After the Blast

A very Australian story of heroism and healing.In 2004 Garth Callender, a junior cavalry officer, was deployed to Iraq. He quickly found his feet leading convoys of armoured vehicles through the streets of Baghdad and into the desert beyond. But one morning his crew was targeted in a roadside bomb attack. Garth became Australias first serious casualty in the war.After recovering from his injuries, Garth returned to Iraq in 2006 as second-in command of the Australian Armys security detachment in Baghdad. He found a city in the grip of a rising insurgency. His unit had to contend with missile attacks, suicide bombers and the death by misadventure of one of their own, Private Jake Kovco.Determined to prevent the kinds of bomb attacks that left him scarred, Garth volunteered once more in 2009 to lead a weapons intelligence team in Afghanistan. He was helicoptered to blast zones in the aftermath of attacks, and worked to identify the insurgent bomb-makers responsible. Revealing, moving, funny and full of drama, Garth Callenders story is one of a kind.Garth Callender, a wounded veteran, tells his story of multiple combat tours with acid intensity. Stark, brutal and honest, After the Blast exposes the ghastly business of modern warfare. It is an uncompromising account that will shock some readers. Raw emotions, fears, loves, frustrations and anger are unflinchingly recalled. This book provides a rare insight to the harsh realities of Australias contemporary conflicts. Major General John Cantwell, AO, DSC, Author of Exit WoundsGarth Callender shows you what soldiers really think and, more importantly, feel. James Brown, author of Anzacs Long ShadowI urge you to read this important, engaging book. There are so few firsthand accounts from our frontline soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Leigh Sales