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.
They returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol V.
Thomas Kaye interviews former JTAC and Middle East veteran, Troy Knight.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Troy Knight is a former JTAC - a Joint Terminal Attack Controller. The JTACs are known as the Special Forces unit of the Air Force, with Troy deploying alongside members of the Special Operations Task Group in combat in the Middle East. The Royal Australian Air Force veteran has deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as doing private security work. Troy spoke to Thomas Kaye in the Hornsby RSL club.
Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast include:
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 in 2000 as a rifleman. He spent time as a Linguist, including a deployment to Indonesia after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. In 2008, he became an Examiner Psychological, and is currently deployed to the Middle East with Joint Task Force 633 in this capacity. He spoke to Sharon Mascall-Dare about his deployment experiences, family and psychology work in the ADF.
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 with the Theatre Communications Group Rotation 10 as the Regimental Quarter Master Sergeant, and this deployment finished at the end of September 2020. Kelly spoke to Sharon Mascall-Dare about her various deployments, her battle with alcoholism as a result of trauma from her service, how she overcame those difficulties, the mentoring role she plays to young people today, and the impact of COVID-19 on her recent deployment.
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 being diagnosed with a terminal cancer. This is Tim's conversation with Angus Hordern of a life in uniform, deployments overseas and overcoming adversity against the odds.
Tim returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.
