QAS INSIGHT | Summer 2017-18 edition

42 not out: Afghan veteran finds new purpose Tom Kelsey has gone from one frontline to another and, while he loves his emergency services role, the ex-soldier-turned paramedic is determined to help keep the memory alive of former military comrades who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

The extra hour honoured those who were wounded or psychologically damaged. Tom said he was delighted with the response to this year’s challenge, which grew from a single person event to 30 sponsored teams, including a team with QAS staff. “It was so heartwarming seeing everyone have so much enthusiasm, no matter what time of the day or night they were walking around the concourse of the stadium,’’ he said. “All of the participants displayed so much strength and determination and it was wonderful seeing everyone supporting and encouraging one another.” Tom was in the army for five years and was deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands. He was inspired to join the army by his hero, his late grandfather, Robert Kelsey, a WWII soldier captured by the Japanese in the fall of Singapore and made a POW, “working in appalling conditions on the Burma railway.”

The 29-year-old, who served three tours in the 2/14th Light Horse Regiment, is now channelling his energy into raising funds for the not-for-profit organisation 42 for 42 , which aims to build a memorial for the 41 Australian soldiers who died during the Afghanistan war between 2001–2014. Founded by Sean Mulqueen, a good mate who was an explosives expert in Afghanistan, the charity is more than half-way to achieving the $100,000 needed to build the memorial next to Suncorp Stadium after staging its second annual 42 for 42 Challenge fundraiser in November. The fundraiser ran for 42 hours and involved teams of volunteers taking it in turns to walk around the concourse of Suncorp Stadium, with each team carrying a combined weight of 42kg in backpacks. Each hour of the challenge represented one of the Australian soldiers killed in the Afghanistan war.

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Above ■ Promotional poster for the 2017 42 for 42 event on November 10–12. Right ■ Tom Kelsey has exchanged the ASLAV armoured reconnaisance vehicle of his deployment to Afghanistan for a QAS ambulance but continues to embody the spirit

of his former unit’s motto “Forward” in his new role.

Summer 2017–18