Maverick digger a hired gun

A DECORATED former Special Forces soldier has revealed that his Afghanistan deployment was so dull and poorly supervised he was able to go rogue and lend himself out to foreign armies for Taliban kill missions.

The ADF and Department of Defence have launched an inquiry into the extraordinary admissions the former 2nd Commando Regiment Warrant Officer — known only as “H” — has made in a podcast series.

His recordings provide rare insights into the culture and missions of the Special Forces at a time when they and their operations are under federal authority scrutiny for potential war crimes.

Among his claims was how when he arrived in Afghanistan with the ADF he bought a phone and a laptop on the black market and created a Hotmail account to spruik for in-country foreign force missions.

He details on the Life on the Line military veterans podcast series how he then fudged his way into coalition operational security briefings and went on unsanctioned Australian missions with counterpart forces, including from Italy, Germany, Canada and local Afghanis for up to three weeks in the month.

The now Queenslandbased former soldier would disappear for days on these missions, such was the lack of ADF and 2 Commando direction and “very, very little supervision” during that 2008 deployment, he said.

According to H, the now head of Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, who was a commander in Afghanistan at the time, eventually discovered by accident his off-books war fighting when foreign forces asked the general for more Aussie troops like “H”.

“No one knew what I was doing and it wasn’t in the traditional sense properly authorised … I got a bit of a kick in the arse over it but nothing really happened,” he said.

Australian Special Forces’ activities in Afghanistan are under investigation, notably for the culture and discipline that allegedly led to unlawful killings and war crimes.

The four-year inquiry by the ADF Inspector-General is focusing on 55 incidents. There is no suggestion H’s alleged activities form any part of the brief. Defence this week confirmed it was aware of the podcast and a separate investigation was under way into the claims.

“Defence was not aware of, and does not condone, the alleged behaviours and actions described by the interviewee,” a spokesman said.

H declined on Sunday to formally comment but stood by his podcast commentary.

Life on the Line interviewer Alex Lloyd said the series gave a voice to veterans who were not necessarily reflective of the broader ADF.