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:
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.
They returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol V.
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.
Angus Hordern interviews former Chief Petty Officer, RAN veteran Wayne Bemet.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Wayne Bemet served in The Australian Defence Force for 19 years, with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. He had 5 operational deployments, from 2002 to 2015. He was medically discharged in 2017 for a variety of physical injuries, forcing Wayne to reinvent and re-educate himself for a life moving forward. He spoke to Angus Hordern about his military career and his transition from the defence force.
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 Benedict Farrell, currently on deployment to the Middle East.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Flight Lieutenant Benedict “Eggs” Farrell joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 2015, going into RAAF Intelligence. He transferred to Logistics in 2018, and has gone to Darwin, Japan, Guam and Las Vegas on various military exercises. He is currently in the Middle East on Operation Accordion with the Air Task Group, as the officer in command of Logistics Operations. Eggs spoke to Sharon-Mascall Dare about his time in the military so far, diversity in the modern military, his family military history and how COVID-19 is affecting his current deployment.
Alex Lloyd interviews Iraq veteran Kylie Graham.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Kylie Graham served in the Australian Army for 16 years and is going on 19 year with the Royal Australian Air Force and Air Reserves. During her full-time years in the Air Force, she deployed to Iraq. She’s now a Welfare Officer and a psychologist. This is her conversation with Alex Lloyd about her years of service, memories from Iraq and her father’s time in the Vietnam War.
Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Lesley Carney, on deployment to the Middle East at the time of recording.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Group Captain Lesley Carney was serving in the Royal Australian Air Force with Joint Task Force 633, as the Director of Support. In 2008, Lesley was posted to the Joint Strike Fighter Program as the Australian Supply Chain manager in Washington DC. She received a commendation for her efforts during her tour in the US representing Australia's interests in multi-national forums and received a Bronze Star for her work as the Kandahar Air Field Chief Logistics Officer. This is her conversation with Sharon Mascall-Dare about her background, career highlights and work in the Middle East.
Thomas Kaye interviews Berlin Airlift and Vietnam War veteran, Air Marshall David Evans.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. David Evans served in the Royal Australian Air Force for 42 years, retiring as the Chief in 1985. He just missed out on action in World War II, but had a variety of deployments, including operational service in the Berlin Airlift and the Vietnam War.
Alex Lloyd interviews modern RAAF dentist Dr Ajitha Sugnanam.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. For this episode, Royal Australian Air Force officer Dr Sugnanam spoke to Alex Lloyd. Ajitha spoke about her passion to help people, how she combined a career in dentistry with a military one, her volunteer work, and her time overseas.
Alex Lloyd interviews modern RAAF veteran Dee Cherry.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. For this episode, Royal Australian Air Force servicewoman Dee Cherry spoke to Alex Lloyd. Dee talked about her family member – a recipient of the Victoria Cross – as well as her time in uniform, and her extensive work in the veterans community.
Dee returned to the podcast in the episode released for Remembrance Day 2019, Panel - Modern Veterans.
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This conversation is with East Timor and Afghanistan veteran, Sharon Bown, formerly of the Royal Australian Air Force, a registered nurse, and now an author and member of the Australian War Memorial Council. In the words of Mark Donaldson VC, "Sharon’s story is one that is rarely heard. One of compassion, commitment and courage."
Sharon returned to the podcast in the special 2018 episode Panel - Life After Service.
