RSL Albany veterans advocate Steve Edmonds calls on all ex-service personnel to gather under the banner

RSL Albany has a proud history of providing support and camaraderie to ex-service personnel and former Chief Petty Officer Steve Edmonds is keen to spread the word that the door is always open. Synonymous with Anzac Day, the league welcomes former members of the Australian Defence Force of all ages, from all conflicts and peacekeeping missions, those who served at home and those who served overseas. “What the RSL is trying to do is recognise younger veterans from 1972 onwards,” Mr Edmonds said. “It’s about not only welcoming our current demographic but trying to open up to the younger generation.” Mr Edmonds served in the Australian Navy for 20 years after enlisting to become a radio fitter mechanic in 1985. His first posting was Coonawarra in Darwin and he travelled extensively in his role. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Mr Edmonds was deployed to the Gulf. “Anzac Day in the Gulf was pretty special,” he recalled. “We did a dawn service and when you’re in field you’re doing defence watches the whole time. “It was the only time we could stand down everyone, we had an American ship shadow us the whole time for protection — that was pretty special, doing a dawn service and then out of the mist comes this great big American destroyer.” Voyages to Antarctica and chasing down and boarding illegal fishing boats are another vivid memory. “When I was on the HMAS Canberra, I did one trip down to Antarctica and was part of the steaming party for a vessel, a long liner,” he said. “We arrested two vessels and I sailed one back to Fremantle. “Two weeks on a 120-foot vessel in 100-foot seas — that was a lot of fun.” After being discharged in 2005, Mr Edmonds made the transition into civilian life, a process that can be challenging. “Being in the defence, you know your place because of rank,” he said “The civilian world doesn’t have that.” The difficulty of navigating change is something RSL can help with and Mr Edmonds is Albany RSL’s Department of Veterans Affairs advocate. “One of the primary focuses of the RSL is welfare and under welfare comes advocacy,” he said. “We’d really like the younger generation to take up the mantle and start coming to the RSL.”