Soldier opens up on what fighting in Afghanistan was REALLY like – as he blasts army for ‘hanging Ben Roberts-Smith out to dry’ and warns the toughest battle is often coming home

An Australian soldier who fought during one of the bloodiest periods of the Afghanistan campaign has opened up about the challenges of returning to the ‘civilian world’ and revealed how the Ben Roberts-Smith case has rocked the veterans community.

Brodie Moore, 32, from Brisbane, served as a gunner in the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment for six years.

He was deployed to Afghanistan between April and October 2010 – six bloody months during which ten of his colleagues were killed.

Mr Moore, now a nurse, said the Roberts-Smith defamation case was symbolic of the lack of support veterans received from the Australian Defense Force after their formal contracts expired.

He says his hero was “dried up” by the ADF and made a “scapegoat” for systemic failures overseen by military commanders.

“I know that many veterans, including myself, are asking that the commanders of the armed forces in Afghanistan take more responsibility,” he said.

“If all these problems existed in Afghanistan, how on earth did every commander in charge of the soldiers get a Distinguished Service Cross?”

In May, the Federal Court dismissed Roberts-Smith’s defamation action because of media reports that as an SAS corporal he was involved in unlawful actions, including the murder of four unarmed prisoners while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In July, Mr Roberts-Smith appealed Judge Anthony Besanko’s findings following a massive trial that backed up claims made by Nine Media newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times.

The former SAS corporal claimed he was defamed in 2018 in reports that he kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff and ordered his execution, and machine-gunned another prisoner, taking home his prosthetic leg as a souvenir goblet .

The now 44-year-old, who remains Australia’s most decorated soldier in history, has not been charged and maintains he is innocent.

“I am extremely proud of him (Ben Roberts-Smith) and other Victoria Cross recipients,” he said.

‘It’s been hanging to dry, that’s for sure. Many veterans think so.’

As a broader concern, Mr Moore said soldiers often face some of their biggest challenges when they return to the ‘civilian world’ after the termination of their ADF contracts.

He said that a large majority of former and current ADF members do not know how to pitch themselves during interviews to get work outside the armed forces.

“You have a group identity much bigger than yourself, it’s very hard to replace and very hard to find the individual identity,” he said.

Last November, an impressive report on the suicide rate among current and former ADF members recommended that suicide prevention be made a national priority.

The report was the fifth annual suicide monitoring report commissioned by the Department of Veteran Affairs and exposed some hair-raising statistics.

Between 1997 and 2020, there were 1,600 certified suicide deaths among members who had seen ADF service since January 1, 1985.

Among ex-servicemen and women, suicide rates were 27 percent higher than the general population among men and 107 percent higher among women.

“Whatever they (the military) are doing, they are doing it wrong. The discharge rate increases. They need to do more work on soldier retention,” Moore said.

Mr. Moore completed a three-year nursing degree after leaving the ADF and now leads a group of nurses in a variety of clinical settings, including an emergency department.

The 32-year-old, who admitted he did not make it past year 12, said he only felt inspired to continue his education after feeling empowered by his role in the defense force.

Mr Moore said the difference between him and the 7,500 soldiers who are discharged from the ADF each year is that he always had a plan.

‘The (educational) model is not suitable for everyone. I gained strength from my time in defense and finally felt ready to continue my tertiary studies,” he said.

One of the veteran’s toughest days in his deployment was the day his battalion lost two engineers he affectionately known as Smithy and Snowy: Sappers Darren Smith and Jacob Moerland.

The pair were killed after being shot by improvised explosive devices. Mr Moore said he feels ‘very grateful’ that he did not witness their traumatic injuries.

“You knew something tragic had happened, we were getting updates over the radio and the picture just got worse and worse,” he recalls.

“Engineers play such a vital role, patrolling ahead of us, clearing paths and making sure there are no improvised explosive devices in front of us.”

The loss of the engineers set off a tragic pattern, with another eight soldiers killed during his deployment, including four from his combat team.

Despite these deaths, Moore said he never feels scared in Afghanistan.

“If you are not operational at a bad time, it could mean the loss of one of your very good friends or another team member,” he said.

“We did some fear training before deploying, they asked us to think about what the enemy is fighting for — and those are pretty big bloody reasons.

So I thought I could fight for a damn good reason too.

“It was about tapping into my personal reasons for being there – for the team, my friends and contributing to Australian society in a small way.”