27/04/2026
The platoon is in the open. The RPGs come first.
On 27 April 2008, Lance Corporal Jason Paul Marks was killed in action during a deliberate assault on a Taliban position in Uruzgan Province, roughly twenty-five kilometres southeast of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.
He was twenty-seven years old. Four other Australian soldiers were wounded in the same contact. Despite aero-medical evacuation to a coalition military hospital, Jason could not be saved.
That is how he died. This is who he was.
Jason was born in Broken Hill, in far-western New South Wales, in 1981. He grew up in Yeppoon on the central Queensland coast. He played rugby union and league, climbed rock faces for fun, and was fit enough to become a combat fitness leader in the Army. His wife Cassandra said he had known what he wanted from the age of twelve. All he ever wanted to do was join the Army. He never changed his mind.
He enlisted on 2 March 1999, at eighteen. His first posting was to the 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, in Townsville, where he served as a Gunner. He deployed to East Timor twice during that posting, on Operation Warden in 2000 and Operation Citadel in 2003. He was promoted to Lance Bombardier.
Then he walked away from artillery. In April 2003 he transferred to the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and retrained as a Medical Assistant. Two years later he walked toward something harder again. He volunteered for Special Forces Entry and Commando Selection, one of the most demanding courses in the Australian Defence Force. He passed. He earned the Sherwood Green Beret and was posted to the 4th Battalion (Commando), Royal Australian Regiment, in Sydney. 4RAR (Cdo).
Gunner to medic to peacekeeper to commando. Each step was a different kind of soldiering, and Jason chose every one of them. He volunteered to shoulder the sharpest end of risk so that others did not have to.
As a commando, he deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 with the Special Operations Task Group. His unit's actions on that deployment were recognised with the Unit Citation for Gallantry. He returned to Timor-Leste in 2007 as a peacekeeper for the third time. Then he went back to Afghanistan in 2008 for what would be his final tour.
The operational tempo of the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan is not well understood by the wider public. There were operations every single day. Men walked out the gate, or climbed into the Bushmasters, or loaded onto helicopters, knowing they were likely to end up in a contact. They did this day after day, tour after tour. Some operators deployed seven or eight times. Jason deployed twice.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston described him as "very assured, highly respected, highly enthusiastic and also very, very fit." He called Jason a great inspiration to his mates. Cassandra put it plainly. "Jason always strived to be the best he could be. He loved the Army, he loved his mates and he loved his family."
Jason was honoured at a memorial service at 4RAR (Cdo) barracks in Sydney, where friends, family, and fellow commandos spoke of his steadfastness, his determination, and his humour. He was buried with full military honours at a private service in Yeppoon, the town where he grew up. He rests at Yeppoon Cemetery, Section Lawn, Row D, Grave 72.
He is survived by his wife Cassandra and their two children, Connor and Ella. His name is carried on the 4RAR (Cdo) memorial rock, Panel 1 of the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the Yeppoon War Memorial, and the Afghanistan Avenue of Honour at Yungaburra.
The Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour for Afghanistan carries forty-seven names. Two hundred and fifty-six were wounded. Beyond those numbers, soldiers came home carrying injuries that do not appear on a casualty list. Some did not survive them. Behind every one of those names is a family. Partners who lay awake wondering. Children who answered a knock at the door. Parents who buried sons. The soldiers carried the fight. Their families carried the weight of it, and many carry it still.
Jason was one of them. A kid from Broken Hill who grew up on the Queensland coast, who decided at twelve what he wanted to be, who earned a Sherwood Green Beret and kept the peace three times before he fought a war. A highly trained professional who walked out the gate knowing what was waiting. A husband and a father of two.
He was Lance Corporal Jason Paul Marks, 8240607, 4RAR (Cdo).
He was twenty-seven.
Lest we forget.
This post is for Jason and for the people who loved him. If you knew him, or if you want his family to know he is not forgotten, leave a comment. That's what this space is for.
Rod Hutchings
Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans' Association
