HE bounds in from the left of the frame like an armoured athlete; rifle cradled in one arm, the other outstretched towards the camera.
Right up in the lens — a GoPro mounted on a colleague’s helmet — that extended arm delivers an exuberant high-five and he exhales a whoop, before following other diggers clambering into a Chinook helicopter that waits, rotors spinning, to extract them from the combat zone.
The footage shows Commando Cameron Baird as only a few have ever seen him — doing what he loved, pumped with adrenaline at accomplishing another successful mission in Afghanistan, his platoon safe and the job done.
Cut to another year: still in Afghanistan; now in a barracks room.
Cameron, in camouflage fatigues, crouches on a table. He clutches a guitar, working it furiously to churn out a raw yet accurate version of Green Day’s anthemic Time Of Your Life.
Intense, almost angry, concentration flashes across his face as he barks out the lyrics. And other emotions — lots of them, mixed.
This day’s mission ended very differently. Cameron and his mates lost a brother. The song is a tribute.
Neither video has been seen before. They show contrasting sides to Corporal Cameron Baird, who was killed in action against the Taliban in 2013; whose courage in his extraordinary final moments was recognised with a Victoria Cross, added to the Medal for Gallantry he earned on that day his mate died.
More:
http://www.news.com.au/national/how-the-loss-of-a-mate-and-a-mission-to-gallipoli-changed-cameron-baird-into-a-modern-australian-warrior/news-story/fe2951c70a283ac2d8ac815deb7ff9dd
