Saturday Morning Herald columnist Steve Price says Australians need to remember the Ben Roberts-Smith trial was a defamation case with no criminal prosecution.
“We must remember this is a civil defamation case with no criminal prosecution of the evidence not tested at all and it should not be used to erase the acts of bravery,” Mr Price said.
“Not once, but on numerous occasions Ben Roberts-Smith showed while serving our country – your country, my country in uniform in a hostile nation.”
Roberts-Smith was born on 1 November 1978 in Perth, Western Australia. He is the elder son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He graduated from Hale School in 1995.[11] His brother, Sam, is an opera singer.[12]
Military career
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Roberts-Smith in 2011
Roberts-Smith joined the Australian Army in 1996 at age 18. After completing basic training at Blamey Barracks in Kapooka, New South Wales, he underwent initial employment training at the School of Infantry at Lone Pine Barracks in Singleton, New South Wales. From there, Roberts-Smith was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) in Holsworthy, New South Wales. Initially part of a rifle company, he subsequently became a section leader in the Direct Fire Support Weapons Platoon.[13] With 3 RAR, Roberts-Smith was deployed to East Timor twice, the first time as part of the International Force East Timor in 1999.[13]
After completing the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) selection course in 2003, and the SASR reinforcement cycle, Roberts-Smith was initially posted to 3 Squadron at Campbell Barracks (Western Australia). He took part in operations off Fiji in 2004, and was part of personal security detachments in Iraq throughout 2005 and 2006. Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions; the first two were in 2006 and 2007. After completing junior leadership training in 2009, he was posted to 2 Squadron as a patrol 2IC, and later as a patrol commander. Roberts-Smith was a member of training and assistance teams throughout Southeast Asia. He returned to Afghanistan in 2009, 2010 and 2012.[13]
In 2011, Roberts-Smith noted that he—and the ADF—expected him to be able to continue to fight as a frontline patrol commander following the receipt of the Victoria Cross. He said that “[O]nce you reach patrol commander, that is the pinnacle for an SAS operator. You are now the man.”[14] He left the full-time army in 2013 at age 35 with the rank of corporal, and served part-time with the Army Reserve until 2015.
Military decorations
Medal for Gallantry and Victoria Cross for Australia
Medals on display at the Australian War Memorial. (Note that this display does not include his full entitlement.)
In 2006, Roberts-Smith was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his operations as a patrol scout and sniper in Afghanistan.[17]
He was presented with the VC by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, at a ceremony held at Campbell Barracks in Perth on 23 January 2011.[18][19]
The decision to award Roberts-Smith’s VC was raised during his current ongoing defamation proceedings where it was revealed that several former and serving members of the SAS had questioned the decision to award the VC to Roberts-Smith.[20][21][22]
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Roberts-Smith being presented with the Victoria Cross for Australia during his investiture ceremony
Commendation for Distinguished Service
On 26 January 2014, Roberts-Smith was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service as part of the 2014 Australia Day Honours.[23] The award arose from a 2012 tour of Afghanistan, in which Roberts-Smith “distinguished himself as an outstanding junior leader on more than 50 high risk” operations.[24]
A 2014 painting of Roberts-Smith, Pistol Grip by Michael Zavros, hangs in the Australian War Memorial which commissioned it.[25] The National Portrait Gallery (Australia) commissioned a photo by Julian Kingma of Roberts-Smith in 2018.[26] The uniform he wore in Afghanistan is also displayed in the War Memorial.[27]
Comment by Nelle-we send good men into the fray to protect us and then some Wokes have the gall to complain and attack them-he served his country well under difficult and demanding circumstances and because of that became strong and expected others to be as well-some wilted under pressure and spoke out against him and this was enough for the cowards behind the key boards journalists and later so called legal expects saying he should be stripped of his medals- one wonders what they did. if anything, for their country. And his commander in chief Angus Campbell instead of standing beside him led the charge against him- since the massacre of Glencoe the Campbell name has been synonymous with treachery and it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree-
The military appears to be in disarray instead of attending to matters in house have chosen to air these problems in the public arena thereby attacking the morale of servicemen and denigrating one of our strongest and bravest soldiers-the military is not what it used to be where men were strong and capable now we have servicemen who think they are women and dressing accordingly. With the onslaught of the absurdity of Woke our civilization is unraveling and with our history. traditions, way of life are under a cloud and our morals sinking to all time low normality needs to return bringing back honour integrity and honesty so pride can return to military and civilians alike- we need to return to our christian roots, restrain the secular world and install God in his rightful place
Nelle's journey 