Episode 50 - David Baker

Lieutenant Commander David Baker retired in 2013 after nearly 44 years of continuous service in the Royal Australian Navy, which he joined as a 16-year-old junior recruit in 1970. Over those decades he served in many different roles and positions, including postings on at least 8 different ships. He's been to South-East Asia, South-West Pacific, the Indian Ocean, Hawaii, Africa, India, Antarctica and the Middle East. He also captained the Royal Australian Navy shooting team, and even once had lunch with the Queen.

We were sitting at a bar downtown one Monday night and I asked him how he had met his wife Marty, who is also a semi-regular film festival attendee, and his response started something like, “Well, I was in Iraq in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces…”