Ben Roberts-Smith, Shah Wali Kot, honour, and the war Australians barely know

I wore my Blokes Advice Big Choky ‘I stand with BRS’ T-shirt to the local pub recently.

Aaron Patrick spoke at the Gallipoli Memorial Club’s inaugural Lone Pine Dinner. At the event, he signed copies of his book on Australia’s war in Afghanistan, and in particular, accounts of Ben Robert-Smith’s actions that earned him the Victoria Cross. The book is entitled The Last Battle. If you are a patriot like me, you’ll read it in one sitting. I wrote about it previously.

Aaron’s speech was not just about the book, but about the Battle of Shah Wali Kot in June 2010, and about what Australians do and do not know of the war in Afghanistan.

What follows is a written question-and-answer. The questions are as put to him. The answers are as he returned them.

The Last Battle: Australian SAS, Commandos and our Greatest Victory in our Longest War is published by Pan Macmillan. Patrick is chief writer at The Nightly and a former senior correspondent and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. He has written for the Washington Post and the New York Times.

You can read my article in The Spectator Australia, Ben Roberts-Smith, Shah Wali Kot, honour, and the war Australians barely know.