Born and raised in Shepparton, Brian joined the Army when he was just 16-years-old.

“I think it was because of their clever advertising. I remember they sent me a brochure, and there were these six uniforms you were going to get, normal greens, battle dress, sports gear, service dress for winter and the polyester summer uniform. It actually took six years to get all the uniforms,” Brian laughs.

His three-year Radio Mechanic apprenticeship began in 1969 with three weeks of basic training at Balcombe, near Mornington, where he was taught the basics including how to dress and salute.

“It was a good scheme with a weekly program for trade training, half a day a week for education and then half a day every fortnight doing drills and shooting. It was exciting and built your self-esteem. They instilled discipline; you’d start with imposed discipline, and then you’d become a soldier and do it naturally.

“A lot of the boys were looking for something, searching for identity. At only 15 to 16-years-old, you’re not a boy and not a man.

“The staff were extremely good with how they trained us and looked after us and went out of their way to do things for us.

“There was one Captain who asked if anyone wanted to go to Ayers Rock while on leave. He organised the trip, and off we went for three weeks to Alice Springs. It was a sensational trip. He did that all voluntarily for us.

“Another Captain, Gerry Taylor, I remember he was always perfect; his uniform was perfect, his dog was perfect, he’d take us bushwalking on the weekends.

“A lot of them went out of their way for us. It was a good program – they don’t do it anymore.

“Each boy was required to do a four-year apprenticeship and then five years payback, but most did 20 years.”

In 1972, while in his fourth year of his apprenticeship, Brian married Christine, who was working in the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps as a Telegraph Operator.

After finishing his apprenticeship, Brian went into the Signal Corps as a Radio Mechanic at the Borneo Barracks in Cabarlah in Queensland.

He then went to Officer Cadet School in Portsea for six months, where he was awarded the Governor General’s medal for coming first in his class.

“That was a pretty tough course; it was 12 months of intense training. You’d study every night until 11pm and then get up at 5am in the morning. It was teaching you how to command soldiers, how to give orders and platoon attacks. I then went back into Signal Corps as a Second Lieutenant.

“My father was a telecommunication engineer, and that’s what I’d always wanted to do, so I went and did night school to finish my matriculation before studying at RMIT for four years.

“I always say to the boys, you have to work out where you want to go in life and not let life tell you where you go.”

After finishing his degree in 1981, Brian, Christine and the family moved to Canberra for a short period before being placed with the US Army in New Jersey.

“We had five kids by that stage. We lived there for three years. The kids loved it. The first thing we did on the way over was go to Disneyland; that was great.”

After returning to Australia and a couple of postings as a Major, Brian was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel before becoming Commanding Officer in March 1992 – Sixth Signalman Regiment in Simpson Barracks in Melbourne.

Brian and his men were then sent on a secondment mission to Cambodia to assist the defence force with communications after a United Nations intervention. Brian initially went in 1993 to develop a plan and then returned in 1994 to implement it, which is when the Khmer Rouge went to war.

“Phnom Penh was extremely violent. There were a number of incidents where Australians were killed.

“There were threats made against us, indirect threats on their radio, that was a bit unsettling, we’d inadvertently become involved in a war.

“It got quite difficult; we were unarmed at the time, moving around the countryside doing radio installations. The situation meant it was difficult to operate with any degree of safety.

“We’d be going out on a mission, and someone would come and say, ‘you shouldn’t go there; you’ll get killed if you go there.’

“We had to withdraw our people from Battambang because the Khmer Rouge artillery was getting closer to the city; my blokes led the evacuation, lined up the convoy and warned the Australians, ‘come with the convoy – get out before the Khmer Rouge come.’

“It got pretty hairy. I was there for six months; halfway through, they told me to have a break and sent me to Bangkok. There was such a sense of relief when I got there, I didn’t realise it, but I’d been operating on adrenaline the whole time.

“The other threat was the mines; they were everywhere; it was scary. There were kidnappings, coups and murders; it was absolute chaos.

“The whole thing was a complete waste of time. The United Nations sent in 20,000 troops to safely conduct elections, then six months later the same guy was back in charge, and he’s still in charge now.”

After returning from Cambodia, Brian transferred to the Inactive Reserve and began working in IT Project Management.

“When I reached 55-years, I thought, I can’t retire in Melbourne, I feel cooped in. The people across the road had lived there for 15-years, but I didn’t know who they were. So in 2008, we moved to Maldon and lived in a cottage while we built our Harkaway home out near Shelbourne.

“Then, from 2015 to 2019, I went back on full-time duty working in project management, looking after the Army IT office requirements.

“I left at 66-years-old, having been in the Army for 50 years and one day.

“I became the President of the Maldon RSL last year and spent time helping Christine with her roles, as well as developing the garden on our property. I’ve got two and a half acres for horticulture, and I want to see what I can do with dryland farming. Oh, and I’ve got five boys and 20 grandchildren! I’m about to turn 70, so we’ll head down to Melbourne and have dinner with them all.”

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 29 April 2022.