Reviewer: Maj Gen Stuart Smith AO DSM (retd)
30 Years – An Infantry Soldier‘s Story, Somalia, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, at a time when military service was socially unpopular, and Defence funding was significantly reduced, a quiet generation of Australian soldiers chose to serve our nation. This generation improvised challenging training and maintained the professional standards of their forebears using minimal resources during the 1980s, then deployed on critical peace keeping and peace enforcement tasks in Somalia, Timor, Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan from the 1990s onwards. Stay Loose is a vivid portrayal of their story, through the eyes of infantry soldier Adrian Hodges. This is a story of perseverance, courage and humility. But it is also a story of one mans love for his family, his fellow soldiers and his nation.
Hodges love for family shines through in the early chapters of Stay Loose where he recounts a childhood immersed initially in the bush community of Smiths Gully northeast of Melbourne and later in the south eastern suburbs of Brisbane.
In stories reminiscent of those described by Trent Dalton in Boy Swallows Universe, we read of a young Adrian Hodges near, but never quite, mutinous at school, spending ‘sun drenched days’ swimming with his brothers and mates, and exploring the suburban streets on push bike ’til the sun had set’. Adventures with family, including cousins, uncles and aunts are a consistent backdrop in these stories. Hodges concludes: ‘my adventurous pre-Army life was a gift to me from my hardworking and tolerant parents, who provided a strong foundation and encouraged me to explore the world around me’. While subsequent chapters in Stay Loose focus on military life, the theme of love for family surfaces again and again. Most notably when Hodges explores his ancestry within Australia and overseas, and when he describes the growth of his own family with his soul mate and wife, Joey.
Hodges admits that his decision to enlist in the Australian Army was an inflection point in his life, likely caused by a keen interest in his father’s service in the Vietnam War. The middle chapters of Stay Loose provide a detailed outline of his journey through recruit and initial employment training to service as an infantry soldier in the Townsville based First Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment or ‘The Big Blue One’. Here, Hodges reflects on the deep friendships and love he developed for his fellow soldiers during the rigorous training exercises and off duty adventures that characterised military life in North Queensland in the 1980s.
This respect and affection for those serving beside him is especially evident in his lengthy description of the battalion’s operations in Somalia in 1993. Hodges provides a gripping account of his actions as the commander of a night patrol in the township of Baidoa on 13 February 1993 which successfully engaged several Somali bandits. This incident represented the first lethal contact by Australian soldiers with an enemy force since the Vietnam War. With characteristic humility, he observes that the success of the patrol was testament to the training, bravery and professionalism of his fellow soldiers. He observes that ‘mateship is cemented in the military through our shared suffering and misery’. This observation is repeated when he recounts his involvement in further actions in Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq in subsequent sections of this book. But for Hodges, Somalia represented a ‘still point’ in his 30 year journey as an infantry soldier, one that left a ‘scar on his soul’ which undoubtedly caused him to make a premature decision to discharge from the Army shortly after returning to Australia.
Perhaps the most thoughtful section of Stay Loose is that which recalls his five years between discharge and re-enlistment. Of particular note are his reflections on work as an operator with Court Recording Services company and travels as a $10 per day backpacker in Europe and the Middle East. He speaks with a sense of duty and compassion about his role as a recorder during the Board of Inquiry following the tragic Blackhawk accident of 1996. He demonstrates a deep curiosity in local culture and biblical history recalling his journey through Egypt and Israel.
One senses his restlessness to gain a stronger meaning to his life and we are not surprised to read of his decision to re-enlist, and joy in being posted back to soldiering with ‘The Big Blue One’.
In the remaining chapters of Stay Loose Hodges tells of his remarkable journey through major military operations in Timor, Sinai, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq, and his well earned promotion to the highest senior non-commissioned officer rank. Fortunately, many of his operations and promotions involved a return to duty with his beloved ‘Big Blue One’. One of pleasing aspects of his narrative is the inclusion of detailed information on the geo-political background to the military operations in which he was involved. But, in the similarly detailed operational narratives, Hodges again brings a compassionate flavour, especially when recalling Australian casualties. His patriotism and love for nation is raw and honest. We soon understand why he achieved the highest of non-commissioned officer appointments as the Regimental Sergeant Major of combat units.
Stay Loose is the finest personal account of the life of a post Vietnam War generation Australian infantry soldier that I have had the fortune to read. Like World War One author Joseph Maxwell in his book Hells Bells and Mademoiselles, Adrian Hodges speaks with honesty, humility and humour about the highs and lows of life in the infantry. He recounts experiences atypical of a quiet generation of soldiers that trained vigorously during the 1980s and then engaged in an array of peace keeping and peace enforcement operations through Somalia, Timor, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq in the 1990s onwards. His personal story is a riveting and comprehensive reflection of love of family, fellow soldiers and nation. This book should be read by all Australians to be reminded of how Hodges and others of his generation upheld the values of their Anzac forbears.
Reviewer: Maj Gen Stuart Smith AO DSM (retd)
