Ben Roberts-Smith ramps up publicity push with slick Instagram account and personal brand
Ben Roberts-Smith has launched a brand called Epic One Two, the call sign he used when he stormed a Taliban machine gun nest, helping save an entire SAS platoon in Afghanistan.
Ben Roberts-Smith, the former SAS corporal fighting five potential life sentences, launched a professionally produced Instagram account to promote a new personal brand this week at the start of a public relations campaign designed to win over more Australians to his cause.
To name the account, Mr Roberts-Smith chose the call sign he used during the 2010 Battle of Tizak, Epic One Two, when he stormed a Taliban machine gun nest, helping save an entire SAS platoon that was pinned down without backup deep in the enemy-controlled region of Shah Wali Kot.
“This brand represents something very personal to me,” he told The Nightly.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“It is about accepting your personal situations but never losing hope.
“It’s about the underdog and all of those people facing their own hardships in life that keep fighting and keep grinding their way forward.”
In the first and only post to the account, a slick, 27-second video, Mr Roberts-Smith does not speak. Clips from news reports about his military record and court and previous recordings of his voice can be heard as he walks along a beach on the Gold Coast and weightlifts in a gym.
The video suggests that he is warming up or preparing for a fight — presumably to face the five counts of committing or abetting the war crime of murder. Prosecutors have said they will seek the maximum penalty, life imprisonment.
“I have never run from a fight in my life,” Mr Roberts-Smith can be heard saying in a voice-over. “I will never give up.”
He plans to sell products under the brand, including clothing, creating products that will help generate income to cover his living expenses and act as symbols of support for his legal defence.
Within 14 hours the post had received 20,900 likes, led by fellow SAS veteran Andy White, whose recent memoir, Outside The Wire, excoriated the Defence Force leadership for initiating the Brereton Inquiry into war crimes, which accused special forces soldiers of executing 39 Afghan prisoners and civilians.
Among the other veterans who expressed their support below the post were ex-commandos Scott Jones, who wrote “Tested in Tizak”, and Dean Burgess, who wrote “Future leader of this nation”. The News24 host and former chief adviser to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Peta Credlin, replied “Finally” with an emoji of a bicep.
At the Battle of Tizak, five SAS teams were pinned down by a Taliban force approximately three times as large. Most of the Black Hawk helicopters used to land the platoon, known as a troop in the SAS, near the village had been hit and could not return.
The Australians were out of range of artillery and US Apache helicopters could not penetrate thick crops protecting the insurgents. A Commando company was about 6km away, a distance considered too far to help because of the extreme heat and steep hills separating the two units.
After a New Zealand member of the SAS was shot in the hand trying to cross a creek, Mr Roberts-Smith’s six-man team, codenamed Epic 1, launched a frontal attack on the main Taliban position. The assault was recognised with the Victoria Cross for the corporal, a Star of Gallantry for his sergeant, and the Medal of Gallantry for a soldier identified in official records as Corporal J.
As the second-in-command of the team, Mr Roberts-Smith’s call sign was Epic One Two. His arrest in April split the nation, triggering street protests by his supporters but pleasing opponents from the SAS who cooperated with the Brereton Inquiry and investigative journalists who revealed the allegations.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s case is stuck in procedural hearings in the New South Wales Local Court, leaving it unclear when he may face trial. Despite the long wait to appear before a jury, Mr Roberts-Smith is raising his public profile.
On Sunday he attended a commemorative service in Canberra for the anniversary of the Afghanistan War, at which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke. Next week radio host Ben Fordham plans to broadcast clips from a two-hour interview with the war hero. Fordham plans to post a video of the full interview on YouTube too.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s approach is different to the first veteran charged with war crimes by civilian prosecutors, former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz. His murder trial is due to start in February. He has never given an interview to the media.
