Leadership on display at Anzac Day
LIEUTENANT Colonel Al Charry spent his high school years at Dubbo Christian School and was school captain, a fact which shows his leadership qualities were honed back in the mid1990s as a student.
His career in the Australian Army, starting out as a raw recruit, has been an incredible journey which has seen him rise to high rank as he travelled to deployments and assignments across the globe.
He returned to Dubbo as guest speaker at this year’s Anzac Day ceremonies and told Dubbo Photo News about the importance of the defence force culture of trust, respect, leadership and ethics that has kept him passionate throughout his military career.
“That links back to our core values that we have in the army – courage and initiative, respect and teamwork. That’s something that is instilled in all our trainees, whether they be soldiers or junior officers, from a very early age. So to link it back to what we do, it’s just very close to home,” he said.
“It underpins everything that we involve ourselves in, be it a training environment or an operational environment.”
Many speakers on the day talked about really concentrating on what Anzac Day means rather than just going through the motions. Lt Col Charry acknowledged that Anzac Day in 2022 also means showing respect for those who made sacrifices for the nation, and also feeling immense sorrow for those who were left behind, or returned to face their own nightmares, and the impact that has on their loved ones.
He says it’s a complex mix of emotions.
“I really emphasised that, I wanted to make that point because it took me personally a long time to understand that (mix of emotions). For me, being able to relate to it is obviously through my own experiences, having gone on operations and come back myself,” he said.
“Sadly, the worst part is having lost friends in combat, it makes you really, really cut to the core of that sentiment, to really understand Anzac Day.”
He was asked to come back to Dubbo by old army mate Shaun Graham, a former Regimental Sergeant Major whose parade-ground voice organises the local veterans during Anzac and Remembrance Day marches.
“I have deep, deep respect and I’m just absolutely honoured to be associated with Shaun Graham because he taught me a lot, he took me under his wing when he was a Bombardier,” Lt Col Charry said.
“He’d been in the army for about six years when I met him and I was a brand new Private soldier. He taught me a lot, so it’s great to see him now and see where he has reached during his career.
“He passed on a high level of professionalism to me, he had a lot of influence on my career – I give him that credit and I’m very proud to know him.
“To hear him give those drill commands today on the march, I though, yep, that’s the fella that I remember.
“I’m very proud and very happy to come back to the community and share this day with Dubbo.”