page_title: Mark Donaldson
section_title: Subsequent career
hierarchical_section_title: Mark Donaldson / Military career / Subsequent career
caption_attribution_description: The M4 carbine used by Mark Donaldson during the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia on display at the Australian War Memorial
context_page_description: Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson, VC is an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. Then Trooper Donaldson was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment when he exposed himself to enemy fire to protect injured troops and then rescued an interpreter under heavy enemy fire in the Battle of Khaz Oruzgan during Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan. He was presented with the decoration by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, in a ceremony in Canberra on 16 January 2009. On 25 January 2010, Donaldson was named the 2010 Young Australian of the Year. He was promoted to corporal in June 2010.
context_section_description: After being presented with his VC, Donaldson requested permission to remain a member of the SASR and participate in operational postings. This was approved by Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, and Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie. Donaldson subsequently served in Afghanistan for a four-month period in 2009, made a brief deployment to the country in early 2010 and deployed again in 2013. He was also promoted to the rank of corporal in 2010 after completing a junior leaders course.
  On 11 November 2009, Donaldson and British VC recipient Johnson Beharry handed a wreath to the Queen during a service in Westminster Abbey which marked the deaths in 2009 of the last three veterans of the First World War resident in the United Kingdom, Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch. The wreath was then laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. While Donaldson was in London, news emerged in Afghanistan that Sarbi, an explosives detection dog that was declared missing in action after the 2 September ambush, had been found alive and well by an American soldier. Donaldson said of the news that it "closed a chapter in their shared history" and "She's the last piece of the puzzle ... Having Sabi back gives some closure for the handler and the rest of us that served with her in 2008. It's a fantastic morale booster for the guys." Donaldson was announced as the Patron-in-Chief of the military charity Soldier On Australia on 4 October 2014.
  In a May 2014 interview with the Australian Financial Review's Christopher Joye, Donaldson disclosed that he had been shot in the leg during a contact in Afghanistan: "This 35-year-old 'shooter' has also been clipped through his left hamstring, where a slug remains to remind him of why he should never have traversed a track while a Taliban carrying night-vision goggles zeroed in with an AK-47." He also spoke about killing terrorists: "Pressed on the burden of taking another life, he says that rubbing out bad guys in "gun fights" – a notably "more personal experience than dropping bombs from jets" – is just a "part of the job". Donaldson is at peace with a profession that few have the mental or physical equipment to pursue: "I don’t get nightmares, mate. Sure you remember stuff; I just don’t dwell on it."
caption: The M4 carbine used by Donaldson during the action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia on display at the Australian War Memorial
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