Dave F.

I enlisted in the Australian Army in January 1996. After completing training at the Australian Defence Force Academy and Royal Military College I was allocated to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps and posted to the 5th/7th Battalion (Mechanised), The Royal Australian Regiment which was based in Darwin. I was lucky enough to spend the majority of my career in the 5th/7th and 5th Battalions and deployed to Timor Leste and Afghanistan with those units and to Iraq with the Australian Joint Task Force Headquarters.

During my time in the Army I served with some outstanding young Australians and worked closely with soldiers and civilians from many nations. I was awarded no medals for leadership or courage under fire, I wasn’t special forces or a senior leader. I was just a normal Infantry Officer. As far as anyone outside my family and friends knew, I was a no one soldier, just another guy in uniform. I retired from the Army in December 2016 and now work as a Defence and National Security consultant. I am also President of the 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment Association, a not-for-profit association that looks after the welfare and wellbeing of ex-members of the 5th Battalion.

In writing my tales of being a no one soldier I am hoping that I can shed some light on the experiences of the everyday soldier in our nation’s most recent conflicts. I hope that these tales can increase the understanding of our service, our sacrifice, what it is like to come home and what life is like after. I hope that other soldiers will write their stories as well, that all of the tales of the no one soldiers become known to many more. They should be.

Sam O.

I joined the Australian Army in February 2006. After completion of my training at Kapooka and Singleton (The School Of Infantry) I was posted to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, in Townsville. In 2007 I deployed to East Timor with Charlie Company as part of Timor Leste Battle Group 2. From 2008 to the end of 2009 I was posted to the Combat Training Centre and facilitated multiple mission rehearsal exercises for troops deploying to the Middle East and spent a fair period of time in Tully (Jungle Warfare Training Centre) honing my skills and abilities as an infantry soldier. 

In 2010 I was posted to Charlie Company (aka The Jackals), The 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment. It was here I deployed to Afghanistan as part of the 2nd Mentoring Task Force. This deployment would be the defining moment of my life, apart from becoming a husband and father of course! At 5 RAR I had the honour of working alongside the finest young soldiers in the Army. We all had the same ETHOS and values in and outside of work which made us all extremely close and extremely effective at our jobs. It was a period of my life that I hold very close to my heart as I have lost many comrades, abroad and at home. 

After discharging in 2013, like many others I struggled for many years finding my place in this crazy world, and I eventually found it in being a family man. Like the Infantry motto, “Duty First”, for me now it’s family first. And now after all this time I’ve found a passion for writing and telling my stories. After all, to this day I meet a lot of people who really have no idea what soldiers did or how we lived while on deployment. So by using my writing skills and pretty good memory I’d love to share my experiences with an audience who have questions. And I hope that it inspires my fellow diggers and servicemen and women worldwide to pick up the pen and put it to paper, as each story is unique and captivating. All you need to do is back yourself and surround yourself with like minded people and keep your eyes. I know it helped me.