EXCLUSIVE Australia's 'deadliest soldier' issues an urgent warning - as he wages a new war on home turf

Daily Mail​

25-04-2025

One of Australia's greatest soldiers has warned the Federal Government it's behaviour towards army veterans will end in even more bloodshed.
Paul Cale served in the Australian Army for about 30 years as a member of the 1st Commando Regiment, 4RAR Commando and the 2nd Commando Regiment.
He completed five combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, serving as a team leader in the Tactical Assault Group - Australia's elite anti-terror unit.
But just days before ANZAC Day, the Australian war hero went public with his own personal hell delivered not by his years of combat, but his treatment by those who paid him to become a state-sanctioned killer.
Cale told Daily Mail Australia he and his fellow veteran colleagues had been pushed to the brink by underhanded Australian Defence Force officials hell bent on ruining his business that provides jobs for returning servicemen.
'It's horrendous and it's worse than Afghanistan,' he said.
'At least in Afghanistan you get to shoot back.'
Cale, who runs Kinetic Fighting - a training school for military, law enforcement, and civilians - is in the process of taking his struggle with the Commonwealth all the way to the High Court of Australia.
The war veteran last year alleged the Australian Department of Defence engaged in questionable business practices, claiming it reneged on a contract expansion for Kinetic Fighting, leaving veteran employees jobless.
Just weeks ago, Cale hit social media to claim he was directly threatened by an ADF official.
'I was directly threatened by a uniformed member of the Australian Defence Force with the destruction of my company and personal reputation if I didn't pay them a percentage of our Defence contracts,' Cale claimed.
Cale told Daily Mail Australia when that person was investigated by an ADF team they largely agreed with his allegations, but were overruled by higher authority.
'We've asked for that report under Freedom of Information and like the whole thing has been redacted. The whole thing is just black,' he said.
'That has all the evidence. Defence knows what's going on.'
Bureaucratic red tape has seen investigations into investigations over the saga drag on for five years.
Fears for Cale's own well being emerged last week after he hit Instagram with a message that suggested he was at his wits end.
ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ADF SUICIDES
A Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide last year found 2007 serving or former defence personnel died by suicide between 1985 and 2021, and an average of three per fortnight in the past decade.
The commission was established in 2021 and received thousands of submissions from current and former personnel and their families.
Its purpose was to consider ways to reduce the disproportionate rates of suicide in the defence and veteran cohort.
The government later agreed or agreed in principle to 104 recommendations, noted 17 recommendations, and did not support one recommendation in part.
In response, it said it would establish a new Defence and Veterans Services Commission – a new statutory entity to oversee enduring and systemic reform.
'Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care,' Cale told his followers.
'Love the soldiering, hate the hypocrisy. No doubt a sentiment shared by many when we look at the (Australian Defence Force) recruitment and retention rates.'
He referenced a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, stating the department's intent to resolve the issue, but claimed the Army ignored his company afterwards.
'As my legal team prepare for trial, I have no intention of being all consumed in a process designed to wait you out with enough stress and pressure that you end it all,' Cale stated.
Cale, who has overseen delivery of the Army Combatives Program and Individual Combat Behaviours training for the ADF, claimed he was approached by Defence to supply a service via two trials over a 12-month period.
However the rug was pulled out from under him and his team after he failed to cough-up cash to the corrupt ADF big wig, he claimed.
The backflip cost Cale a small fortune and the fallout now threatens to bankrupt the decorated soldier, who maintains he will continue his struggle for justice until the day he dies.
'You don't expect rounds to be coming at you from behind,' Cale said.
'That's how I feel with the government. What is going on? I'm clearly facing the enemy now and i know who the enemy is.'
Cale said while he believed he was reacting 'fairly well' to his situation, other veterans in his group were struggling in silence.
'I've got one guy that disappears for weeks on end just medicated out of his head and they're veterans and they're not taking it anywhere near as well as me,' he said.
Cale described the suicide of veterans as the 'perfect outcome' for the Commonwealth Government.
'When you look into suicide there is no legal liability for suicide. It's like the perfect outcome for the government,' Cale said.
'Because if I commit suicide there's no investigation into that. That's "oh you committed suicide, you're a sad veteran".
After starting a Gofundme to help his legal challenge, Cale secured financial support from a private company that committed to fund his legal expenses.
He engaged a high profile barrister who later provided the government with a 420-page cache of documents backing the company's version of events.
When Defence finally agreed to come to the table for mediation, Cale claimed he was strung along and dismissed.
Cale's fundraiser was pulled after a corporate swooped into help his new battle
Cale received a letter from Deputy PM Richard Marles that claimed Defence was working with his company to resolve the issue. Cale claims the department has 'no intention to mediate'
With his business in tatters, Cale fears if bankrupted he will be unable to continue his legal fight.
'It would be someone else who would need to litigate because I'll be bankrupt,' he said.
'I can't hold on for two years for a trial ... because the government will take you right to the day of trial and once I'm bankrupt I can't litigate.'
The war hero compared his struggle with bankruptcy to the way veteran suicides are treated.
'It's not like anyone goes "Why did he kill himself? What happened there?". That doesn't come into it and it's the same as going bankrupt. "Oh you can't litigate. Sad you".'
Cale said he was a veteran who built programs for the ADF that were used by the entire force.
'For free. No charge. Over four years in Afghanistan I was never caught up in any war crimes or anything like that. I was 100 percent down the line and "bang" this is what they're doing.' he said.
'You can go bankrupt, your company can go under and we'll crush you.'
Daily Mail Australia contacted the Department of Defence for comment on Cale's various allegations, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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