#135 Donald McDowell

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:

• #15 Adrian Clunies-Ross

• Panel - The Vietnam War

• Keith Payne VC - No One Left Behind

• #133 Peter Watt

#121 Catherine Walsh

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Royal Australian Air Force veteran Catherine Walsh.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Catherine Walsh is a former Air Force intelligence officer and former aide-de-camp to the Governor-General. Today she’s Director of Veterans South Australia. Catherine spoke to Sharon Mascall-Dare about the RAAF, her deployment to the Middle East, her time in the Vice-Regal sphere, and her work today in the Air Force Reserves and with Veterans SA.

Life After Service: Tamara Sloper-Harding

Tamara Sloper-Harding served in the Royal Australian Navy as an intelligence officer and saw deployments to East Timor and Bougainville.

In this episode of Life After Service, Tarama catches up with an old navy colleague, Angus Hordern, and reflects on her life post service, including a little village called Soibada that captured her heart.

If you want to find out more about the charity and support the efforts of Tamara and co, you can find out more on Facebook, or you can reach out to them at: pittwaterfriendsofsoibada@gmail.com

Watch the episode on YouTube above, or listen to the audio-only version below.

Life After Service: Sarah Watson

An intelligence officer to Iron Man athlete to veterans advocate. Sarah Watson is the first veteran we feature in our series Life After Service.

In our podcast interview with her (#76), we discussed her time in the Australian Defence Force. In this documentary, we cover her challenges and successes in her time adapting to life after the military.

Watch the episode on YouTube above, or listen to the audio-only version below.

#76 Sarah Watson

Alex Lloyd interviews Iraq veteran Sarah Watson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Sarah Watson was an Intelligence Officer in the Australian Army. She deployed to Iraq in 2006 and was the Intelligence Analyst for all Middle Eastern countries except Afghanistan during the Arab Spring. This is Alex Lloyd's conversation with Sarah about the challenges and victories she faced in uniform, and beyond.

Sarah returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.

Sarah was also featured in the video documentary series LIFE AFTER SERVICE.

#52 Emma Grigson

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Afghanistan veteran Emma Grigson.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Emma Grigson deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Army as a Medical Officer, and then continued to serve as an Intelligence Officer. Emma shared with Sharon Mascall-Dare her story of personal courage in overcoming adversity.

To mark the approach of Anzac Day, this podcast finishes with something different - a song. The song "War" by John Lynam was inspired when John met then 23-year-old Afghanistan veteran Beau Rutledge. John is putting together a special project and hopes any Afghanistan veteran with images or video they're willing to share will contact him at John Lynam Music on Facebook.

#48 Tamara Sloper-Harding

Thomas Kaye interviews Timor and Bougainville veteran Tamara Sloper-Harding.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Tamara Sloper-Harding served in the Royal Australian Navy as an intelligence officer, and saw multiple deployments to East Timor and Bougainville. She spoke to Thomas Kaye about her experiences in the navy as a woman, the highs and lows, her time overseas and her passion to help those in need.

Tamara was profiled in the video documentary episode Life After Service - Tamara Sloper-Harding.

#19 Sally Heidenreich

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Today's conversation is with Sally Heidenreich, a former intelligence officer in the Australian Army who saw multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Sally spoke to Sharon Mascall-Dare about what her service means to her, how it's affected her and the key role Sally played in the fight against the Taliban.