As an Afghanistan veteran, business owner and Vice President of the City of Wollongong RSL Sub-Branch, Anzac Day has always been personal. While we gather at dawn services and marches, real wars rage overseas, in Ukraine, the Middle East and beyond. The images on our screens are a stark reminder: war is never pretty. It never was.
We honour the heroes of the past, the young Australians and New Zealanders who landed at Gallipoli in 1915, the diggers who fought in the mud of the Western Front, and every generation since who answered the call. Their courage, mateship and sacrifice built the Anzac legend. Anzac Day calls us to solemn remembrance of that terrible cost, not glorification of conflict.
Several friends have reached out to me about the conflict in Iran, asking if I'm 'okay' because the conflict has the potential to kick up memories of my own service in war. While I appreciate their consideration, it prompted me to reflect on how I actually feel about the situation. Beyond my frustration with the Government's navigation of the geopolitical environment and their domestic obligation to take care of Australians, what strikes me most is this: in times when the world feels like it's going to hell in a handbasket, we often see the best in Australians.
My own two tours in Afghanistan taught me this truth. We were proud to serve, yet many of us returned asking the same question: what was it all for? Twenty years, 42 Australian lives lost, and a mental health epidemic that the Royal Commission laid bare. War extracts a terrible price. But it also forges resilience and a renewed sense of purpose.
That is why Anzac Day matters now more than ever. It calls us to honour the fallen, support those still serving and those who came home changed, and recommit to the values that define us. In times of global tension, the best Australians step up, on the battlefield, in disaster zones, and in our own communities. We will remember them. And in remembering, we resolve to carry their spirit forward.
