

#31 Dr Dan Pronk Vol III

Tuesday Aug 30, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews former special forces combat doctor Dan Pronk about his new memoir, THE COMBAT DOCTOR.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Dr Dan Pronk is a former special forces combat doctor. He deployed 4 times to Afghanistan and went on over 100 combat missions. In his 7th appearance on the show, Dan spoke to Alex Lloyd about his new book, his life story, called THE COMBAT DOCTOR. The book is out now in print, audiobook and ebook, and Alex is Dan's publisher at Pan Macmillan.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Aug 23, 2022

Panel - Veteran Suicide

Tuesday Aug 23, 2022

Alex Lloyd hosts a panel on the veteran suicide crisis, with Wes ‘H’ Hennessey and Renee Wilson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. On 11 August 2022, the Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was submitted to the Governor-General, and then to Parliament. While this podcast sees itself as a veterans storytelling platform first and foremost, topics as exceptional as this are an ongoing part of the stories of veterans and families around the country. As a nation, we’ve lost more veterans to suicide than we did to combat in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This Royal Commission was something tirelessly campaigned for by veterans and families, so this interim report is an important measure of whether it’s achieving what so many wanted it to.

To discuss the interim report, host Alex Lloyd welcomed back two previous guests. Wes ‘H’ Hennessey is veteran of the 2nd Commando Regiment, a deeply experienced and well-decorated soldier after many combat deployments to Afghanistan. Renee Wilson is the CEO of Australian War Widows NSW, an ambassador for the Commando Welfare Trust, and is a staunch advocate for veterans and their families. She is also the wife of veteran Gary Wilson, who was significantly injured in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

You can listen to this episode in your usual podcast app, or watch our Zoom recording on YouTube.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Aug 16, 2022

The Fall of Kabul with Glenn Kolomeitz

Tuesday Aug 16, 2022

Angus Hordern speaks with veteran Glenn Kolomeitz about the fall of Kabul in 2021.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Glenn Kolomeitz is a veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force and the Australian Army. Among other roles, he’s been an MP and deployed to Afghanistan as a Legal Officer, working to enable Special Forces on their missions. He was originally interviewed by Angus Hordern in Season 2 of the podcast, in #22 Glenn Kolomeitz. This year, Glenn came back on the show to speak with Angus about the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, one year on, and the work Glenn continues to do in the veterans community.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Aug 02, 2022

#129 Paul Gebran

Tuesday Aug 02, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews Middle East, South Sudan and Cambodia veteran of the RAAF, Paul Gebran.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Paul Gebran is a veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force. He joined on April 24th 1990 and medically discharged on April 25th 2017. Paul spoke to Alex Lloyd about his deployments to Cambodia, South Sudan and the Middle East, and the volunteer work he does today with Northern Queensland Legacy.

Tuesday Jul 19, 2022

#128 Ryan Wilson

Tuesday Jul 19, 2022

Angus Hordern interviews SAS veteran of Afghanistan, Ryan Wilson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Ryan Wilson is a veteran of the Special Air Service Regiment. Over the course of his military career, he deployed to Malaysia, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan, as well as training overseas. Today, he is the General Manager of Whipper Snapper Distillery, and is the WA State Manager for the veterans charity Wandering Warriors. Ryan spoke with Angus Hordern about his career in Special Forces, life after service and reflected on the difference they made in Afghanistan.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Jul 05, 2022

#127 Reg Chard

Tuesday Jul 05, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews World War II veteran Reg Chard.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Reg Chard was an infantryman in the Australian Army in the Second World War. He fought in the jungle against the Japanese in New Guinea along the Kokoda Trail in 1942 for months. Since 2011, Reg has been a volunteer guide at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Sydney. In 2022, the 98-year-old celebrates the release of his biography, THE DIGGER OF KOKODA by Daniel Lane. Reg spoke with Alex Lloyd about his military service, his experiences in New Guinea and how Kokoda still lives with him today.

This conversation can be watched as a video podcast on YouTube or heard through all podcast apps.

Tuesday Jun 21, 2022

#126 Gareth Gardner

Tuesday Jun 21, 2022

Thomas Kaye interviews army veteran Gareth Gardner.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Gareth Gardner served in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, deploying as a driver to Timor-Leste and Afghanistan. He transitioned from digger to officer, becoming a tank commander. Gareth spoke to Thomas Kaye about his military service, his love for teaching and instructing, and the work he’s doing today with the veterans employment program company WithYouWithMe.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:

Tuesday Jun 07, 2022

#125 Ant Plater

Tuesday Jun 07, 2022

Alex Lloyd interviews 2nd Commando Regiment veteran Ant Plater.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Former Special Forces operator Ant Plater served in the Australian Defence Force for 27 years, 17 of which were with the Commandos. He deployed to Somalia, Bougainville, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, served in the Tactical Assault Group-East, and was the counter-terrorism advisor to the Australian Federal Police. Today, he’s a high-performance consultant for the Canberra Raiders and an advocate for the Commando Welfare Trust. The 2nd Commando Regiment veteran spoke with Alex Lloyd about his journey to the army and Special Forces, some of his deployments, the idea of ‘tribe’, and being a leader at the tip of the spear.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include: