Generally speaking

My Story
GEN Peter Cosgrove
Harper Collins
468 pages, $49.99

At last, the much anticipated personal memoirs from arguably Australia’s most popular contemporary military leader.

His personal story takes us “from boyhood to battlefield” as he shares his extraordinary life-journey that saw him go from cadet to the top – CA, CDF and Australian of the year in 2001.

Son of an Armoured Corps RSM and from humble beginnings in the working-class Sydney suburb of Paddington in the late 1940s, we journey through the good and bad times as Gen Cosgrove revisits his more than 40-year career from platoon commander 5 Pl B Coy 6RAR in Vietnam through to Australian CDF and retirement.

Part memoirs, part rollicking adventure, his tales from the Vietnam war include some great warries such as his first contact and subsequent battles – during which he served with distinction and was awarded the MC.

But his thoughts on the two years he spent as the Task Force Commander for Interfet are of particular interest and make up the bulk of the book.

Of special interest are his recollections of the delicate negotiations with the Indonesian military to avoid any conflict in the early stages of the operation.

A private audience with the Queen, a mid-air emergency, his thoughts on the War on Terror, Abu Ghraib and the challenges of holding the offices of CA and CDF are among some of the more unexpected treats in this great read.

– SGT Damian Griffin


Giveaway

We have six copies of Gen Cosgrove’s autobiography to give away. Email your name and address to simone.heyer@defencenews.gov.au (not the DRN) with the answer to this question: In what year was Gen Cosgrove Australian of the Year?


On the way

Winners of the Tony Park African Sky giveaway are:
Maj Philip Blowers, HQTC-A; Cpl Sue Enchelmaier, APA-Brisbane; Maj Peter Wilson, Calamvale; Phil Dean, Defence Plaza Sydney and WO2 Iain Lewington, PSS Sydney. The answer is: Maj Tony Park is a reserve in the Australian Army Public Relations Service.