Outer Edge Magazine

Talk us through your CV
I’m ‘ex’ lots of things and currently an international program manager for Australian Aid International (AAI), but that’s not the whole picture because I also consult to organisations about emergency planning and decision-making during crises. I was a policeman, a special-forces soldier in the Australian army and a police trainer and security consultant in Iraq. I also just finished an operational tour of Afghanistan with the Australian Army. Good times, but more than that, I learned a great deal about crises and emergencies and how to make a good decision on a bad day.

Which of your many roles have you found the most challenging, and the most rewarding?
The answer to both is managing projects for AAI. During humanitarian emergencies you deal with remote locations, changeable security circumstances, logistical difficulties (getting a roof over your head) and all that before you’ve started the job you came for: delivering aid.

Are you drawn to chaos and crisis?
I’m drawn to that environment, I suppose, because of the frenetic pace of operations and the obvious need that exists in those communities. If I go into a situation knowing it’ll be dangerous, like driving the roads in Iraq or Afghanistan, then I prepare, mitigate the risks and work out how to react to a problem. When ‘it’ happens, it won’t be a surprise, just another thing you’ve planned for, like the weather. Bulletproof vests are just another piece of clothing. You wear Goretex when rain’s falling and Kevlar when bullets are flying. Everything’s about planning.

What still scares you?
My secret shame: horror movies. I’d have to be strapped into a chair to watch Paranormal Activity. Oh, sharks, crocodiles and machinegun bullets aren’t that good either, that’s what the book’s about.

Where did the name come from?
There wasn’t one single scenario that made me write a book, it’s just that I had years of stories and was always trotting them out, and people seemed to enjoy them, so I put pen to paper. The name for the book came from a story in Kashmiri, Pakistan, after the Central Asian Earthquake. I was conducting a medical clinic in a remote area and an old Pakistani gentleman rocked up and asked, in perfect English, if we could teach him to amputate a leg so he could cut off his son’s leg. “Ahhh, no, I won’t do that,” I said. “But I will get our doctor and come and do the operation, or whatever needs to be done.” So began an epic trek through the foothills of the Himalayas with a surprising discovery at the end.

Is there one piece of gear you never leave home without
Want to be popular? Then never leave home without your shortwave radio. It’s news, laughter (at those earnest American Christian news services and Chinese propaganda) and you’ll get to hear an Aussie voice here and there. I bobbed my head to a Taylor Swift song in a Taliban stronghold a few months ago. Weird.

Tell us more about aid international
Imagine if your best mates – an experienced bunch of outdoorsmen, businessmen, doctors, nurses, soldiers etc – got together, pooled some money, decided to travel across the world and help people you see in disasters on the news…you’d do it, wouldn’t you? I did. That was in 2005 and it’s still going. We just did a medical training job where we went up to the Thai/Burma border. We lived in a jungle camp and worked our arses off because that training saves the lives of people who are constantly persecuted by the Myanmar regime. Hey, party at my house when that government goes down. I think I’m on a ‘list’ over there.

How to Amputate a Leg is available at good bookshops (and possibly even some bad ones). Check out nathanmullins.com for more.