Heston Russell is an Australian retired

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

officer.

Early life and education

Russell joined the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

at the age of 17 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Duntroon in 2006. While at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Russell completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, majoring in history and Indonesian.

Career

Following his graduation from the Royal Military College of Duntroon Russell was posted to his first commissioned appointment as a

platoon leader {{unreferenced, date=February 2013 A platoon leader (NATO) or platoon commander (more common in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth militaries and the United States Marine Corps, US Marine Corps) is the officer in charge of a platoon. This pers ...

with the

2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) is an amphibious light infantry battalion of the Australian Army part of the 1st Division Amphibious Task Group based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. 2 RAR was initially formed as the A ...

(2 RAR), where he deployed to

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

to carry out peacekeeping operations. During his tenure within 2 CDO REGT, Russell completed the commando platoon commander, CEO, and adjutant appointments. These appointments also included four operational deployments to Afghanistan and the Middle East Area of Operations and saw Operational Service in support of several Counterterrorism operations within the Asia-Pacific Region. In 2016, Russell completed his final operational deployment to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

as the Special Operations joint lead planner within the Special Operations Joint Task Force combating

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

. In 2017, following his return from his deployment, Russell worked to expand Barry's Bootcamp, the US-originated boutique fitness brand to Australia and Singapore. Later, Barry's Bootcamp, was brought to Australia and Russell was appointed as its head of operations. In January 2019 Russell was officially discharged from the Australian Defence Force. Between October 2020 and March 2021, Russell successfully launched and lead the campaign to retain the Meritorious Unit Citations for over 3,000 Special Forces personnel. During this time Russell was also responsible for lobbying members of the Federal Government to unanimously vote for a motion to support the calling of a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Following the successful results of these campaigns, Russell established the Charity Veteran Support Force LTD to support Veterans and their families during the conduct of the Royal Commission. In September 2021, Russell founded the Australian Values Party, registering with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

as a political party that focuses on veterans' rights. Russell is now the Managing Director of Veteran Support Force (VSF) after stepping down from the ustralian Values Partyin January 2023.

Campaigns

Russell launched, led, and supported several campaigns supporting veterans: * Successfully retaining the Meritorious Unit Citation award for over 3,000 Special Forces personnel in the wake of the Brereton report release (October–December 2020). * Achieving majority approval through the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

to call for a

Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide is a royal commission established on 8 July 2021 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902. The Royal Commissioners are required to provide an interim report ...

(March 2021) resulted in the Royal Commission being called by prime minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...

on 19 April 2021.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Heston Military personnel from Queensland Australian military personnel of the Iraq War Australian military personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) People from Queensland Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates Living people Year of birth missing (living people)