Filtering by Tag: transition

#131 Sabrina Smeaton

September 27, 2022  /  Alex Lloyd

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.

They returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol V.

Episodes referenced at the end of the podcast:

tags / artillery, Afghanistan, veteran suicide, transition

#111 Chad McLaren

July 13, 2021  /  Alex Lloyd

Sharon Mascall-Dare interviews Timor and border protection veteran, Chad McLaren.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Chad McLaren served in the Australian Army as an infantryman and deployed to East Timor in 2000. He then transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and served as a medic, including on border protection. At the Torrens Parade Ground in Adelaide, Chad spoke with Sharon Mascall-Dare about his military career, the role of sport in his life in and out of the military and the importance of veteran storytelling. Chad is one of the founders of Walk for a Veteran, with the 2021 walk set for August.

tags / Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, infantry, medic, East Timor, border security, Walk for a Veteran, Charity, transition

#90 Glenn Azar

September 15, 2020  /  Alex Lloyd

Alex Lloyd interviews aviation medic and Bougainville and Timor veteran, Glenn Azar.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Glenn Azar served in the Australian Army for 17 years, where he specialised as an Aviation Medic performing Aero-Medical Evacuations in Blackhawk Helicopters. He is the founder of premier adventure trekking company Adventure Professionals where he has completed over 60 crossings of the Kokoda Track. Glenn spoke to Alex Lloyd about his difficult youth, memorable deployment experiences in Bougainville and Timor, the power of mindset and the capacity of the human spirit.

Alex also spoke with his daughter, Alyssa Azar – the youngest Australian to summit Mt Everest – about how she believes the military influenced Glenn, from resilience to his parenting style to his outlook on life.

Glenn and Alyssa returned to the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.

tags / medic, Timor, Bougainville, transition, psychology, resilience, Glenn Azar, Alyssa Azar, Mt Everest, Kokoda

The Partners - Samantha Gash

July 31, 2020  /  Alex Lloyd

Alex Lloyd speaks with Samantha Gash about being married to an SAS veteran.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. On this podcast, many veterans have remarked on how vital the support of a partner or loved one has been to them; that not enough is said of just what a difference it is they make. This is the first ‘partners’ episode of Life on the Line, and we hope to do more in the future. Today’s conversation is with Samantha Gash. Samantha is a professional endurance athlete, social entrepreneur and a motivational speaker. She’s run over 20,000km across every continent on Earth and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity while advocating for women’s empowerment, social change and access to education. In 2017 she was a contestant on the reality TV show Australian Survivor, where she met former SAS officer Mark Wales. Sam and Mark are now married and have one young son, Harry Locke Wales. 

You can also listen to #28 Mark Wales in Season 2. In Season 5, Mark returned to the podcast to promote his memoir SURVIVOR: LIFE IN THE SAS. Mark returned again to the podcast in 2024 to promote his debut novel OUTRIDER.

tags / Mark Wales, Survivor, SAS, transition, partner, family, wife, The Externals

#82 John Cantwell Vol II

July 15, 2020  /  Alex Lloyd

Angus Hordern continues his interview with Australian Army veteran John Cantwell.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian military veterans and records their stories. Today's episode is the second instalment of the conversation with Major General John Cantwell AO, DSC, picking up after John's second combat tour in Iraq in 2006 and being made Deputy Chief of Army in 2007. In this episode, John talks to Angus Hordern about commanding forces in Afghanistan, the responsibility of command, and the importance of talking openly and honestly about trauma.

Listen to Volume I before listening to this episode. John returned to the podcast in #43 Dan Keighran VC Vol II (ft. John Cantwell). John made his fourth appearance on the podcast in Christmas on the Line Vol III.

tags / Afghanistan, PTSD, leadership, officer, transition, author

#54 'H' Vol III

May 09, 2019  /  Alex Lloyd

Alex Lloyd conducts the third part of his interview with 2nd Commando Regiment veteran 'H' about his journey beyond the military.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. This is the third instalment of Alex Lloyd's conversation with Wes 'H' Hennessey, a senior and highly decorated Special Forces veteran. The pair talk about the challenges H faced during his time as a commando, how he has changed as a result of his service, and his outlook to the future.

Listen to Volume I (joining the army, Somalia, 4RAR (Commando), Timor and TAG East) and Volume II (Afghanistan 2006) before you hear this episode, then in Season 4, Volume IV (Afghanistan 2008) and Volume V (Afghanistan 2010). The first three of these conversations are in Season 3, and the next two parts were recorded a year later, for Season 4. 

tags / 2nd Commando Regiment, Special Forces, Afghanistan, transition, Wes Hennessey, 'H'

#45 Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare

March 05, 2019  /  Alex Lloyd

Alex Lloyd interviews Iraq veteran Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare.

Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author, and has deployed to Iraq with the Australian Army. Sharon has worked for the BBC, Radio France International and the ABC's Radio Australia, presenting news coverage of war and peacekeeping operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. She has a PhD in communication and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of South Australia. Her area of research is ethnographic journalism and journalistic ethics in regards to coverage of veterans' affairs and Anzac commemoration. Sharon is a Major in the Australian Army Reserve, working now as a Public Affairs Officer with Headquarters 9th Brigade. She deployed to Iraq in 2016-17. Sharon began conducting veteran interviews for LIFE ON THE LINE in 2018. She also runs StoryRight, a veterans employment support program.

tags / Iraq, Journalism, Anzac Day, Reserves, Army, StoryRight, transition, employment