Damien Thomlinson - Unbreakable | OTM #027

[gentle music] Damien Thomlinson. His story is one of extraordinary courage, resilience, and reinvention. Damien grew up on Terrigal on the Central Coast and was a keen surfer and all-round sportsman, playing cricket and baseball. Baseball?

Yeah.

At representative level. Inspired by his grandfather's military history, Damien joined the Australian Defense For- Defense Force at just 24, achieved his dream of becoming a commando. While serving in Afghanistan in the sec- with the 2nd Commando Regiment, Damien's life changed forever. In April 2009, whilst on night patrol in southern Afghanistan, Damien suffered horrendous injuries in the explosion, which resulted in both of his legs being amputated. The damage to his body was so severe that his medic- the medical team claim it was a miracle he wasn't killed.

I just got sick of people talking down to me.

Yeah.

Like even guys, guys from the cricket club or anything, just sorta, "So what are you doing with yourself now?"

Mm.

And you're like, "Man, you..." And, y- I look back at that now-

And what do you say?

... and I'm like, so there's a guy who's like a sales manager at somewhere that's-

Yeah

... you know, he's telling me about how sorted his life is at 35 and-

Yeah. [laughs]

... you know, just cr- shitting on me. And I, I, d- was so insecure that I just thought like, what can I do?

Yeah.

I'm gonna shut all these people up. This sucks. And I remember, like, just having this moment where I knew Dad had, like, given up on it.

Yeah.

We had a conversation, and I just knew he had. And he was always, like, really supportive of it.

Mm.

Like, there was a, there was love behind the-

Yeah

... "I'm frustrated that you got some of the tools that I didn't, or I-"

Yeah

... "had to work harder for it." And then at the end of it I was like, you know, how much money? How big does your stack have to be?

Yeah.

You know, at the end of the day, like, and what does it matter? At the end of the book it says, it's like the story of the fisherman.

Yeah.

What do, what do you wanna do? You, you wanna have enough money so that you can spend time-

Yeah

... watching your family and your kids grow up.

Yeah.

And like, I can-

You don't need more boats

... that's the thing. I can-

Yeah

... I can do that. You know, I have everything I need when I get to, I get to watch... I've t- I've seen my daughter's first goal at soccer. I've seen my boys.

That's awesome.

Like, and that, that means more to me than, than anything possibly, possibly could.

Welcome to the One True Measure podcast. Welcome to season two. Uh, we recorded, uh, episode one yesterday. We're straight into another episode today with this gentleman in person today, which is awesome. Um, on the podcast, we talk through success, we talk through, you know, this journey to define success for individuals, and we like to talk to exceptional guests. This gentleman we're gonna talk to today about resilience, reinvention, um, the journey from the battlefield, um, and also what that story that he's sharing today with the world. Damien Thomlinson, welcome to the show.

How are you, mate?

Mate, great to have you on. This is, um, a real treat. I was hoping we could just get you on, but get you in person is awesome. And