Veterans in the Spotlight Wandering Warriors

Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Kirk spent most of his formative years in the land of the long white cloud. For as long as he can remember he sought out challenging environments, which led to pursuing Rugby Union in New Zealand and also in particular martial arts from a very young age. Being enrolled in Karate since he was four years old provided an opportunity to foster the part of his desire to be challenged and run to, structure and discipline. Fast forward 12 years, he achieved his 2nd Dan Blackbelt at a young age and was running his own Karate class for children. As he looks back in hindsight, it’s not surprising his Mother said that she knew he would end up in the military, eventually. From Kirk’s perspective, his innate desire to join the military was in search of the ultimate challenge to see what he was capable of. It was this mindset that drove him to striving not only to join the Army, but to the ultimate test of the Australian Special Forces, specifically the Commandos who wore the coveted Green Beret.
His career within 2nd Commando Regiment led him to travel the world from all around Australia to South East Asia, Europe, the United States and the Middle East.
After 10 years of service Kirk reflected on his achievements and came to the decision that the Army would not be a lifelong career for him and would think about how to upskill himself in preparation for his next step in life. With a passion for investing and all things finance, he decided to begin a part time Bachelor of Commerce Degree majoring in Finance in October 2018. This saw him go through the discharge process where he finished service late 2019. He has now launched Sol Cleanse, an Organic Cold Pressed Juice and Cleanse Company that creates fresh, holistic juice cleanses for customers throughout Sydney and the Gold Coast, where the brand was created eight years ago. With the chaos that comes with a new business venture, another life changing opportunity presented itself in January, the AGSM MBA. Kirk is the proud recipient of the AGSM and Wandering Warriors Full Time MBA scholarship. Stay installed for the next step of his journey later in the year.
Thank you to our sponsors Omni Executive, Safran Group and Stripe International and also our education partners, AGSM @ UNSW and University of Queensland. Music kindly provided by 'The Externals' - check them out on Spotify or iTunes.

James Gatley is the Chief Operating Officer at Droneshield (ASX: DRO). He had a highly successful career with the Australian Army. This experience saw James complete 17 years service, with 12 years of this time spent serving within Special Operations (126 Sig Sqn/2 CDO and 1 CDO). He completed 11 operational deployments and took part in active service globally. At the conclusion of his career in the ADF, James managed a sales portfolio for a company that included Defence, Law Enforcement and Government clients within Australia. He has conducted high level Security and Risk training for various Government clients. James holds Diplomas in Business, Project Management and Security and Risk Management. He also holds a GradCert in Terrorism and Security Studies.


His life journey hasn't been easy nor his transition out of Defence despite him now landing on his feet at Droneshield. We will dig into what makes him tick, how he prepared for his transition, delve into the challenges he faced, discuss advice he could give others who are transitioning or have transitioned, his experiences in educating and reskilling himself and what he does today to keep on keeping on. Top Bloke. Enjoy!


Special thanks to The Externals for the tunes and also our sponsors and partners Omni Executive, Safran Group, Stripe International, AGSM @ UNSW and University of Queensland.