During Inverell’s Anzac Day service, he recalled a two-day battle with the Taliban and the loss of an enlisted mate.

Senator John Williams delivered the Prime Minister’s message at the service and said he was moved by Mr Shepherd’s speech.

“When the service was finished, I had to go over and say "Digger, proud of you",” he said.

“I had to go over and shake his hand.”

Senator William’s father Reg was once the president of the Inverell RSL sub-branch.

“I remember ... back int the early 90s or late 80s that they were concerned that Anzac Day was waning and wilting on the vine,” he said.

“Thankfully, they're concerns never came to fruition. 

“I thought it was an wonderful service. It just appears to get bigger and bigger each year.

“I think what makes it so special is to have guest speakers like we had, an Inverell bloke who has put his life on the line.

“And the children. To see the kids here participating, the school kids, I just think we are getting bigger every year.”

Thank you very much. Hello, I’m Keenan Shepherd. I joined the Australian Army in January 2006 after completing my schooling at Macintyre High School. Joining the military was a childhood dream I had from a young age.

I joined the Army as a combat engineer where i was trained to search for improvised explosive devices, bridge building, minefield clearance, demolition using explosives and and field defence systems.

In February 2011, I was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Special Operations Task group. Here, I supported the 2^nd Commando Regiment providing Improvised Explosives Device route and area searches in the field. Often being ahead of the Commandos searching the ground for underground explosives using a mine sweeper, creating a safe path.

During my time in Afghanistan, I experienced some of the best times of my life, surrounded by my mates going through it together and making a real difference. I also had some of the worst days of my life, with close calls and losing three mates over the six-month deployment.

A unique time I experienced in Afghanistan was Anzac Day.

Anzac Day in Afghanistan on operations had a very different feel to it. We had the dawn service in one of our training compounds, it was still night and very peaceful and emotional, I remember thinking about the things we were doing there at the time an feeling proud to be an Australian solider.

I also thought about the hardships that our veterans faced in wars past and the sacrifices they have made.

I remember looking around at my mates and thinking, although over the years war has changed with the equipment, living conditions and locations, the one thing that will never change is the Australian spirit, the Anzac spirit, having your mate’s back no matter what, showing courage and endurance when the going gets tough, being resourceful when faced with a problem and the Australian larrikin can-do attitude.

An example of these values is an operation we conducted on the 25^th of May 2011 at a village called Keshmesh Khan in Helmand province, Afghanistan. We were to conduct what seemed to be a simple two-day operation to disrupt and dismantle the strong Taliban presence in the area. Upon landing five kilometres from the town via helicopter at 2am in the morning, we were met with an almost instant resistance from the Taliban, receiving effective small arms and RPG fire.

For the next three hours we fought our way to the centre of the village and took defensive positions in the main street. While here, us six combat engineers cleared the series of compounds from improvised explosive devices, enemy weapons and ammunition. We received constant resistance from the Taliban through the day and well into the night from all directions. The Taliban had our group bunkered down in a defensive positions for the whole two days. It came to be that we had to stay there for an extra night and day.

We were running low on ammunition and food, so we had a lat-night supply drop from a C-130 aircraft. On the third day, we started venturing out, attacking enemy positions.

The Taliban had been busy lacing the ground with improvised explosive devices awaiting our advancement.

We were successfully clearing the ground of improvised explosive devices and the compounds of remaining Taliban until we had the tragedy of losing one of our own, Sgt. Brett Woods, who stepped on an improvised explosive device and was sadly killed with two other commandos wounded.

I remember the whole mood of the operation shifted with the sadness of losing one of our own, but after a short moment we were determined to finish the job that Brett would have wanted us to do. We cleared the village of all remaining Taliban and made it back to our base safely.

Having been through that loss on the battlefield and seeing how it made us closer and more determined got the job done in honour of Brett. I think of all the other veterans, family and friends of our military personnel that didn’t make it home and how much honour an memories they have left behind as their legacy.

Thank you.