Failures of Command

On 29 August 2012 Private Robert Poate, Lance Corporal Rick Milosevic and Sapper James Martin were killed during an insider, or green on blue, attack in Afghanistan. Their killer was supposed to be their ally but was a Taliban sleeper in the ranks of the Afghan National Army. Information provided to the families by rank-and-file soldiers after the event shocked them. When the heavily redacted internal investigation report was received the grieving families knew that it excluded a plethora of incriminating facts.This powerful book is the result of a father's quest to find out all the facts associated with the death of his son. It was a search that revealed a labyrinth of excuses, denials, half-truths, cover-ups, contrived secrecy, incompetence, negligence, orders not followed, and lessons not learnt from the previous twelve years of war in Afghanistan. The determination of Hugh Poate and the other two families to uncover the truth would lead to a civilian Coronial Inquest into combat deaths, the first in the 120-year history of the Australian Army. The Coroner found five systemic deficiencies which contributed to the soldier's deaths.Hugh Poate felt a duty to publish the full story for the benefit of the Australian public which relies on its Defence Force for national security in the hope that Defence, particularly the army, will learn lessons from its failures and improve its standard of leadership. Apart from burying his son, Hugh found writing this book was the most depressing thing he has ever done.Compelling and enraging, this story of the true facts surrounding the devastating loss of three soldiers continues to reverberate beyond their families to the highest levels of defence and government.

'Failures of Command is essential reading for understanding Australia's war in Afghanistan and the way it was led. It shines an uncomfortable light on how the ADF works and converts a father's grief into a searing examination of decisions made in wartime and the self-serving, self-defeating instincts to cover up.' --Hugh Riminton , 'A heartrending account of the experiences of three families devastated first by avoidable tragedy, then by inexplicable interference in their search of answers, accountability and closure. Hugh Poate has ensured that the deaths of three Australian war heroes will not have been in vain. A must read for any young Australian contemplating military service.' --Joel Fitzgibbon MP , 'A powerful account of a father's tireless battle against the military establishment to uncover the tragic mistakes before the murder of his son and other young soldiers during Australia's longest war.' --Andrew Greene , 'Absolutely damning and confronting, Hugh Poate's Failures of Command thoroughly examines the lack of command and leadership within Australia's military and political hierarchy. Not only demonstrating the failures of those to whom we entrust our sons and daughters, Poate exposes brutal truths and the extent of incompetence, negligence and conspired actions that have been allowed to flourish and fester. This tragic story about the loss of Hugh's son, Robert, must be read, remembered and reflected upon so we never again leave members of our military and their families with a legacy of anguish, destruction and abdication. May God help those military diggers who serve on our front line, because obviously, the nation's military and political leaders will not.' --Senator Jacqui Lambie, 'Hugh Poate brings the passions of a bereaved parent and the rigour of a policy analyst to this moving and disturbing account of his son's death in Afghanistan and the way the Defence system dealt with it. He explores both the failures that led to this avoidable tragedy, and the system's complacent and callous refusal to acknowledge and address them. This book tells us a lot about the hard realities behind the jingoistic flag-waving that manipulates the ANZAC legend while exploiting and endangering the young servicemen and women of today.' --Hugh White

Hugh Poate is the father of Private Robert Poate, who was killed in Afghanistan on 29 August 2012. Hugh, a former agricultural economist, lives with his wife, Janny, in Canberra. He has been undertaking economic research for most of his professional life and has put this experience to use over five years in researching the incident in which his son was killed.