“If you've never read poetry before, do yourself a favour — read this. Incredibly moving, painfully honest, and deadly accurate. Shaun Austin tells it like it really is, in service and its aftermath, and provides a pathway to hope.” —Tony Park, veteran and author
We’re not alone in our pain, despite how it may feel
And we can live to find joy again if we take the chance to heal
Although we all must leave our service, our purpose or our tribe
It can be a new beginning, where we focus more on life
I welcome you to join me, on this mission here today
To share each other’s stories, so we all find the way
Forget the preconceptions of what poetry can mean
It can alter your perceptions of a world that can’t be seen
This book is my own story, but it calls to many more
Of the soldiers that go lonely, to a life beyond a war
We lose them all to suicide, depression or to pain
To Post Traumatic Stress, or to guilt they can’t sustain
It doesn’t have to be like this, a war within themselves
Our tribe can band together, to recover them from hell
We’d never let our mates down, in the middle of the fight
Well, they are out there calling, from a battle in plain sight
“By writing and publishing this book, In Plain Sight, Shaun Austin will save veterans’ lives. His poetry and reflections on each poem are selfless, insightful, and articulate. If every veteran, family member and everyone who has ever loved them, who has ever struggled with their mental health, could be as brave and authentic as Shaun in this book, every veteran's world would be a better place. Reading this book will help many of them achieve that. Thank you, Shaun.” —Lieutenant General John Caligari AO, DSC (Retired)
About the Author
Shaun Austin speaks from the heart to share his experience with pain, suffering, and suicidal depression to help others see they are not alone. Shaun left home at 15 and struggled at an early age to find a sense of purpose and belonging to overcome his pain. After eight years in the Australian Army, he was medically discharged and confronted once again with his past and the challenge to find meaning. His poetry is an expression of this journey and the way to find purpose through our pain, so we can live a fulfilling life after service.
Shaun now works for a robotics an artificial intelligence company as a Systems Engineer making robotic platforms to help save lives in Defence.
Industry Reviews
“If you’ve never read poetry, do yourself a favour — read this. Shaun Austin uses words like well-placed shots, zeroing in on service life and veterans’ issues.”
—Tony Park, veteran and author
“Shaun Austin’s poetry is a collection of stories and shared experiences among modern-day soldiers. Shaun uses simple yet profound words that portray thrilling detail into the lives of Veterans from the height of their careers through the darkest of days. This vulnerability reassures Veterans that you are never really alone” —Casey Nixon, ANZ Veteran Lead Accenture & Veteran Mental Health Ambassador
“Too often, words lose their meaning. Individually they carry definition. Combined with purpose they can be used to inform and inspire, or control and corrupt.
Too often those of us who have served and seen the greatest potential of the human spirit, personified by our ANZACs, often fail to simply communicate and articulate our thoughts and emotions. Because we have not been conditioned to do so, or because we jump to the conclusion that others would not understand.
But through the most simple of expressions, writing these as words on a page, we can often find purpose in their combined meaning, and inspiration right there to last an age.” —Heston Russell
"I'm not much of a poet,
Let alone a reader,
The Army chews us up and spits us out a leader,
But I'll never forget my final time walking out that Battalion Gate,
The memory kept alive with a book and a mate.
Shook hands with Sarge
On Route to a medical Discharge
I might be a Lid,
But the love for the boys they'll never get Rid.
Your Book bought that back
That I'm not just a sack"
—Matthew 'Willy' Williams OAM
