Straight out of high school, Private Max Clouston enlisted in the Army in 2021, joining the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR).
Four years on, his passport is filled with stamps from travel to international exercises and he's found his place in a mortar platoon.
"In my opinion, mortars is the best platoon. The culture is good, there's always a lot of work on and it's more technical - I love it," Private Clouston said.
Since joining, he has deployed on exercise to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hawaii and now Japan, where the 1RAR mortar platoon conducted live-fire serials for the first time alongside partner nations Japan and the United States.
"It's always exciting to live-fire mortars, but everyone was pretty keen for this, being the first time for the Australian Army to live-fire on exercise in Japan," Private Clouston said.
"Although I've live-fired overseas before, the complexity of the trilateral live-fire here with Japan and the United States took it to the next level."
For Private Clouston, Exercise Orient Shield also had a personal connection. He was born in Isahaya Southern Japan, but moved with his family at a young age and grew up in Sydney.
'It's always exciting to live-fire mortars, but being the first to do this in Japan, it's a cool opportunity and a pretty unique experience.'
His family visits Japan regularly to see grandparents and cousins, but it had been 10 years since his last trip.
"I feel lucky to have gone overseas pretty much every year that I've been in the Army, and having these opportunities to see a bit of the world," he said.
"It was cool to come back to Japan, but a very different experience this time around."
Private Clouston said he used Japanese on the job for the first time this year, putting his vocabulary to the test during Exercise Talisman Sabre while embedded with Japanese marines, and again during Exercise Orient Shield.
Private Clouston admitted he brushed off his mother's warnings about harsh weather and local fauna.
"We usually travel to the same area in winter for holidays. My mum said it was the worst part of summer to do training in this area, and to look out for bears," he said.
"I thought she was joking, but the weather was definitely the biggest challenge, and then we realised there were actually bears."
Private Clouston said torrential rain meant extra work for the platoon, digging sinking base plates out of the soaked ground between fire missions. But the diggers lived up to their name and got it done, successfully sending more than 300 rounds down range with pinpoint accuracy.
"It's always exciting to live-fire mortars, but being the first to do this in Japan, it's a cool opportunity and a pretty unique experience," he said.
