When Damien Thomlinson speaks, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

An almost unbelievable comeback king, he has enlisted, gone to war, been blown up and put back together, he’s a para snowboarder, writes books, appears in movies and TV shows, is a motivational speaker, husband and father and an undying ally of mates, those here and gone.

And just for the hell of it, to honour another fallen comrade, he schlepped all 96km of the Kokoda Trail on his prosthetic legs.

Yet, if Mr Thomlinson is defined by tomorrow, his life is also ruled by a very succinct and unshakeable code:

Team, not self.

Toughness, not fitness.

Confidence, not arrogance.

Stewardship, not ownership.

Integrity above all else.

Integrity is the key, the very foundation of Mr Thomlinson’s service and his life today.

“Preaching integrity, honesty, is simply entry-level stuff – the real integrity is that person looking at you while you brush your teeth asking if you really did the best you could,” Mr Thomlinson said.

“Whether I was in the military, and now in civilian life, this applies everywhere.

“It’s what you do after you do drop the ball, and we will all do that, which is the true measure.

“The thing about the military is it is the only place I have been in my life where everyone is walking in the same direction – there the most important thing is to make the person next to you do better.

“Too often in the rest of the world that’s not the case, but for me I have been able to successfully translate that into my post-injury life.”

Injury being an interesting choice of word. Perhaps more perspective than practicality.

Mr Thomlinson went into the military in much the same way he does everything else – the gung-ho fast track.

Enlisting in 2005 via the Special Forces Direct Recruiting Scheme he was a commando at 24.

On the frontline with 2nd Commando Regiment in the Tarin Kowt region of Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province, the vehicle in which he was travelling drove over a Taliban improvised explosive device.

His body was shattered by the blast – one leg was obliterated and the other torn off below the knee.

The elbow on his right arm was coming out through a hole, both hands and wrists were broken, and he had a dislocated shoulder, broken nose and torn lips.

In the immediate aftermath, it was only the sound of him wheezing which alerted others to the fact he was still alive.

Evacuated to Germany for treatment, he still has no memory of the actual explosion, but within months was walking again and the following year back with his unit in a desk job.

In 2011, Mr Thomlinson completed the Kokoda with a team of 25 Australian soldiers, including several other soldiers with disabilities, to honour Scott Palmer, his best friend whose immediate medical aid after the explosion saved his life.

Mr Palmer died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan a week before he had been due to return to Australia.

The pair had often talked about walking the Kokoda together.

In 2016, Mr Thomlinson joined actor/director Mel Gibson in the World War II biopic Hacksaw Ridge as American soldier Ralph Morgan, fighting the Japanese at Okinawa. He has also appeared on 60 Minutes and Australian Survivor.

Mr Thomlinson will speak at the Moama RSL on April 24, before the “proud Australian veteran”, as he describes himself, will be the keynote speaker at the Moama sub-branch’s Anzac Day service at the Moama cenotaph.

“I am a person who values progress, my whole life is a story of progress, but I place enormous value on our traditions as well, they are what got us moving in this direction in the first place,” he said.

“If you pay attention to those processes, difficult things can become easy, and we should all be proud of our rich history of service... whenever things get tough, we put our hands up to be counted.’’

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Thursday, 17th February 2028

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