Scars of War

From War-torn Iraq and Afghanistan to the Battlefield Within

By Jason Gibney

Published by Big Sky Publishing

RRP $34.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781923300880

‘Serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jason [Gibney] did his duty and served his nation. Years later, he returned to Afghanistan as an interpreter during the Kabul evacuation. This became his darkest war, witnessing the horror faced by those denied entry to Australia. We failed the people of Afghanistan and a decent young man is left with a legacy of PTSD. Pay attention, Australia, the consequences are all around us.’ — LTGEN Peter Leahy, AC, (retired)

At just seventeen, Jason Gibney enlisted in the Australian Defence Force, full of vigour and with a thirst for adventure. Over the next decade, he served in Iraq, Afghanistan’s deadly Chora Valley, and as an Army interpreter during the heartbreaking fall of Kabul in 2021.

His missions included fierce firefights with the Taliban and a devastating role as an interpreter during the chaotic civilian evacuations.

His final role in the evacuation of Kabul was to drag screaming, visa-denied Afghans to their fate — men he could understand — whose death sentences he could hear in their own words.

In this searingly honest memoir, he relives the brutalities of combat and the invisible wounds that followed — panic attacks, flashbacks, and a crushing sense of guilt.

Diagnosed with PTSD and discharged, his war didn’t end — it simply changed form. 

While Scars of War charts his long, painful journey through trauma and shame to the beginning of healing, it also charts in considerable detail his struggle to accept and then understand the component parts of PTSD.

This intimate examination of his symptoms and his engagement with the treatment options, as well as a sharp critique of how veterans are handled by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, will resonate with readers who’ve traversed a similar journey, and with their loved ones.

Much, it seems, remains to be done to improve the Department’s handling of veterans’ claims.

It was, in fact, the awful, chaotic evacuation of Kabul that destroyed his peace of mind. It was a failed war. But worse still, for Jason Gibney, it was a moral failure. Afghans denied visas were surely delivered a death sentence.

‘I don’t know if I will ever be the same as before Kabul …’ he writes but he knows the only course left is to find inner peace. ‘Afghanistan will always be with me, as it will with every soldier who served there…. Hopefully this book can be a voice for those who cannot [tell their own story].’   

Scars of War reminds us of the price our soldiers pay long after the guns have fallen silent and the politicians have moved on. 

Jason Gibney has received wide praise for his honesty and his willingness to tell his story so that others might benefit and learn from his experience.