The Salvation Army’s long history of supporting those affected by war continues each year on Remembrance Day. For 125 years, The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Defence Services have supported Australian soldiers through global conflicts, offering comfort, compassion, and camaraderie. From providing refreshments and morale-boosting chats to life-changing acts of kindness and reconciliation, the Salvos have been there, sharing the journey with those in service, embodying their enduring motto: "The Red Shield will find a way." Created in collaboration with The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, we thank them for their wonderful assistance with the archive cassette interviews, photos and videos. For more information about the museum, visit salvosmuseums

For ‘Mal on Monday’ today, I thought, ‘Some limericks I’ll say’, Although you don’t know it, I’m quite a fine poet And I always make each line scan and fit in just right.   Each Sunday I go to the Army Despite my friends calling me barmy, They say that I’m odd For worshipping God, I tell them it does me no harmy.   I know that it’s not a mere fable That Jesus was born in a stable, ‘He’s the Saviour!’, said Joe, Mary said, ‘Just go slow, It’s too early to give him a label.’   There once was a grumpy old Colonel Who preached on all matters infernal, He’d constantly tell Of our pathway to hell Unless we found new life eternal.   I read in the Bible that Adam Hooked up with a leaf-wearing madam, She called herself Eve And she said, ‘Wanna leave?’ Adam did, and children? They had ‘em.   I knew of a mischievous Major Who liked the occasional wager, God told him, ‘No more!’, The Major said, ‘Sure’, God said, ‘That’s not why I made ya.’   A lady attended a meeting That sadly lacked adequate seating, She circled the floor Then walked out the door, Her worship that day was quite fleeting.   The bandmaster near snapped his baton When a bandsman sat down with his cap on! He jumped to his feet, Put the hat on his seat, And then the poor headpiece was sat on! – Major Mal Davies is the Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division.

To read Colin’s Promoted to Glory Bulletin, click here

Vaughan’s journey began as an Armoured Crewman in the Australian Defence Force, where he served for over four years before a medical discharge changed his path. After years of searching for his purpose, he found a calling as a Sallyman with The Salvation Army, working closely with military personnel. In this role, Vaughan supports soldiers by providing morale boosts, comfort, and a safe space for conversation. His commitment to being there for troops, offering a listening ear and faith-based support, highlights the Red Shield Defence Services’ crucial part of the soldiers’ lives and a trusted presence in times of need.

Not long after DVD and Blu-Ray became popular ways of releasing and retailing a movie, producers of this form of media realised that because discs were so thin, it was easy to package together two or even three discs in a pack still smaller than a chunky video tape box. For some movie releases, a second disc in the pack would include what was called a ‘director’s commentary’.   This was the full movie but with the director adding comments as it went along. As the camera panned in on two actors, you’d hear the director say things like: “Notice when Tom delivers his first line, he then smiles just ever so slightly – this is because he’d got the line wrong in the previous four takes!”, or, “It took us several tries to get the lighting and shadows right on the background scenery here.”   A director’s commentary offered insight into what we could see and hear was happening; the director would speak over what was happening and offer their unique take on what was occurring.   Through my years of preaching, I’ve had times when a member of my corps would, week after week, provide the ‘director’s commentary’ while I was preaching.   I would preach and see them suddenly lean over to their neighbour, as they were still looking at me, and say something; then the neighbour would nod or smile or even say something back. They could do this a dozen times during a sermon while they were looking at me.   At some corps, I’ve had people doing this who – with great respect – are older and have hearing issues and don’t realise how loud they’re ‘whispering’ to their neighbour. A conversation might go like this:   “Ooo, I don’t know that he got that right; I don’t think that’s what Jesus said at all.” “No, and he seems a little uncertain himself.” “Yes, perhaps he’s had a busy week and didn’t have time to prepare fully.” “Yes, I think you’re right, he seems to ...”   At this stage, I feel like stopping preaching and saying: “Do you realise I can hear every word you’re saying?”   At some corps, I’ve also had a Muttley. Some of you will recall Muttley from the cartoon The Wacky Races; he was the dog partner to the villainous Dick Dastardly. Best known for his wheezing laugh, when exasperated, Muttley would mutter and grumble unintelligibly, something to the effect of: “Snazza razza fashin rashin rippin rabble.”   Muttleys are the people you can hear muttering all through the sermon, but you can’t make out a word they’re saying. There are times I’ve thought, “Well, at least they can’t be criticising me – they haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the past 15 minutes!”   Who gives the director’s commentary on the sermon at your corps each Sunday? Who is the Muttley?   Perhaps I just need to change my mindset. Perhaps I’ve got it wrong and, as I’m preaching, they’re praying out loud for me. If that’s the case, I’d just ask them to throw in an ‘Amen’, as I’m concluding the message. God bless them, I say. God bless them.   – Major Mal Davies is the Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division.

Lieutenant-Colonel Winsome Mason reflects on the privilege of serving overseas in exciting and challenging countries like Myanmar and Pakistan. She distinctly remembers the time when the Holy Spirit prompted her to say ‘yes’ to God'’s calling and the fruitfulness that came as a result.

I whistle a lot. My father was a whistler, and I inherited it from him. I, as the song says, whistle while I work. I whistle while I’m walking down the street. I whistle as I walk around the house. I whistle while I’m driving.   Recently, I worked alongside an officer colleague who was a whistler, too. It was nice to be working and hearing someone else in the office whistling.   I’m also not scared of whistling loudly in public. As soon as I start, my wife Tracey will just say, “Stop it”, and no further clarifying instruction is required. The problem is that often it’s done subconsciously – I don’t even know I’m whistling. This leads to the, I’ll say, ‘amusing’ sequence of me whistling, Tracey saying, “Stop it”, me stopping ... and then I start whistling again.   I’ve often been in a shopping centre with my daughter, and I’ll hear the music playing on the sound system and start whistling along loudly. She inherited from her mother the charming ability to say, “Stop it”, very quickly, and she’ll do so. Thirty seconds later, I’ll start whistling again, and she’ll give me a threatening look and hold her hand up in the ‘stop’ signal and say, “Stop it!” Naturally, I stop because I love her and don’t want to upset her. So, I start singing the song.   I like the sound of whistling. It’s an old-fashioned sound and generally indicates happiness or contentment. I suspect there’s more whistling heard in workplaces late on a Friday afternoon than on a Monday morning.   In my devotions recently, I was reading through Isaiah chapter seven when I found this verse: “ In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria” ( Isaiah 7:18, NIV ).   God whistling? I hadn’t come across that before. Did he do any more whistling? He certainly did: “He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!’ ( Isaiah 5:26, NIV ).   Also, in Zechariah 10:8 , “I will whistle for them and gather them in, I have redeemed them, they shall be as many as they were before” (ESV).   Now, there’s an argument for the ladies in my life – whistling is godly! It’s divinely inspired and exemplified by the Lord himself on multiple occasions in Scripture. When I whistle, I’m simply seeking to be more like the loving Creator who made me to whistle just like he does.   And, by the way, I’m guessing Jesus whistled too. You can’t tell me a young tradie didn’t whistle as he worked. Just as I inherited it from my father, I’m guessing Jesus inherited it from his.   So, the next time you go to tell someone off for whistling, pause and recognise – in humility – that they may be just that little bit closer to God than you are. Because when God ‘whistles for those at the ends of the earth’, I know some people who will quickly say to him, “Stop it”, and he won’t like that. Just warning you.   –      Major Mal Davies is Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division.

Auxiliary-Lieutenants Marenda and Steve Freind are the Mission Leaders at Ellenbrook Salvos in Perth (WA). Ellenbrook is a community largely made up of first-home buyers and new migrants who have experienced significant financial stress in the current cost-of-living crisis. Seeking to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the local area, the Freinds have partnered with Doorways and the local Salvos Store to provide a connection point for people in their community who need help.

Some of you will recall ‘the worship wars’ in the late 1970s and 1980s when corps began to move from using solely The Salvation Army songbook to including some more contemporary songs.   While originally many of these ‘new’ songs were from sets like ‘Scripture in Song’ and ‘Praise and Worship’, the movement really took off in the ’80s when Hillsong started releasing CDs and published manuscripts of their songs. Suddenly, you could hear a new Christian song and easily obtain the music to play and sing at your corps.   However, this created the problem of bulk photocopying to get the printed words into the hands of the congregation. Solution: place the words on a plastic sheet on an overhead projector and project it onto a screen or wall in your hall so everyone can sing along.   One pair of soldiers at my corps had publicly stated their dislike of the ‘plastic choruses’ and simply refused to join in; then, in one Sunday meeting, the corps officer used the overhead projector to put up the words of ‘Amazing Grace’ for us to sing. This couple didn’t know whether to sing or not – they couldn’t decide if they were supposed to hate it! So, while we all sang along, they looked up the song in their songbooks and sang it from there – determinedly not looking up at the screen.   This era also created a new role for a church member – the person who had to change words to keep up with the singing. They had one job to do: just change the plastic sheet to keep up with the music and singing, and yet how many times did they fail to achieve this task?   Words would appear backwards or upside down or both. Words would appear when we were already two lines into the next verse. Words for the wrong verse would appear. A plastic sheet would be put onto the projector so hastily that it would proceed to slide right off, and we would watch the words slip out of sight and lean sideways as we kept singing.   I think my favourite was when the person would be so late removing the chorus words and putting up the next verse that by the time they finally did it, it was time to sing the chorus again! The whispers would crescendo: “Change the words, change the words. Yes, that one. Now, take it off again!”   In the 2000s, computer hardware and software changed rapidly, and suddenly, PowerPoint and multimedia projectors meant that instead of changing plastic slides, the job became even easier – the person on the words just had to hit a button on the keyboard, and the next words appeared on screen.   Yet some of the same problems persisted! For people tasked with this role, something must be written in the position description that says they must be easily distracted.   I recall singing along in a Salvo congregation many years ago when the words just failed to change for the next part of the song. One by one, people started turning slightly to see if the PowerPoint person had fallen asleep. Then, with about 30 people looking to the back of the hall, he angrily said, “Turn around! Turn around! Stop looking back here. I’m getting it sorted. Face the front!” Which we all quickly did.   I attended a large ecumenical gathering recently with 400 people and a very professional team of presenters, worshippers and leaders, and someone on the PowerPoint who was consistently late. I laughed a little as I realised our large and very professional function had the same problem as many corps.   Perhaps we should just wind back the clock 500 years and memorise all the words to our songs. Then again, sometimes I walk into a room and don’t recall why I did so, so what chance do I have of remembering hundreds of song lyrics?   –      Major Mal Davies is Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division.

Inspired by Mark 10:46-52, this message highlights the importance of building a fair world where everyone is treated with care and respect, just as Jesus did for Bartimaeus. While the crowd tried to silence Bart, Jesus listened, asked what he needed, and responded with compassion. To work for justice, we must listen to people with disabilities and understand their needs before acting, following Jesus’ example in creating a fairer world.

Major Charlie Jacobsen is passionate about the community learning sign language and being an ally for people with complete and partial hearing loss. In a world full of sound, imagine living in silence. About 3.6 million Australians have some level of hearing loss. During International Week of Deaf People (20-26 September), Salvos Online journalist LERISSE SMITH spoke with Major Charlie Jacobsen from Melbourne’s The Well Chapel about his advocacy for the deaf and hard of hearing and his own journey with auditory loss. Charlie Jacobsen loves life. He enjoys nothing better than spending quality time with his family and his church community at The Well at St Kilda Chapel, having a cuppa with mates, and watching action, comedy and detective movies with captions. Charlie is also deaf, known as ‘Little d’ (born hearing), supporting those who are deaf but who can still hear with powerful hearing aids and who can speak orally. And with the theme for this year’s International Week of Deaf People being ‘Sign Up for Sign Language Rights’, The Well’s Community Development Officer is passionate about the community learning sign language and being an ally for people with complete and partial hearing loss. “Sometimes people look at Deaf people and think they are dumb, they are stupid,” he explains. “But you would be very surprised as to how many deaf people are CEOs, how many people are big in sport. The medical profession needs to stop using the word ‘impaired’ because deaf people and those hard of hearing are not broken people. They don’t see themselves as broken. The book Breaking the Sound Barriers details nine success stories that have been written by Julie Postance and published by Deaf Children Australia. “Deaf people have human rights as well, and I would really like to see no more ‘Audism’ – a belief that the ability to hear makes one superior to those without hearing – and discrimination of deaf people, and no more Surdophobia, which is a fear of deaf people.” Charlie works at The Well Chapel at St Kilda in Melbourne. The World Federation of the Deaf, which oversees the International Week of Deaf People, is focusing on human rights to raise awareness about the challenges and discrimination that Deaf individuals and hard-of-hearing people experience in society. This year, the main aim of the international event has been to unite the world, its citizens and societies by shining a light on the importance of sign languages and the unity generated by sign languages. Locally, Charlie has been involved in supporting athletes from the recent 2024 Asia Pacific Deaf Basketball championships who held their competitions in Melbourne as part of the international week commemorations and promoting inclusivity in society. See separate story here. Celebrating the Deaf culture and its history is all-important for Charlie, plus advocating for the rights of the deaf community and that they have a voice – a signed voice, a visual voice. A further priority is promoting inclusivity and spreading the message that people can learn Auslan [the main Australian sign language used] to communicate with those who have hearing loss in their communities. “I think bringing Auslan as a second language in every school would be great, but it would have to be taught by Deaf people because it’s their native language,” he said. “They know how to express it and how to present it correctly.” Charlie knows firsthand the critical importance of sign language and feeling included in society with his own journey of genetic deafness and hard of hearing in his immediate and extended family. Born to a Deaf father and a hearing mother, he also had a brother and sister who are hard of hearing and now use Cochlear to hear, whilst some extended family members have had complete or partial hearing loss too. Tragically, Charlie’s great-grandmother passed away while crossing railway tracks as she did not hear the warnings of a quick train coming. When reflecting on how his own hearing loss occurred, Charlie recalled having “perfect hearing” until age 30, when suddenly, he realised his ability to hear started to decline. This was especially noticeable after his wife noted her husband misunderstanding phone calls and being unable to hear entire conversations clearly. It was to be the start of his journey into understanding his condition – and a time of great revelation. “It made me realise I wasn’t broken,” he says. “I could still do what others thought I couldn’t.” “I think bringing Auslan as a second language in every school would be great, but it would have to be taught by Deaf people because it’s their native language.” An unsuccessful ear operation to fully restore his hearing was part of his journey – so, too, facing Audism. He still remembers being out and shopping with his wife when a woman yelled at him for not hearing her as she stood behind Charlie, unbeknownst to him. “When I explained my hearing loss to the lady in the shops and said sorry, she just told me to clean out my ears,” he said. With Charlie and his wife having three children, it is unknown whether they will experience a level of hearing loss. However, being unable to hear without aids and sign language is challenging for the Community Development Officer. When asked what deafness feels like, his answer was immediate. “It makes me feel left out,” he remarked. “I struggle to grasp the full context of conversations. It can be frustrating to ask people to repeat themselves, especially when dialects differ.” There are many ways the community can effectively communicate with people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Despite these challenges, Charlie commented that he considers himself one of the lucky ones in his family, with a strong drive to help others and promote inclusivity in the community. He has trained volunteers from his local church community on how to best to communicate and understand people who are Deaf and hard of hearing depending on their various needs and to raise awareness of particular challenges they face. One such example was highlighting that if a church building evacuation occurred in an emergency, Charlie could be sitting at his desk, not knowing that everyone had left the building. “So that’s one of the things to keep in mind when you work with Deaf and hard-of-hearing people,” he says. “It’s about learning how you can work with them, how you can communicate with them. There are different ways to communicate, which include technology, writing, learning and basic sign language.” Charlie books Auslan interpreters to come and sign at his church gatherings so he receives the necessary information. He hopes many more people with levels of hearing loss can attend churches across all denominations and not miss out on enjoying sermons, worship and involvement with their church community. “There is a general lack of understanding often not explaining how to be inclusive to cater for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing,” he said. “The best thing to do is ask them. They know what they need.” Most Deaf people don’t use their voices while hard-of-hearing individuals do. Some deaf individuals avoid speaking because they can’t hear their own voice or find it difficult to learn to speak. He highlighted that effective communication required people to see their faces and body language, which helped with gestures and expressions. And technology is a vital component in enhancing the quality of life for those with hearing loss. While taking a reflective moment at The Salvation Army’s Well at St Kilda Chapel, Charlie starts to sign the word ‘happy’ and is passionate about the community learning sign language. “It plays a dramatic, big role,” Charlie said. “It has been big for the Deaf community for many years. Social media is a big thing. Video calls are a big thing because they sign in their video calls. Captions on TV are the best thing. You can also have hearing aids or cochlear ear implants that can hear television through Bluetooth. You can adjust the volume remotely and not affect others in the room.” Technology further plays a vital role in life-saving devices such as smoke detectors, video security, Doorbells, Apple Watch and baby monitors. For Charlie’s family, special flashing lights alert them when the smoke alarm or doorbell rings. “Every time someone rings our doorbell, I’m sure the neighbours think we have we have a disco happening at our house!’ he says with a laugh. With the world spotlight on Deafness at this time of year, Charlie hopes to see more employment opportunities open up and for employers to set up workstations appropriately so people who are Deaf and hard of hearing can feel included in the workplace. Additionally, he would love to see visual aids in shops with signing cards for people to know resources are available for the hearing community to buy and utilise to help promote awareness and inclusivity and for public transport to have captions on screens and videos, especially in emergencies. Ultimately, Charlie hopes that more trained, qualified Auslan interpreters will be available throughout Australia and society will be more inclusive of those who are Deaf and hard of hearing. “They strive to be included,” he said. “And I am a passionate advocate as an ally for them.”

This Anti-Poverty Week, we continue to raise awareness about the cost-of-living crisis and how the Salvos are seeking to help those most affected. The Salvation Army in St Marys, western Sydney, is focused on bridging the gap through its ‘Life Essentials Supermarket’. This transforming shopping experience offers dignity and choice to individuals and families in need by ensuring that they have access to basic life essentials.