There is a dark humour among veterans: 30 years after Lieutenant Bob Worswick patrolled the dangerous streets of dirt-poor Somalia in the throes of utterly anarchic civil war, he remembers his moustache.
As he stands before a picture of his younger self at the Australian War Memorial, it's his very dated moustache which stands out.
"The kids think it's cool that Dad's got a picture in the Australian War Memorial - but they are embarrassed that I've got a moustache," he says in front of the image.
The picture was taken on the 29th day of a 30-day moustache and sideburns competition.
He and his comrade Corporal Terry "Burger" Conner have met in front of the picture of the two of them on patrol on the 30th anniversary of the Australian peacekeeping deployment.
In the 1990s, Australians served in a series of missions to Somalia where hundreds of thousands of people were starving. On top of that, clans were fighting each other. There was no central control and fighters were preventing food getting through to dangerously hungry ordinary people.
In this chaotic situation, the UN intervened, initially with unarmed observers, in September, 1992. Soldiers were then deployed under the blue beret designation but the situation went from very bad to even worse, and the US took control.
The two men served in the US led Unified Task Force in Somalia (UNITAF). Somalia was the first Australian Defence Force Deployment since Vietnam.
They were in the town of Baidoa. "The atmosphere was alive. The village was abuzz with people," Bob Worswick who is now a doctor in Canberra said. (He also, by the way, commutes to serve as a GP in rural Queensland).
"There were different groups of people. The majority of the town were pleased to have us in town providing security for them," he said.
There were a small number there who meant us harm or were unhappy that we were interrupting their activities of extortion and the like.
"So, it was always an interesting day when we were out on patrol."
The tasks were challenging and varied: to disarm fighters but also to keep people alive when severe drought and extreme poverty were pushing them towards the grave.
"We got the majority of the weapons out of the town," Terry Conner says.
"There was also quite a deal of unrest amongst the locals and we were providing the security so we would move through certain areas such as the cat market and other areas which were a little bit hairier.
"We'd secure certain locations. We'd check buildings."
The soldiers would patrol for three hours and then have eight hours off.
Patrolling was tense and emotionally waring in an anarchic situation like Somalia because there were no clear markings to distinguish hostile from friendly forces.
There would be three patrols a day, some at night.
The two men said they felt they were there for humanitarian reasons, and it is clear that many of the soldiers were deeply moved by the plight of local people.
"There was without a doubt, in the contingent, just because of what people had seen in the media and so on, there was a keenness to try and do something for the Somali people," Stuart Ellis who was in Somalia with the SAS said.
"I mean they'd gone through a huge amount of starvation, deprivation, civil war. And people were keen to try and offer some assistance."
Thirty years on, is Corporal Terry "Burger" Conner proud?
"Very. And I'm very pleased to have served with the boys I served with. They were great."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
