Just half an hour later, she returned home to find the screen door ajar. Her heart plummeted. Keegan had opened the door after peeping through the curtains and seeing an army chaplain in his “full kit” alongside senior officers adorned with their medals. She instantly understood the grim message. “It happened just like it does in the movies,” Ms Locke told news.com.au. “I asked them: ‘Did you actually cuddle my son when you told him?’’’ Keegan’s father, Matthew, died on October 25, 2007, from a single round to the chest from a PKM machine gun.
He was killed during Operation Spin Ghar, a critical clearance operation in Afghanistan’s Chora Valley, supporting the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan Security Force efforts against Taliban sanctuaries in the Uruzgan Province. Matthew was leading a six-man foot patrol with Task Force 66, navigating a treacherous river system, when his team suddenly came under heavy fire. Though evacuated by helicopter, he succumbed to his injuries soon after. From that devastating moment, one of Matthew’s closest friends immediately took young Keegan under his wing, “stepping up for him in every way possible”.
That steadfast father figure was – and remarkably, still is – Ben Roberts-Smith. “After we found out, I don’t remember the next few days; it’s all a blur,” Ms Locke told news.com.au. “Keegs was a boy, rapidly transitioning into a teenager, and without Ben, we would have been utterly lost. “Ben was there to kick Keegan’s butt when he needed it, to tell him off when necessary. You could certainly call him a mentor, a true father figure. “He was never shy of a cuddle; it wasn’t just a handshake, but a proper, comforting squeeze when Keegan was growing up. He’s 30 now, but that profound relationship endures.” Keegan Locke told news.com.au there was a significant gap in the public narrative surrounding Ben Roberts-Smith. “I can’t speak to him as a soldier, but I can certainly speak to him as a man, and what he’s truly like as a man,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty good bulls**t meter. “He’s one of those blokes who has always been there for all of us kids who lost a parent.” Mr Locke said the profound bond between the men of the SAS is something he has witnessed his entire life. “The undying and unwavering code they share is what truly defines the SAS; it’s a family network. They push as hard as they can, sometimes to the death, and they know each other will always be there,” he said. “That’s the vibe I’ve always got from Ben.
There have been many like him, it isn’t just RS; there are a lot of them who embody that spirit. It was such a demanding period when they were in Afghanistan. “They might complete a six-month deployment and return, still needing to undertake promotional courses, field exercises, and care for their own families.
Yet, RS would consistently take me fishing, and attend all my rugby games. Even as I got older, he always made time. When I joined the army, he would always catch up with me in Townsville, taking me out for dinner whenever he was in town.” Every January, Mr Locke would attend a Legacy Camp in Western Australia with other children who had lost a parent. “RS consistently took time out of his own demanding schedule to help run the camp year after year, not just for his best mate looking after me, his child, but extending that care to hundreds of children who had lost their fathers in Afghanistan, in the police force, and in the fire services,” Mr Locke explained. “He genuinely looked after us all. He embodies service and sacrifice – it goes far deeper than just being a military person; he’s a truly genuine, good person. “Everyone talks about the military side of things, there have been attempts to smear him over his private life too, but what’s missing is who he really is and that’s a guy who has built his own life on sacrifice. “I’m 31 this year, and he still calls me and checks up on me.
If he’s in Perth, we always catch up; he goes out of his way for me. I’m not his best mate; I’m just one of his best mates’ sons. “I now consider him a good mate, a bond that has developed over time through this mutual connection we share.” Elle-Lou Diddams, a close friend of Keegan Locke, was in Year 11 when she and her brother Henry tragically lost their father. Sergeant Blaine Diddams was fatally shot during a joint Australian-Afghan mission on July 2, 2012, targeting a high-ranking insurgent commander in Uruzgan’s Chora Valley. He sustained a chest wound as his helicopter landed at the mission’s outset and later died at the Australian base at Tarin Kot. “When I was 18, I felt quite lost after school; I didn’t know what direction to take,” Ms Diddams told news.com.au.
After the profound loss of her father, she endured another tragedy, losing a close friend during Year 12. “Ben told me to come to Queensland, and he’d help me get into university there. Obviously, my mum and he had been discussing it. So, I literally jumped in my car and headed across the Nullarbor,” she said. Ms Diddams successfully enrolled in university, despite her ATAR “not being the best”, thanks to Roberts-Smith putting in a good word for her. “He had a massive influence on my life.
He introduced me to the head of the university, and I was accepted,” she said. “That was absolutely huge. If he hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t be the person I am today.” She fondly remembers regular dinners with “RS” and often minding his two young daughters. Ms Diddams holds fond memories of the little five-year-old plaiting her hair as she watched the girls while their parents enjoyed an evening out. “He was just so humble and down to earth, so incredibly kind and generous; he never wanted anything in return,” she said. For her 18th birthday, Roberts-Smith organised and personally paid for Ms Diddams to travel with him to meet the Queen. “Here I was, 18 years old and flying business class; it was absolutely surreal,” she said.
But it’s the consistent check-ins and the unwavering presence of that father figure in the background that she appreciates most deeply. “He is an extremely humble, selfless, caring and truely genuine man who has done unthinkable things for our family,” she said. “He sacrificed his time, his love, his resources to help better our lives after grief and loss. That is the true man he is.” As Keegan Locke puts it: “All of us will always remain unwavering supporters of RS, and that has absolutely nothing to do with what emerges in the media, be it good or bad. It’s plain and simple: he is simply one of the greatest humans I have ever met in my entire life. I will believe that until the day I die. “He’s a polarising figure, certainly, because of his stature and his demeanour.
But he is fiercely loyal to people who are 100 per cent committed and headed in the right direction. I’ve been around all these SAS blokes for a long time – and he is one of the guys who has never veered away from being a truly remarkable bloke. “We will support him to the day we die no matter what.” Roberts-Smith has been charged with five counts of war crime murder stemming from his service with the Special Air Service Regiment in Afghanistan. The Victoria Cross recipient has yet to enter pleas to any of the charges, but has strenuously denied the allegations. He was released on bail on April 17 after 10 days in custody.