What ANZAC Day means to our MBS Veterans

Members of our Veteran Chapter, including current and past students, reflect on the personal significance of ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day commemorates members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps each year on the 25th of April.

We asked members of our Veterans community to share what the day means personally.

Here are the reflections of our MBS Veterans in their words.

Sarah Mooney

Current EMBA student 

Sarah served full time in the Australian Army for 20 years in the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (2005 - 2025). She is a graduate of the Royal Military College - Duntroon and the Capability Technology Management College. She was deployed to East Timor (2008), Solomon Islands (2012), Iraq (2016) and supported Operation Bushfire Assist in 2019/20. Sarah is now a reservist and working in the Defence Industry with the Australian company NIOA and she is a current EMBA student at MBS.

ANZAC Day has taken on different meanings for me throughout my life. As an army cadet, it was a day to honour the sacrifices of those who had gone before me. As a junior officer, it became a moment to reflect on my own role in the Global War on Terror and my mates who were currently deployed. Later, as a senior officer, my thoughts turned to the current veteran cohort and their contributions to deployments around the world.

Now, as a defence contractor, I find myself reflecting from a different vantage point — considering how my work contributes, from a distance, to the soldiers, sailors and aviators we support through the systems we build.

Across each of these chapters, one constant remains: a deep respect for those who served before me, those currently deployed, and those preparing to make their own commitment to the defence of our nation.

I am immensely proud of my service, and proud of all who continue to serve this great nation.

Lest we forget. 

Steve Cotterill

EMBA 2018 

 

Steve served in the Australian Army for 15 years as a Cavalry Officer and was deployed to Afghanistan as part of the International Stabilisation Assistance Force and to Lebanon and Israel as part of the United Nations Treaty Supervision Organisation. He was a graduate of the EMBA 2018 cohort and briefly worked in commercial finance and strategy consulting before starting his own business as a coach and facilitator focused on leadership and culture. Steve was the Inaugural Poet Laureate for the Australian Veteran and Families of Veterans Community and recently published his first book, a collection of poetry and prose titled ‘as i am.’ 

As a society, we have lost sight of what we should collectively be reflecting on and remembering on days like ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. For me, I see a Nation focusing on remembering our fallen, instead of why they sacrificed their lives. The generations of veterans that we remember did what they did for us to live in safety, connected in community, free of genocide and fascism.

As Poet Laureate for the Australian Veteran Community, part of my role is to respond to what is happening in our community and in society at large. What has been shaping my focus over the last two years is my reflections on the cost of war and the reason Governments choose to use military force.

Simon O’Brien

EMBA 2020

 

Simon served in Afghanistan in 2011 as a Troop Commander in “B Squadron” on Mentoring Task Force Three (MTF-3), leading a team of 75 soldiers over a 9-month tour.  

When I think of ANZAC Day now, I don’t think of the old Vietnam diggers and their stories. I think of the 75 men I served with that kept each other safe and cared for each other in some of the most challenging conditions you can imagine. They are my brothers by choice, and we share a special bond that regular people may struggle to understand.  Sadly, four of them were killed in action and another five have died by suicide since returning home. Sometimes we face our biggest challenges after military service when it’s time to come home and assimilate into society again. I’ll be catching up with old friends this Saturday to toast their memory.  

Michael Cahill

EMBA 2021

Michael enlisted in the Army Reserve in November 2004 (with MBS Alumni Simon O'Brien), transferred to the regular army and served through to October 2021, and he still serves in the Army Reserve. He was deployed to Afghanistan October 2010 to June 2011 as part of Mentoring Task Force - 2 and to Iraq from March to June 2018 as part of Task Group Taji - VI. 

ANZAC Day has always held deep personal significance for me, well before my own service. My grandfather, Kevin McDonald, served as a Signaller with the 8th Division during the Second World War. Following the fall of Singapore, he was captured and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war, working on the Thai–Burma Railway. Whilst he didn’t often speak of it, I know that he lost his friends during that time and I was always impressed by the strength of his character.

Growing up, ANZAC Day has always been an important day amongst my extended family.  We attended the Dawn Service at the Box Hill RSL, followed by going into the city to watch the march. As a child, I marched alongside my grandfather. As an Australian Army veteran and now a father, ANZAC Day continues to be an important day, I continue to attend the Dawn Service each year, still with my extended family, but also with my own children. For me, ANZAC Day and what it represents is an important part of our nation's story.  I take the opportunity to reflect on the service of those who served in past conflicts, for me personally, I often reflect on my grandfather's generation (those that served in WWII). I also reflect on my own time in uniform and remember who I served with and sadly those who lost their lives whilst service. Whilst there are periods of solemn reflection, I also enjoy much of the day as I share stories, jokes and a beer or two with old friends and fellow veterans.

I distinctly remember that after I enlisted, and before my grandfather passed away, we would often speak on ANZAC Day, and he would share stories of his service. Despite what must have been a largely gruelling experience, he was able to recall amusing moments and some of the antics they got up to. I later mentioned these in passing to my mum, assuming she had heard the same stories growing up, only to be told that I was the first family member to hear them. Having since spent more time in uniform, I now better understand the bond between those who have served, often regardless of service or nationality.

ANZAC Day, for me, represents remembrance, camaraderie and sense of gratitude to those who served before me and paved the way.  As a modern veteran, I feel a responsibility and duty to ensure this remains an important day for all Australians, and I am proud to have served and to have played my part.

Rob Miller

MBA 2025

Rob served in East Timor 2000 and Solomon Islands 2007

It's complicated.

When I was a young lad, I grew up in the shadows of the portraits of my great Uncles Joe and Ern, literally – they were on Grandmas wall. Brothers, both of whom served on Gallipoli and both killed in action in 1917. In my early time in service, ANZAC day was all about these guys, and the other Warriors that went before me, and my duty to carry on as they had. As I got older and some mates have now moved on to higher service, I tend to carry the feeling of loss more than before. Mingled in with the memory of mum crying on dad’s shoulder as I boarded a plane to head off on my first deployment, with the letters my great-great grandmother received advising her of the death of her sons, three days apart.

It used to be about remembering people and events far removed from me, now it’s inseparable from the people I know and knew, and ancestors I feel closer to though I never met them.

The silk handkerchief was sent from Egypt in 1915 from Ern to my Great-Great grandmother. One of my most cherished possessions.