Australia's Afghan warriors transcript

RAHNI SADLER: What was the toughest day over there for you?

(CRIES)

Sean Mulqueen: There was a few...Ah, sorry. Jacob and Smithy passing away - that's when it really hit.

Voice: God almighty, we pray for all of Jacob and Darren's mates...

Tim Westera: I was just a mess. I just had so much hatred and I just wasn't, you know,doing anyone any good being there.

RAHNI SADLER: When you do lose a couple of mates, does it make you stop and look around and think, "What are we doing here?"

Yeah, definitely, you wonder. You question why we're here, losing Australian soldiers.

RAHNI SADLER: The Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. 20 serving Australian soldiers on leave walk in the footsteps of our World War II diggers. It's a private mission helping these men to get over the trauma of Afghanistan where most were wounded and all had mates die.

Sean Mulqueen: They were all young - in comparison to me, anyway. Yeah, they're young. Too young.

RAHNI SADLER: Walking the 96km track is an opportunity for soldiers like Sean Mulqueen to take stock of what they've been through. His unit was hit hard during 10 months in Afghanistan last year. There are no Government minders here, no-one to tell them what to say.

Sean Mulqueen: We search for the IEDs, mines, bombs.

RAHNI SADLER: Do you ever think, "This could be the one?"

Sean Mulqueen: Um, probably not till.....probably not till the first time we got hit. I, like a few of the boys, we were excited to get over there, do our jobs, get involved, do what's been asked of us.

Sean Mulqueen: And it's not until things start happening, like some of the boys in vehicles getting hit, we started having things happen around us and reality check started kicking in and I think after Darren and Jacob, part of our regiment passed away, it's become really hard and you thought, every time you sort of have a hit and go down, you think "Maybe, maybe not."

RAHNI SADLER: 21-year-old Jacob Moreland, nicknamed 'Snowy', was one of the most popular members of the unit.

Michael Clarke: Snowy was just out there, fun-loving kind of bloody bloke.
Funniest albino you'll ever meet. Snowy was just a bloody character. Just gift of the gab.

(BOTH LAUGH)

Michael Clarke: Gift of the gob.

Sean Mulqueen: Just happy. Just smiling, making everyone laugh and having a good time. And just his fiancee, Kez, just his perfect match. When we heard they were engaged, everyone was over the moon, excited for him. Just a typical Aussie bloke and that's probably the best way to put him - I guess what every father wants in a son and what every mate wants. Sorry.

RAHNI SADLER: That's alright. On June 7 last year, Snowy was on patrol with the unit's dog handler, 26-year-old Darren Smith, and Herbie, Smithy's bomb-detection dog.

Michael Clarke: Smithy was a bit more reserved and a bit more family-orientated. Um, he had a wife and a little boy back home and it's, you know, his sole purpose was his family, pretty much.

RAHNI SADLER: Just before 11am, Smithy and Snowy found an IED. They were reporting it back to base when the Taliban set it off by remote control.

Tim Westera signed up on the same day as Snowy. He became his room-mate
and best friend. Tim, who now wears Snowy's dog tag, was back at base
when the unit was told the men had been killed.

Tim Westera: Boys around me, everyone was crying and stuff, I was just like, "No, he's OK. Like...You were in shock? And it wasn't until they took me into another room separately and I was...I just remember I just collapsed to the ground. I couldn't hold myself up.

RAHNI SADLER: 20-year-old Tim was given leave to accompany the bodies back to Australia.

Tim Westera: I was with both of them the whole way home and it was kind of hard. After about a week, a week and a half, of just trying to be there
for everyone else, I just sort of broke down and I was just, like, had nothing left.

RAHNI SADLER: What does it do to a unit when you lose a couple of blokes in one day?

Michael Clarke: It shatters it. I mean...it just shatters it. It absolutely just cripples you. But, again, you've still got to get back out there and basically do your job, so it's pretty much what you got to do.

Sean Mulqueen: We've signed up knowing what's ahead of us. I think the harder part is, I think, for the families.

RAHNI SADLER: Does that frighten you, that you could leave your wife and son alone?

Sean Mulqueen: Yeah. Yeah, it's probably the scariest thought of all.
I've loved seeing my son stand up for the first time. I was his first words, "Dad" was his first word, and I wouldn't want to miss any of that.

RAHNI SADLER: How much do you miss Snowy?

Tim Westera: I can't explain it, not in words. I'd do anything to have him back. I'd do anything just to be there with him with his last moments.

RAHNI SADLER: When you lose someone like Snowy, do you start wondering
whether it's worth it?

Tim Westera: Yeah, I do wonder whether it's worth it, but that's not for me to decide - that's politics. I'm not a politician, I'm a soldier. I do my job as best I can. If there's somewhere else they want to send me, I'd gladly go but...

RAHNI SADLER: Not Afghanistan?

Tim Westera: Yeah, I just don't think I'd do any good for anyone there
if I went back to Afghan because, when I did go back to Afghan, I lasted about two weeks before they sent me home again because I was...I was just a mess. I just had so much hatred and I wasn't doing anyone any good being there.

RAHNI SADLER: What are you angry about?

Tim Westera: Ah, just, you know...why did he have to, like, trying to do a good thing for people, and it's just sad that someone has to die who's got such a big heart.

RAHNI SADLER: 21-year-old Snowy was engaged to be married. 26-year-old Smithy had a wife and son. His best mate was fellow dog handler David Brown. Do you remember the moment you found out that he'd been killed?

David Brown: Yeah, I do. Yep. Smithy had a very young family and my three kids have grown up and I just thought at the time, "It should have been me
rather than Smithy", um, so...

RAHNI SADLER: Do you really wish it had've of been you?

David Brown: Not wish that it had have been me - it would have been better
if it was me and not Darren, yeah.

RAHNI SADLER: David, a 20-year army veteran...

David Brown: Just being up the front there and looking for these IEDs, it just plays on your mind quite a lot.

RAHNI SADLER: ..suffered psychological wounds from which he's struggling to recover.

David Brown: It sort of hit me straightaway, as soon as I got home. I just fell in a hole and didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone, apart from the boys. The family didn't know who I was at the time and probably still wondering who I am at the moment but, so I just sat at home and did nothing and thought, "What's wrong with me? "What's going on with me?
"Why am I feeling like this?"

RAHNI SADLER: What are your darkest moments?

David Brown: Darkest moments are probably just involve, um, remembering the boys and not being able to sleep at night and then maybe drinking some drinks and then becoming very emotional, yeah.

Sean Mulqueen: Us boys, we've got a bit of a motto what we've come up with
on our trip overseas. "Never above you, never below you, always beside you" - that's our corps motto. That's what we took out of the trip, us boys overseas, and that's our motto we stick by now and we're pretty proud of it.

RAHNI SADLER: On May 18 last year, Sean badly damaged his shoulder when a bomb exploded while he was on patrol. Clarky was also injured in the last.
Three months later, another explosion almost cost him his life.

Michael Clarke: I looked down, basically saw my right leg at right angles
and, at that point, I thought my leg had been severed so that was pretty interesting, trying to go through my head, going, thinking about being called "Stumpy" and that.

RAHNI SADLER: A Dutch doctor pulled off a radical procedure, saving his legs, but all Clarky cared about was letting the team down. The day before, two Australian soldiers had been killed.

Michael Clarke: Morale with everyone was really low and for this to happen
at that point in time, it...it didn't help anything.

RAHNI SADLER: On this trip of recovery, these soldiers spend time helping each other. Their captain, Matt Middleton, reminds them that the engineers have suffered more death and injury than any other corps.

Matt Middleton: 76 engineers went over in the original trip, that's including replacements, and of them 22 come home early, wounded, and two of our brothers were killed. Um, you can do the maths yourself - that's over one in four. So every time we go out, you know, one in four chance that you're gonna get wounded and sent home, or worse. You've gotta admit
it's a pretty courageous thing to do for these guys to keep getting up
every morning and facing that. The Taliban are a very vindictive and nasty, sneaky enemy. They'll do anything they can to target us - and particularly the engineers because we're the ones who steal their bombs from them. We've gotta get lucky every day, the Taliban have only gotta get lucky once, so, you know, got nothing but admiration and respect for these guys and, uh, you know, they're a pretty courageous bunch of blokes.
So, thanks guys. Well done, Matthew.

(APPLAUSE)

Alright, anyone got anything to add?

(LAUGHTER)

RAHNI SADLER: Matt's fiancee, Lana, has joined him on the trek. She remembers being told that he'd suffered life-threatening injuries in the bomb attack on May 18.

Lana Watson: It was actually his birthday, the day that he got blown up,
and then it just...was really tough, that's for sure.

RAHNI SADLER: What was it like when you saw him when he got back?

Lana Watson: It was really great to see him and...sorry.

RAHNI SADLER: It's alright.

Lana Watson: I think it just cemented for me how, um, how proud I am of him and how much I love him, you know. It just, um, it was... Sorry.

RAHNI SADLER: You realised you might never see him again.

Lana Watson: Yeah, it was...The injury. It was just such a shock, I think,
to the system and just coming so close to losing him was...yeah,
it really brought home how much I think we meant to each other and it was just great. That moment, I didn't want to...Sorry, I'm being a sook.

RAHNI SADLER: No, you're not.

Lana Watson: I just didn't want to let him go and hence we're getting married now, so...(LAUGHS)I'm not letting him go.

(LAUGHS)

RAHNI SADLER: Would you let him go back?

Lana Watson: Oh, it's their job. I don't think it's, I really don't think
it's for me to say. I can't put those restrictions on him.

RAHNI SADLER: Will you be going back?

David Brown: No, I won't be going back. I don't think I could put the family through that again.

RAHNI SADLER: You won't go back to Afghanistan?

David Brown: No.

RAHNI SADLER: So you'll have to leave the army?

David Brown: Yes. Yes, I will. Yeah.

RAHNI SADLER: Why won't you go back?

David Brown: Like I said, it was a bit hard on the family, more than anything and it's changed me. Like I said, there's a lot of pressure there in doing the job so I don't think I could handle that pressure again, truthfully.

Damien Thomlinson is the most seriously injured on this walk.

RAHNI SADLER: In 2009, both his legs were blown off by a Taliban bomb. Tell me about the day you were injured. How did it start?

Damien Thomlinson: I think about all I can tell you is the sun came up. The sun definitely came up the day that I was injured.

RAHNI SADLER: Is that the extent of your memory?

Damien Thomlinson: That's it. I haven't even got the sun coming up.
I just know it happened because it does.

RAHNI SADLER: What Damian doesn't remember, his commando unit has filled in.

Damien Thomlinson: I was in the fifth, carrying out convoy. I hit an IED.

RAHNI SADLER: Damian was blown out of the vehicle. Both his legs were severed. He also had severe head and chest injuries and could barely breathe.

Damien Thomlinson: It's been described as rasping.

RAHNI SADLER: You were rasping? You were lying on the ground dying, rasping?

Damien Thomlinson: Pretty much, so, yeah.And then, yeah.

RAHNI SADLER: And who came to you?

Damien Thomlinson: That was Scott.

RAHNI SADLER: His close mate, fellow commando Scott Palmer, was in the vehicle behind. Despite the threat of further attack, Scott risked his own life to save Damian's.

Damien Thomlinson: Right after the explosion that hit me, Scott basically ran from a moving vehicle just to get on site and start, like, administering first aid to me which is, essentially, the reason why I'm here.

RAHNI SADLER: That night, Scott rang his dad.

Ray Palmer: He was pretty upset. He said, "I just had my best mate's legs blown off and it's", yeah. I won't mention the language on here, but just put it a simple way, he said, "It was a shit", you know. He said, "It's just terrible." He said just like, "People, they don't see this, "what happens to your best mates."

RAHNI SADLER: Scott continued on operations with his fellow commandos. Then, on June 21 last year, Scott was killed when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed. A veteran of Timor and Iraq, he died just a week before he was due to come home. Only 27, he'd planned to walk Kokoda with his dad, Ray.

Ray Palmer: So this Kokoda, for him and I to do, was going to be very important. It was going to be like a bonding moment.

RAHNI SADLER: Instead, Ray, himself an ex-serviceman, is walking with Damian, the mate Scott saved.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ALL (CHANT): Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
Oi, oi, oi!

Damien Thomlinson: Me being able to do this in his honour with his dad is,
I mean, it's one of the proudest things I have been able to do.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(BUGLE PLAYS 'LAST POST')

RAHNI SADLER: 29 Australian soldiers have died in 10 years of war. The men have thought deeply about Australia's involvement and they don't all agree
about whether it's worth it. For David Brown, the death of Australian soldiers, which has affected him so deeply, means little to the locals.
So they don't appreciate the loss of lives like Snowy and Smithy?

David Brown: No. I wouldn't think so, no. Not that I saw, anyway.

RAHNI SADLER: And I guess you wouldn't think it would be worth laying down your life and leaving your family for a country that...

David Brown: Yeah, that's exactly right. I don't think it's worth it.

RAHNI SADLER: Do you believe in the cause?

Sean Mulqueen: Shit, I could get into trouble saying the wrong thing, couldn't I? Um, yeah, I think we don't want to be walking around in fear
if something's going to happen. People saying it's dragging on too much and that, but we are all there, we all believe we are looking after
Australia in that way. We don't want to be walking down the street and having - I don't want my wife and son walking around one day and be afraid there's going to be a building blow up.

RAHNI SADLER: Flying in to meet the diggers is the former head of the defence force, Peter Cosgrove.

Peter Cosgrove: You're alright there. I'm proud to shake a dirty hand. How are you, Rahni?

RAHNI SADLER: He is known as a soldier's general. I'm alright. His own son was injured in Iraq. Every day, he worries about our men and women in Afghanistan. Given the cost, do you think it's now time that we get out of Afghanistan?

Peter Cosgrove: I think we should review Afghanistan every day, every week, every month. We should always be saying, "What are we doing? "Are we doing it well? Is it useful? "Is it worth the risk our people take on?"

David Brown: I've done it for you, alright? (SOBS) I've done it for you, OK, mate?

RAHNI SADLER: Do you think Snowy would want you guys to go back?

Sean Mulqueen:(CHUCKLES) Oh...I don't know how to answer that. Yeah, probably. No - I think he cares about us too much. But he, at the same time, there's a job to do and that's our job.