When Sarah Watson stood aboard HMAS Canberra last week for the launch of the new partnership between Soldier On and Invictus Australia, she was there to share something deeply personal – her lived experience.
As a long-standing Soldier On Ambassador and spokesperson, Sarah has spent years speaking openly about her military service, her experience of PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder, and the role that sport, friendship and connection have played in her life since leaving the Army.
Her story has run through both Soldier On and Invictus Australia for more than a decade. She first encountered Soldier On when she was struggling with the loss of the career she had built her identity around. Today, she represents the organisation as an Ambassador, speaking to audiences across Australia and engaging with people in the ex-serving community.
At the partnership launch, Sarah described the significance of that journey and why bringing the two organisations together matters to her.
‘My story has run through both organisations for over a decade, and it feels like it’s come full circle.’
Sarah is pictured at the recent Invictus Australia launch event (centre), with (L-R) Ally Langdon, Sir Peter Cosgrove, Paul Singer, Michael Hartung and General Hurley.
A career she loved
Sarah commenced Officer Training at the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1997 and graduated with a BA in Politics. Following a year at the Royal Military College Duntroon, she was commissioned into the Australian Intelligence Corps in December 2000.
She went on to serve in several intelligence roles within the Australian Army, including a deployment to Iraq in 2006/07. She qualified as a French linguist and, during her career, briefed thousands of Australian soldiers, sailors and aviators preparing to deploy to Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq, Afghanistan and other missions in the Middle East Area of Operations.
It was a career Sarah loved.
‘I loved my career and I was proud to serve,’ she told the audience at the partnership launch.
But the experience of Iraq stayed with her. Sarah has spoken about living with nightmares for six years before being diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder. She kept her diagnosis to herself and did not tell her chain of command what she was experiencing.
Then, in a relatively short period, her life changed dramatically. Her father died from cancer, she and her partner welcomed a son, and she was posted to Queensland, away from the support network she had known. At the same time, she was dealing privately with her mental health and facing the prospect of leaving the Army.
She was medically discharged in 2015.
For Sarah, that period illustrates one of the difficult gaps veterans can find themselves in when military service ends.
‘That gap, when the career you’d built your whole identity around is disappearing, and nobody’s quite sure what comes next.’
The Soldier On experience that changed her direction
In 2014, Sarah bought a second-hand bicycle and entered the Ride to Conquer Cancer in honour of her father. The ride helped her channel some of her grief, but when it ended, she fell into a deep depression.
A close friend and fellow Army veteran encouraged her to apply for a place on a veterans’ team competing in the Trois Étapes cycling race in the Italian Dolomites. Sarah was selected as the sole female veteran on the Soldier On team.
The race took place in 2015, the same year she was medically discharged from the Army.
For Sarah, the opportunity arrived when she needed something to focus on. Training gave her a goal and a reason to keep moving, while the team around her provided friendship and connection.
‘It gave me the focus and drive to pull myself out of the black hole I was in.’
Among her teammates were Hamish Blake and Cadel Evans. Sarah remembers riding the switchbacks into the clouds, her legs getting heavier as the climbs continued, with Hamish joking behind her and Cadel riding ahead.
The experience created friendships that have lasted long beyond the race. More than a decade later, the original team remains in touch and looks out for one another.
The ride was also filmed by 60 Minutes for Race for Life, a documentary about PTSD among Australian military veterans.
But for Sarah, the most important part of the experience was what it gave her personally.
‘All of it from one bike ride, and one decision to stop hiding.’
Finding a voice
The decision to stop hiding became an important turning point in Sarah’s life.
After her first Soldier On cycling experience, she began speaking openly about her mental health and what she had experienced during and after her Army career. She wanted to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness in the military and wider community, and to give other people who might be struggling some hope that things could change.
Over the years, Sarah has spoken at charity balls, school assemblies and the Australian War Memorial, as well as having individual conversations with people in the ex-serving community.
Her experience also led to years of fundraising and participation in sport. She took part in three Pollie Pedals for Soldier On, cycling more than 3,000 kilometres, and ran the New York City Marathon as part of the Soldier On team.
Cycling, which began as a way of getting through a difficult period, became a lasting passion.
In 2017, Sarah competed at the Invictus Games in Toronto, winning Silver in the Cycling Time Trial and Gold in the Criterium. She also participated in the 2019 Pollie Pedal in Southern Queensland and Northern NSW.
But Sarah’s contribution has never been solely about sporting achievements.
Her experience gave her something she could share with others, and that has become a defining part of her role as a Soldier On Ambassador.
‘The part that doesn’t always make the highlight reel’
Ten years after the original Trois Étapes ride, Sarah decided to reunite the team that had played such an important role in her life.
With the support of Soldier On’s Paul Singer, she succeeded, with the reunion ride beginning in her hometown village of Murrumbateman.
The original team came together again, including Hamish Blake and Cadel Evans, a decade after they had first ridden together.
For Sarah, the reunion demonstrated something that she believes is central to the work of Soldier On – what happens after an activity finishes can be just as important as the activity itself.
‘That’s the part of Soldier On that doesn’t always make the highlight reel – the wraparound support and relationships that outlast the finish line by ten years and counting.’
That idea of connection has also shaped Sarah’s relationship with Invictus Australia.
She competed at the 2017 Invictus Games Toronto, where she won five gold medals and two silver medals. Last year, she competed in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon alongside nine other veterans from eight countries representing Invictus.
Her two sons were waiting for her on shore.
‘There’s no finish line quite like finding your own children’s faces in the crowd.’
Sarah has since taken on another role, joining the coaching team for the 2027 Invictus Games and moving from competitor to coach and mentor as she supports the next Team Invictus Australia.
Giving back through sport
Sarah has also taken what she learned through sport into her local community.
She founded Yass Valley Triathlon Club, creating a free and safe place for local women to try triathlon for the first time. More than 300 women have now come through the club.
Sarah has also represented Australia at a number of World Championships in the sport of triathlon and duathlon, securing a world champion title.
For Sarah, this is another expression of what sport can provide – not simply competition, but an opportunity to meet people, build confidence and find a place within a community.
She sees the same value in the grassroots work of Invictus Australia.
‘It’s ordinary people showing up for each other, long after the medals have been handed out.’
That philosophy has become an important part of Sarah’s own contribution, whether she is coaching, speaking, competing or helping someone take part in a sporting activity for the first time.
Why the partnership matters
So when Sarah heard that Soldier On and Invictus Australia were formalising their partnership, her reaction was immediate.
‘You beauty!’
For Sarah, veterans and their families should not have to work out which organisation they should turn to, or try to piece together different forms of support themselves at a time when they may already have very little capacity to do so.
She believes the partnership can create a more connected continuum of support, rather than leaving veterans to navigate two separate paths on their own.
It is a view grounded in her own experience.
‘Soldier On turned me from a veteran hiding a diagnosis into someone speaking openly about it. Invictus turned me from a competitor into a coach and founder of a thriving grassroots sporting club in my community.’
She continued:
‘Put those two things at the same table, and you get more people who come back for the next person.’
That final idea goes to the heart of Sarah’s role as a Soldier On Ambassador.
She knows what it is to need someone to provide an opportunity when life feels as though it has narrowed. She knows what can come from finding a team, a goal and people who understand. And she knows that the benefits of that support can continue long after the original activity is over.
More than a decade after joining that first Soldier On cycling team, Sarah is now the person sharing that experience with others.
Her goal, she says, is simple:
‘Use sport to become the best version of myself, and inspire someone else to do the same.’
It is a commitment Sarah continues to live out – as a Soldier On Ambassador, as a coach and mentor, through her community work, and whenever she has the opportunity to tell her story to someone who may need to hear it.
You can learn more about all our Soldier On Ambassadors here.
