Ex SAS soldier/Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith becomes GM of Australian TV network

Daily Mail (Australia/UK) ^ | 29th May 2015 | Frank Coletta

[naturalman1975]

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is set to take over as boss of Seven Queensland, which is the regional group of stations for the network.

Staff at 7Q have been told of the unexpected development which is set to push Roberts-Smith from the deputy role into the General Manager's position, sources have told Daily Mail Australia.

While Mr Roberts-Smith was being groomed to eventually take the role from ex-Today Tonight reporter Neil Mooney, he has now had to step up after just one month with the network.

.....

Corporal Roberts-Smith was thrust into the national spotlight in 2011 when he was awarded the Victoria Cross - Australia's highest military honour - for bravery under fire in Afghanistan.

The Australian commando knew he was an easy target for enemy machine guns when he broke cover to charge uphill toward a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan that summer.

As the married father-of-two's patrol remained pinned down in an orchard in the Shah Wali Kot region by relentless enemy gunfire, the 32-year-old stormed two of three enemy machine guns and killed their crews.

He was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his service on a separate tour of Afghanistan, and was deployed on multiple tours in East Timor, Fiji and Iraq since enlisting in 1996.

.....

Mr Roberts-Smith's courage was found to be instrumental in his patrol's victory over a Taliban force three times larger and earned him the British Commonwealth's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross, which was presented to him by Australia's Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

'I think for everyone there, including myself, what's going through your mind is you just won't let your mates down,' Mr Roberts-Smith, who was serving with the Special Air Service Regiment at the time.

[naturalman1975]

I had to do some serious trimming and editing of the headline to get it within Freerepublic's 100 character limit without making it unclear.

Full headline

Former SAS soldier and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith promoted to top Channel Seven management job after just one month with the network

The Seven Network is one of Australia's three largest commercial TV Networks, and Roberts-Smith will be General Manager of one of its largest regional components. It's a senior position and I think we need more people like him in those positions, so I'm very happy about this.

Photo taken minutes after the action for which he was invested with the Victoria Cross.

He's a big man - it amazes me the Taliban could miss him.

[Dundee]

They didn’t miss, the rounds just ricocheted off the enormous pair of brass balls he had swinging when he charged them head on.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Hear,Hear!