Exit Wounds

Major General John Cantwell AO DSC joined the Australian Army as a private soldier in 1974 and rose to general-officer rank. He was a tank officer and commanded at every level. His senior management appointments included that of Deputy Chief of the Army. In 2009 he led the initial national efforts to recover from the deadly Victorian Black Saturday fires. He served in three distinct wars- combat duty in Operation Desert Storm in 1991; in Iraq in 2006; and as the commander of all Australian forces in Afghanistan and the wider Middle East area of operations in 2010. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his leadership in action in Afghanistan, has been made a Member of the Order of Australia and an Officer of the Order of Australia, and received the United States Legion of Merit, along with other commendations. He retired from the Australian Army in early 2012 after a career spanning 38 years.

Co-writer Greg Bearup has been a feature writer at the Good Weekend for the past ten years and has twice been awarded a Walkley Award for his writing. Prior to this he worked for the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2004⁄5 he took leave from his job and lived in Pakistan and filed for various newspapers including the Guardian. He also worked for the UN on various elections and lived in Syria, for the vote of Iraqi refugees, and Bamyan, in the remote mountains of Central Afghanistan.In 2009 he published Adventures in Caravanastan about a trip around Australia in a caravan with his partner and their baby. Reviewer Bruce Elder described it as ‘a subtle and ambiguous love letter to Australia in all its glory, craziness and diversity’.

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