Australian SAS Officer Mark Wales: Combat Stories, PTSD, and the Warrior Spirit | Combat Story

Combat Story

Ryan Fugit

History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this incredible episode, Mark Wales, a former Australian SAS officer, opens up about his military journey. From his initial days in the Australian infantry to transitioning into the elite Special Forces, Mark reflects on his most pivotal experiences, including dangerous combat missions and the mental and physical toll of war. He shares intimate details about his service, his motivation to join Special Forces, and the challenges of losing friends in combat.

Mark's story isn't just about the highs of military life; it's also about the realities, the struggles with PTSD, and the transition back to civilian life. He talks about what it means to have the courage to face adversity, the bonds formed between soldiers, and how he now uses his experiences to inspire others as a corporate speaker.

A must-watch for anyone interested in the warrior spirit, leadership, resilience, and the human side of combat.

🎙️ About Ryan Fugit:
Ryan is the creator and host of Combat Story, a podcast that captures the firsthand accounts of combat veterans, and Restricted Handling, which explores authoritarian activity and international security through conversations with world-class experts.

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Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction to Mark Wales

00:57 Joining the Special Forces

01:42 Life After the Military

05:30 Combat Experiences and Near Misses

09:35 Dealing with Loss and Grief

16:42 Mental Health and PTSD

19:43 Reflections and Traditions

23:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mark Wales, M-A-R-K-W-A-L-E-S.
0:16.0	So I was in the Australian Army, I was in infantry and then transferred to special forces later special air service regiment.
0:24.6	Yeah, I had a call sign, Echo Alpha, and nickname was Chewy, sure for Chewbacca.
0:33.6	Oh, I just looked like a bit of a wookie once I grow my hair out. Oh, so I was with the second battalion initially.
0:42.3	And then when I joined Special Forces, I was in Special Air Service Regiment,
0:47.3	and I was in one, two, and four squadrons of SAS. a few different squadrons I joined because when I was
0:58.7	young I'd seen pictures of a hostage rescue mission in the middle of London and it
1:05.6	was carried out by the British SAS it was Princess Gate in 1980 where they
1:10.6	rescued all these hostages in the Iranian embassy in London.
1:14.1	And I was really intrigued by how much of a specialist force they look like. And I thought, well,
1:21.4	I just wanted to be a part of a team like that. It looks so cool. And it looked like it was hard to get into as well.
1:27.2	And the more homework
1:28.6	I did on the more I realized this was a really tough career path and to get there you had to go
1:33.6	through the army you can go through any service in Australia but mostly is comprised of people from
1:39.4	the army so that's what got me interested in it I'm a a corporate speaker now. So I do presentations for companies around leadership and resilience.
1:49.0	And I've been doing it for five years.
1:51.0	I'm getting better at it, so it's a good job.
1:53.0	And if I'm not doing that, I can do other stuff on the side,
1:57.0	so I do a lot of writing and also run a small apparel business, Kill Capture.
2:04.6	I think it's a window to a world that is quite secretive. People don't know much about it.
2:10.6	It's hard to grasp what it's like being in a foreign country, being in combat, running these special forces, missions.
2:18.3	Our frame of reference is pretty much popular culture, all the news.
	...

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