Rehabilitation success stories

Charles Cannard enlisted in the Army in March 2009 and became a gunner in the Royal Regiment of the Australian Artillery.

I joined the Royal Australian Navy as an electrician in 2001. I always wanted to join the Forces from school and the Navy had a position for me ready to go straight out of school so I didn't have to wait. It was good, I thought it was the right decision to make. Once I was in recruit school training they said would you like to be an electrician, so that's what I decided to do, Marine Technician Electrical.

On night navigation at Kapooka, the guy behind me didn’t quite stop in time, bashed into me, I went down the embankment and went end over end. My foot went out to stop the roll and the arch of my foot just flattened.

I joined the Army straight out of school starting in February 2001. I spent my first 5 years in Artillery and then transferred across to RAEME (Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) and got a trade as an electrician. I then got a medical discharge in 2013 and started again.

I spent my service in both the Army and the Reserves. I began in the Reserves in 1985. Back in those days, you didn't have to do your training at Kapooka and I did my training at Jezzine Barracks in Townsville.

I joined the Australian Army as a commando officer in May 2007. While on patrol in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, an improvised explosive device exploded and killed one of our group. I suffered a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury and cracks to some of my vertebrae. Three other Australian soldiers were injured as well.

I joined the Army on 21 March 2000. I did a trip to Rifle Company Butterworth in Malaysia for a three-month training exercise. We had a really good OC [officer commanding] and he gave us a bit of time off.

I joined the Army in September 1989 in Adelaide. My father was in the Military, my grandfather was also in the Military, so there was a tradition there. I felt a sense of honour to follow in their footsteps.

I joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 21 September 2003. I was training to be a Ground Support Equipment Fitting Engineer, or GSE, which is basically a diesel mechanic.

I was delivering my motorbike to the railway station because I was about to go on a posting from Brisbane to Sydney…but I never made it to the railway station. I woke up in the hospital in Brisbane 3 days later. I don’t remember a thing.