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Speaker 1: Well. In a major show of support for local veterans

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Speaker 1: and troops, Darwin is set to host the Defense of

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Speaker 1: Veteran Games at Robertson Barracks this weekend. We're expecting more

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Speaker 1: than two hundred veterans, current serving members and spectators are

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Speaker 1: going to be attending, with teams of Army, Navy and

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Speaker 1: Air Force personnel competing in a range of challenges. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line is the events creator and

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Speaker 1: Managing Director of Veteran Support Force, Heston Russell. Good morning again, Sorry, Heston,

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Speaker 1: that phone seems to have dropped out of I got

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Speaker 1: you there. Let's try one more time, Heston, can you

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Speaker 1: hear me?

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Speaker 2: I certainly can.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, goodbye, Good to have you on the show. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for your time. Now, is this the first

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Speaker 1: time that we've held this event to in.

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Speaker 2: Darwin, Yeah, the first time. And what's even more exciting

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Speaker 2: is it's actually on base and a huge part of

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Speaker 2: what we're trying to do is get the veteran community

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Speaker 2: reconnected with the current service community. So thanks for the

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Speaker 2: Normanitary Government and one Brigade. It's here on Robertson Barracks

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Speaker 2: tomorrow Friday.

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Speaker 1: How awesome and how wonderful to be able to have

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Speaker 1: it there on at Robertson Barracks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's brilliant. It really is trying to get that integration,

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Speaker 2: reconnecting that community and getting back out here, you know,

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Speaker 2: helping people to reconnect with that military identity. And again,

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Speaker 2: I just really can't praise the one Brigade team out

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Speaker 2: here as well, even though pump the base so that

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Speaker 2: people can come along and spectate.

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Speaker 1: That's so good. I think it's a wonderful thing to

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Speaker 1: have the wider community part of it as well. Hairston,

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Speaker 1: tell me what kind of challenges are participants going to

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Speaker 1: be taking part in.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a bit of a secret, but I'll let

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Speaker 2: you win. There's at least going to be there's an

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Speaker 2: obstacle course. There's a water obstacle that they're going to

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Speaker 2: have to navigate as well. So the key thing with

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Speaker 2: the Veteran Games is so it's a team's event eight

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Speaker 2: to ten and they have to participate in military style activity. So,

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Speaker 2: like I said, it's going to be an obstacle course,

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Speaker 2: but there's going to be an extra element to it.

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Speaker 2: While they'll be assessed on technique and teamwork to like

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Speaker 2: navigate this water obstacle and there's going to be four

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Speaker 2: or five other events throughout the day, commencing at around

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Speaker 2: eight thirty in the morning.

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Speaker 1: And how important is it, you know that this event

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Speaker 1: happens in a defense town like Darwin. You know, when

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Speaker 1: you look at the number of veterans that we've got here,

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Speaker 1: when you look at the you know, the number of

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Speaker 1: people we've got here, Like, how important is it to

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Speaker 1: hold an event like this indo? And then you know,

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Speaker 1: to see some of these participants potentially go on to

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Speaker 1: compete at the national finals.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, massive. I mean, we developed the Veteran Games

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Speaker 2: three years ago parallel to the Royal Commission into Defense

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Speaker 2: and Veteran Suicide to identify that loss of purpose, loss

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Speaker 2: of community, and loss of identity were the key factors

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Speaker 2: leading to mental ill health and suicidality. So that's exactly

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Speaker 2: what we design for this to form a team, train

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Speaker 2: it with purpose, reconnect with the community, reconnect with part

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Speaker 2: of that military identity. And even better, as you said,

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Government's actually going to sponsor the winning

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Speaker 2: team from this heat tomorrow to travel down to our

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Speaker 2: national final on the Gold Coast in October.

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Speaker 1: Oh that is fantastic, mate. How many people do you

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Speaker 1: get to the national finals or is it a bit

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Speaker 1: select because you only have the winners from the other states.

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Speaker 2: No, well, again, so this is the first heat. So

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Speaker 2: the last two years, the Gold Coast event's been our

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Speaker 2: only event with people traveling from across the country. Oh

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Speaker 2: wow this year. Yeah, So this year we're looking at

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Speaker 2: about I think we've got about two hundred veterans that

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Speaker 2: we're planning for this year, so twenty teams, and we

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Speaker 2: can definitely take more. So it actually started off with

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Speaker 2: fifty the first year, one hundred the second year, so

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Speaker 2: we're doubling as we go, and especially being a charity

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Speaker 2: and sort of community supported initiative, it's really brilliant to

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Speaker 2: see the impact it's having and the growth it's having

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Speaker 2: and being here in Darwin. Hopefully we can do it

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Speaker 2: again next year.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like such a fantastic initiative to me. I

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Speaker 1: mean we've spoken on numerous occasions on this show to

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Speaker 1: veterans you know, who've really struggled after leaving the service.

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Speaker 1: As you touched on a moment to go and then

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Speaker 1: you know, you look at the way that that physical

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Speaker 1: activity and an event like this can give someone purpose,

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Speaker 1: to give someone something to train for and to really

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Speaker 1: be part of something.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely one hundred percent. And look, if people go online

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Speaker 2: to Veteran Games dot Com, you'll see the last two

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Speaker 2: years we've film documentary's got testimonials to some of the

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Speaker 2: testimonials from you know, veterans, you know only thirty years old,

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Speaker 2: who haven't left their houses, suffered from anxiety, depression, all

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Speaker 2: the rest, and just to see how it's impacted them,

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Speaker 2: how it's impacted their families, their kids, given them a

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Speaker 2: sense of purpose, reconnected with that community. It's all there,

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Speaker 2: and it's and it's growing, and we're just really privileged

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Speaker 2: about a one continue to do it, but to doing

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Speaker 2: it here again on base with full support of the

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Speaker 2: Army base here and also the Northern Territory government. It's

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Speaker 2: absolutely brilliant and so enjoyable to be here and be

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Speaker 2: able to do it tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: So you said this right from the get go. Members

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Speaker 1: of the community can go along to watch, can't they.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so again thanks to the team here at

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Speaker 2: the first Brigade on Robertson Barracks. People can turn up

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Speaker 2: tomorrow from eight o'clock from eight o'clock till four o'clock

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Speaker 2: is when we're running. They can come and spectate. Mates

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Speaker 2: and mates are running a barbecue out here. We've got

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Speaker 2: Marquee set up. The front gate staff are being worded up.

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Speaker 2: You just have to tell them you're here to watch

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Speaker 2: the veteran games and they'll be able to shovel you

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Speaker 2: in and come and watch what the veterans are up to.

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Speaker 1: Heston, we're pretty territory proud here, mate. Do you reckon

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Speaker 1: that our games are going to be better than everywhere else?

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Speaker 2: Well, I tell you the unique part again is about

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Speaker 2: doing it here on base so we actually can throw

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Speaker 2: a few more things. We got a lot of stores

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Speaker 2: and equipment and a few little curlies that they're going

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Speaker 2: to have to deal with. So again I don't want

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Speaker 2: to give away too much in case any competitors are listening,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, it's definitely going to be quite different to

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Speaker 2: what we do on the Gold Coast, but for all

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Speaker 2: the better for it.

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Speaker 1: Oh, good on you. Thank you so much for having

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Speaker 1: a chat with us this morning and letting us know

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Speaker 1: more about it. I reckon you'll get a great crowd

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Speaker 1: down there as well.

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Speaker 2: Now, Legend, thanks for for helping us raise the awareness

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Speaker 2: and again, anyone who wants to get involved heat the

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Speaker 2: Veteran Games dot com. You can register as a spectator.

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Speaker 2: There's more details on how to get to base. Otherwise,

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Speaker 2: come on out and the staff will help you out

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Speaker 2: to come and watch.

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Speaker 1: Our good stuff. Well, Heston Russell, lovely to talk to

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Speaker 1: you this morning, Thanks so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Likewise, thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you