Bound by shared service
THE dawn service at Primrose Sands will be one of many across the state this Thursday as Tasmanians gather for Anzac Day to commemorate those who have served and died.
Among the veterans at the small town will be two former soldiers who have bonded over a shared understanding despite their 15-year age gap.
Though Craig Coutts served in Afghanistan in 2001 and Geoff Smith in Vietnam in 1968, the two formed a friendship about eight years ago at the same RSL where they will congregate this Thursday.
Mr Coutts served in the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) in Afghanistan in 2001, deployed after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
“I first met Geoff when I came down for holidays. I came down to the RSL for a drink . . . and met up with Geoff and got talking to him,” the 55-year-old said.
“He found out what I had been through, and I found out what he had been through.”
The two bonded over their shared horrors from their respective wars and over sport.
“We worked out that we had played a game of rugby together back in 1982 in Sydney,” he said. “We bonded from there. “It’s nice having that closer relationship, because there aren’t many veterans down here to do that with.”
Mr Smith, who was in Vietnam with the 161st Independent Reconnaissance Flight, said there weren’t many in his small town who understood what he saw.
“He’s someone I can relate to, he knows what I’m talking about,” the 70-year-old said. “I do have problems. Craig has problems. He doesn’t go into his shell, he’ll tell me he’s had bad night, and I have bad nights.”