Paul de Gelder

As a teenager, Paul de Gelder ran rampant with his friends and became involved in drinking, fighting and stealing. He knew this was no type of life. He subsequently left his home town and started a new life that involved working the bars of strip clubs and an involvement in the Australian music scene, even opening for Snoop Dogg in 1998. In November of 2000, de Gelder, then 23, joined the Royal Australian Army as a paratrooper in search of a better life. It was a defining moment for him, and he learned the arts of jungle and urban warfare; unarmed combat; specialist communications; combat first aid; parachuting, snipering; and was deployed as a United Nations peacekeeper. In 2005, with a desire to expand on his career and test his mettle, Paul attempted the arduous Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diver selection process. After a year of training, he was accepted onto the Dive Team. But trouble hunted him down. In February 2009, while on a dive, Paul was attacked from below by a bull