Captain Beaudequin, of the Australian Army, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2018 as a mobility platoon commander. He was 25 at the time.

"You're not there because you have an ambition to use lethal force," said Captain Beaudequin, an operations officer at Singleton Military Area.

"You're there because you want to serve your country. That's the epitome - to go overseas and deploy for Australia."

Corporal Roach, a medical technician at RAAF Base Williamtown, said Anzac Day was a time to pay respect to "those who have served before us and are still serving now".

"It's really important to reflect on what we've promised in signing up to be a part of the military, which is service to the Commonwealth up to and including our life," she said.

"It's a time to be grateful for the people we've met, the country we live in and the freedoms that we enjoy."

Captain Beaudequin, 29, said Anzac Day was "an opportunity to commemorate and respect the history we have and what makes the Australian and New Zealand military most unique".

"That is most definitely mateship. Having worked with international forces on a couple of occasions, that's certainly something that stands out.

"It was there on the beaches of Gallipoli and it's here now. You're not there for the bravado, you're there for your mates."

Corporal Roach, 39, said Anzac Day "doesn't just represent people who have gone away to conflicts".

"It's very representative of people who have made the commitment to serve," she said.

"Even in my short term of service and not being in conflict, I have lost friends that I've served with, mostly through suicide after leaving the services.

"I think it's important to normalise the conversation surrounding mental health."

Captain Beaudequin's father and grandfather were in the French military.

"I was brought up in a military fashion, so transitioning from a teenager to initial boot camp-style training was really not that big of a difference for me," he said, with a laugh.

"The traits that military life teaches you - like discipline and attention to detail - are paramount in the paternal side of my family."

His dad's support helped him when he was deployed overseas.

"He's very proud that I chose to join the army."

Corporal Roach's grandfather [she calls him Pappy] is 100 this year.

"He served in the Korean War and Papua New Guinea, among other places," she said.

"He was a machine gunman in the Australian Army. He goes to see his mates at the RSL every Sunday."

Her nan and pop served in the Second World War in the New Zealand Army motor pool. "For me it's a family tradition," she said.

Captain Beaudequin joined the army at age 17 after leaving school. He took his first command position in 2014 at age 22.

By the time he was in Afghanistan, he was in charge of 13 vehicles and 26 personnel.

"We would do escorts and convoy moves between all the Afghan and Coalition bases in Kabul," he said.

"Often we would be transporting groups of people between the bases, but also providing security to logistical convoys of trucks carrying everything from food to weapons to vehicles and stores."

He said Afghanistan was then more stable than in previous years.

"You'd still go everywhere fully armed, wearing body armour and in protective vehicles and ready for a fight," he said.

Rockets were fired at his base on rare occasions.

"We did react to IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and threats. More often than not, the enemy we were facing was trying to destabilise the Afghan government. Often they would pick a fight against the Afghan police or national army."

Corporal Roach's job is similar to a paramedic and nurse.

"We do emergency care and airfield crash response, so our scope encompasses a lot more pre-hospital stuff.

"We train pretty much every day and our whole careers. We're particularly focused on technical mastery in the air force. We want to be brilliant at the basics.

"That's what's going to save lives."

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