Bram Connolly: Facing death, this special forces commander discovered how to value life
The lieutenant-colonel has published a memoir celebrating danger in military life and the many ways he almost died during a career that has lasted two decades.
Commando Bram Connolly had many brushes with death over his 20-year career in the army. But the most humbling close call was the consequence of a lie - his - in 2001 when he called in a helicopter to collect his six-man reconnaissance team from a hill in East Timor.
The air crew only came for Connolly’s tired and hungry men because he assured them the weather was fine. In reality, the hidden campsite had been enveloped by clouds and was being buffeted by wind.
As the commandos waited for the aircraft to touch down in a clearing barely big enough for a bus, a gust of wind sent the helicopter’s rotor blades lurching towards Connolly. They missed the top of his head by about 2cm.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I felt the air move against my scalp before I had registered that I needed to duck,” Connolly writes in 100 Ways I Almost Died, a collection of experiences from his army service published next week.
As sergeant on the way up through the special forces at the time, Connolly was proud of his military skills. But that almost-fatal lapse in judgement became one of the most important lessons of his career, teaching him humility and the importance of making the right decision over the expedient one. Operating his own management consultancy, he now teaches leadership skills at BHP and other large companies.
The collection
Connolly’s book is the latest in a rash of publications from special forces veterans reminding Australians that Victoria Cross awardee Ben Roberts-Smith, whose life has almost overshadowed the whole war, is not the only soldier to have worn a beret in the nation’s service.
A couple of weeks ago ex-Special Air Service sergeant and Afghan veteran Andy White published the hilarious and angry memoir Outside The Wire. One of the regiment’s former commanders, Ben Pronk, has a philosophical guide in book stores, We’re All Going To Die. Former SAS major Mark Wales last month published Mission Ready, a leadership guide based on his experience in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Although a couple of years old, Scott Ryder’s account of commando life, Forged In Fire, remains one of the most popular accounts of modern military life.
100 Ways I Almost Died is the most whimsical of the collection, although carries a serious message about the fragility of existence, military and civilian. “I wanted to write about how short and fleeting life is,” he tells The Nightly. “I had a lot of friends killed in Afghanistan. That makes me reflect on how fortunate I am to be alive today.”
Private Ben Chuck, one of his closer friends, was killed in a helicopter crash two weeks after fighting in the 2010 Battle of East Shah Wali Kot, for which 2nd Commando Regiment and the SAS were recognised by the army’s first battle honours since the Vietnam War.
Although the true number is short of 100, Connolly discovered there are many ways to die. His would-be killers included scorpions, spiders, sharks, surf, snipers, snow storms, wolves, car crashes, COVID-19 and a sausage roll infected with bacteria by his young niece.
The lost battle
In a world focused on protecting children and adults from offence, adversity and conflict, Connolly’s survival stories are a celebration of risk, adventure and the clarity of life that comes from seeing it almost slip away.
He hopes the book will encourage young men and women to join the military, a career he considers honourable, morally fulfilling and dangerous. Connolly should know. He rose from private to lieutenant-colonel and now commands a Reserve light infantry battalion in Perth.
A founding member of the 2nd Commando Regiment, he led a platoon in a six-hour battle at Zabat Kalay in Kandahar Province on October 18, 2010. Badly outnumbered, the commandos defeated the enemy and captured a senior Taliban official while suffering two non-fatal casualties.
The army did nothing to promote the victory, which is why almost no Australians have heard of it, even though one of Connolly’s men was awarded the Star of Gallantry, the decoration one below the Victoria Cross.
Recognised with a distinguished service medal for his leadership at Zabat Kalay and elsewhere in Afghanistan, Connolly boasted of a far greater achievement. “What I was most proud of is I brought all the guys home,” he says.
100 Ways I Almost Died by Bram Connolly will be published on August 4 by Allen & Unwin
