A01=Hugh Poate
ADF
Afghan Army
Afghan War
Afghanistan
Afghanistan campaign
Afghanistan War
Australian Army
Australian Defence Force
Australian Defense Force
Australian soldier
Author_Hugh Poate
bereaved
Category=DNXM
Category=JWJ
Category=NHWR9
cross-examination
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
father
green on blue attack
grief
infiltrator
insider attack
investigation
killed in action
line of duty
Middle East War
military
military family
NATO
sneak attack
Taliban
tragedy
War in Afghanistan
Product details
- ISBN 9781742237237
- Weight: 333g
- Dimensions: 155 x 233mm
- Publication Date: 30 Mar 2021
- Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
- Publication City/Country: AU
- Product Form: Paperback
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On 29 August 2012 Private Robert Poate, Lance Corporal Rick Milosevic and Sapper James Martin were killed during an insider, or green on blue, attack in Afghanistan. Their killer was supposed to be their ally but was a Taliban sleeper in the ranks of the Afghan National Army. Information provided to the families by rank-and-file soldiers after the event shocked them. When the heavily redacted internal investigation report was received the grieving families knew that it excluded a plethora of incriminating facts.
This powerful book is the result of a father's quest to find out all the facts associated with the death of his son. It was a search that revealed a labyrinth of excuses, denials, half-truths, cover-ups, contrived secrecy, incompetence, negligence, orders not followed, and lessons not learnt from the previous twelve years of war in Afghanistan. The determination of Hugh Poate and the other two families to uncover the truth would lead to a civilian Coronial Inquest into combat deaths, the first in the 120-year history of the Australian Army. The Coroner found five systemic deficiencies which contributed to the soldier's deaths.
Hugh Poate felt a duty to publish the full story for the benefit of the Australian public which relies on its Defence Force for national security in the hope that Defence, particularly the army, will learn lessons from its failures and improve its standard of leadership. Apart from burying his son, Hugh found writing this book was the most depressing thing he has ever done.
Compelling and enraging, this story of the true facts surrounding the devastating loss of three soldiers continues to reverberate beyond their families to the highest levels of defence and government.
This powerful book is the result of a father's quest to find out all the facts associated with the death of his son. It was a search that revealed a labyrinth of excuses, denials, half-truths, cover-ups, contrived secrecy, incompetence, negligence, orders not followed, and lessons not learnt from the previous twelve years of war in Afghanistan. The determination of Hugh Poate and the other two families to uncover the truth would lead to a civilian Coronial Inquest into combat deaths, the first in the 120-year history of the Australian Army. The Coroner found five systemic deficiencies which contributed to the soldier's deaths.
Hugh Poate felt a duty to publish the full story for the benefit of the Australian public which relies on its Defence Force for national security in the hope that Defence, particularly the army, will learn lessons from its failures and improve its standard of leadership. Apart from burying his son, Hugh found writing this book was the most depressing thing he has ever done.
Compelling and enraging, this story of the true facts surrounding the devastating loss of three soldiers continues to reverberate beyond their families to the highest levels of defence and government.
Hugh Poate is the father of Private Robert Poate, who was killed in Afghanistan on 29 August 2012. Hugh, a former agricultural economist, lives with his wife, Janny, in Canberra. He has been undertaking economic research for most of his professional life and has put this experience to use over five years in researching the incident in which his son was killed.
