[00:00:00]

Rosie Skene:

Welcome
to Triumph Beyond Trauma, the podcast that explores journeys of resilience and
hope. I'm Rosie Skene a yoga and breathwork teacher and founder of Tactical
Yoga Australia. As a former soldier's wife, mom to three beautiful kids and a
medically retired New South Wales police officer with PTSD. I understand the
challenges of navigating mental health in the first responder and veteran
community.

Join us for incredible stories from individuals who've
confronted the depths of mental illness and discovered their path to happiness
and purpose, as well as solo episodes and expert discussions. Together we'll
uncover the tools to help you navigate your journey toward a brighter, more
fulfilling life.

Whether you're looking for helpful insights, practical tips, or
just a friendly reminder that you're not alone. Triumph on trauma has got your
back. You matter and your journey to a happier, more meaningful life starts
right here.

Roger, welcome back to the podcast.

It's so good to

[00:01:00]

see

Roger Eichler:

you.
Yeah, it's good to be back. Really good to be back. Yes.

Rosie Skene:

, it's,
I think it's about 20 episodes. It's gonna be in between, 'cause I think you're
here for episode 24 and we're in the forties now.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're doing really well. You're doing really well.
Getting it out there and I, I promote it where I can.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Thank you. So good. Just for people that didn't listen to episode 24, do you
wanna give us a little bit of your background and your journey and how you came
to be with Trojan's Trek? 'cause that's what we're gonna talk about today.

Roger Eichler:

Sure,
sure. So I'm a, I like to call it Veteran New South Wales police Officer.

So I, I joined originally in 1986, way back when before
computers. Yeah. , old typewriter, the old typewriters and all that sort of
stuff. And I lasted five and a half years before the. Let's call it the, the
interesting period of the police force where there was a lot of grafting,
corruption, and , mates, supporting mates and all that sort of stuff.

And I was actually bullied out of the service after just over
five years service. I left in 92 and

[00:02:00]

then they had this thing called the Royal Commission, which cleaned out a lot
of the dirty cops.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

You
gotta watch whatever you can if you're interested in that sort of thing. It was
really interesting.

I saw a lot of bad stuff that shouldn't have happened anyway,
once they got rid of a lot of dirty cops, they were screaming for staff and I
basically saw the commissioner at the time, Peter Ryan on tv and he said, we,
we need all the old ex-cop who were honest to come back. I literally rang up. I
faxed off an application and I was accepted on that day.

Wow. And I was, and I was back in the cops three months later
at the police academy in 1997, and I lasted another 12 years before it finally
bit me.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

And,
uh, I had an interesting journey in the police. I, I specialize in country
policing. I, I did a couple of months in the city, but I did a lot of country
postings around New South Wales.

And, uh, I hit my hugest, if that's such a word. Mm-hmm. Hugest
hurdle. When I was out at Houston, where did a lot, I was at a two man station
operating it

[00:03:00]

as a one maner. Yeah,
did a huge amount of work, massive amounts of work, but saw a lot of tragedy
from people that I knew personally. When you're in small country towns, you
know the people.

You know the people when they die, you know the people when
there's tragedies, you know the people that are affected by crime or whatever
it else it is. And to get away from that, I moved to, or my family and I moved
to Kuma and. It just got worse.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,

Roger Eichler:

a
bigger town, a bigger country town, but just knowing more people with more
tragedy.

And then I finally hit a massive hurdle where I ended up with a
pretty serious motor vehicle accident that I was involved in. Um, nearly
killing a 15-year-old boy who was running away from police. I nearly killed
him. I ended up in court and I ExOne, I was exonerated at court, but I was
extremely unhealthy and I pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

And yeah. And the day after I walked outta court, my boss rang
me up and said, thanks very much for your time. Goodbye. And I was outta the
police

[00:04:00]

within six months. Yeah.
Medically, they call it medically retired. I wasn't retired, I was medically
discharged. Yeah. Um, I was extremely unhealthy. Extremely unhealthy.

And , it took me 10 years to find an organization that really
literally saved my life. I was literally on the brink of. Finishing it all.
Literally. Yeah. Yeah. You,

Rosie Skene:

yeah. I
remember talking to you in our last episode and also reading your book, which
is amazing. Yeah. I still recommend it to people. , talking about that and that
court matter and

Roger Eichler:

yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Judge
saying to you, , I don't know why you've plead guilty to this. I know. You
know, that's incredible.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah,
I, I was extremely unwell. Extremely. And I didn't give a shit to excuse the
language people. I didn't give a damn. I just did not give a damn because
either way I was probably gonna commit suicide.

And literally when I was at court on the day I was walking
around the court building looking for places to hang myself.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Trying
'em out,

[00:05:00]

trying whether they'll take
them away and all this sort of stuff. I was extremely unwell and I just didn't
care. I just, I was at that point, . Yeah. My wife and I had some firm
discussions before that court date as to why I pleaded guilty.

Yeah. I'll call 'em firm discussions.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Um,
but I, I was, I was extremely unhealthy and she was going to work still and you
know, things are bad when your wife is ringing you up three or four times a day
to make sure that you've done the dishes, darling. Yeah. You've done this. No,
she was checking in to see whether I was alive or not.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

And
she was getting home before the kids got home because she didn't want them to
find me dead.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Wow. Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
So, um, and if you haven't read my book, guys, grab a copy of it. , the price
of Protecting Others. It's called, , and she wrote the final chapter too. Yeah.
Give her side of what happened.

Rosie Skene:

That was
beautiful. I really enjoyed that. I. Um,

Roger Eichler:

yeah.
Um, but yeah, I was very, very, very unhealthy for a long, long time. Yeah. ,
yeah. And here I am though.

[00:06:00]

Here
I'm, yeah,

Rosie Skene:

so it
was Trojan's trek that,

Roger Eichler:

so I
found I would, once I got out of the police, I was 10 years extremely
unhealthy.

Rosie Skene:

Wow.
It's a long time, isn't it?

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
I was hanging onto my identity. Because I loved the cops. I loved the work. I
loved making a difference, and I loved the investigations and catching crooks
and all that sort of stuff, but the, the trauma of it all. And yes, there is
bullying. There's bullying in every single government department or
non-government department.

Actually, there is always gonna be bullying. It'll never stop.
But I, I received some serious, significant stuff and I, I couldn't hold a job
down for 10 years after I got outta the cops. , I was hanging onto my identity
of I'm a cop. I'm an ex-cop. Yeah, I'm a really broken ex-cop and hanging onto
all these different things.

And I loved my uniform and I kept it. And then, I. Yeah. And
then when I finally, I was looking for something, I went through so many
psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, and all that sort of stuff to try and

[00:07:00]

find someone who resonated with me. But I
read a book, and that book was written by one of the guys who founded Trojan's
Trek, , shot Fire, I think it's called.

And he, he was a Vietnam vet. Well, the two, two guys that
started Trojan's Trek. Were Vietnam veterans or are Vietnam veterans, they're
still alive and they saw a lot of their mates that went through the military
taking their life. More people committed suicide of the Vietnam veteran era.
Between , 2017, 2020, more people committed suicide.

More veterans committed suicide who were Vietnam veterans than
that actually died in the Vietnam War.

Rosie Skene:

In that
short period of time. Yeah. Is that, wow.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
Over a period of three or four years, they lost something like 1500 Vietnam
veterans through suicide and during the war they lost 500 in total. Oh my God.

In battle. Yeah. Because how do you deal with the trauma of
what you see and do in whatever you do? Yeah. On the frontline

[00:08:00]

services, military, police, , whatever it
might be, how do you deal with that and those guys from that era? Didn't know
how to process it. And the worst suicide that I went to in my police career was
a Vietnam veteran.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
It, it was horrific in related to how violent Yeah. Yeah. It was violent, it
was toxic. And because he had basically decomposed for five days, I had to deal
with that sort of thing, you know? Yeah. Um, so, um, but anyway, so Trojan's
Trek was founded by these two guys who started it because they wanted a.

A circuit breaker program. And what they do is they take people
who are veterans of any of the emergency services or the military and we take
you away into the bush and we just disconnect from society for a week and we,
that gives us a week to concentrate on each other and the program is done or
run by veterans who have done the program.

And the best way to communicate with people who have been
through those.

[00:09:00]

Instances of people
that have been through those instances.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,

Roger Eichler:

yeah.
Like mates talking to Mates. Yeah. I've been there, I've done that. But we're
not banging our own drums and saying it's all wonderful and all that sort of
stuff, but we know how to communicate and what we do, we change.

We help. The participants change their thinking of how they
deal with what they went through and how they're dealing with their loved ones
and the people who care about them. I was on the brink of losing my marriage. I
was on the brink of losing my family. I was on the brink of losing my life
before I went to Trojan's Trek, and that one week away in the Flinders Ranges.

And we go to a variety of different places that one week away
just totally disconnecting from phones, radios, tv, newspapers, everything, and
just concentrating on ourselves. Getting back to basics and talking about stuff
and changing our thinking about what we've been through and thanking ourselves
for our service that we've done to the community and stop hating on yourself.

[00:10:00]

It changed my life. It literally changed my life. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And I went back, I was re-energized and the biggest difference about
Trojan's Trek is. When we do a program, like a week long program, wherever it
might be, we ca we collect a lot of data. And all of that goes to Flinder's
University in South Australia.

And then every couple of months we get a survey and that survey
goes to the participant and their partner and all that information goes back to
Flinder's University. And then students that are studying for their PhD in
psychology or whatever they're, they're studying, they go through all our data
to see if we are hitting the targets that are achievable and can be achieved
through this sort of program.

And we are, this is what I've, I've been trying to find out. We
are the only organization across Australia that does that.

Rosie Skene:

Wow.
What, what are they looking for? What are you, they're

Roger Eichler:

looking for changes in people's mindset and people's thinkings and people's
aspects on life. And there's a whole different myriad of different things.

It, it's a three or four page survey that

[00:11:00]

people have to fill out.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Right. And it's

Roger Eichler:

both.
The participant and the partner. So the partner, as you know, yeah. You go and
see a psychologist or a doctor or whatever, and you go, yeah, I'm wonderful,
I'm wonderful, I'm wonderful. But when your partner comes in and speaks to that
professional, they go, nah, you're an idiot.

You are doing this, this, this, and this and this. Yeah. And
this is how you communicate. And this is what happens over nighttime when
you're asleep. Like, I still have nightmares. I still have my periods where I
wake up in the morning and I know I've been doing some nasty things in my
sleep. Mm-hmm. And, and every now and then Libby still has to kick me in the
guts and go wake up.

You know, you're having one of your nights and all that sort of
stuff. Yeah. It's not like it used to be almost every night.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,

Roger Eichler:

it's
only once every couple of weeks or a couple of months. Um, but yeah, Trojan's
Trek significantly changed my life.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
And,

Roger Eichler:

and
from 2018 onwards, I've, I did a, I've done a lot more, and now I'm the
director of operations to help organize where these camps are being held, how
we get the participants there, how we're getting all our resources there and so
on.

[00:12:00]

Yeah. And look,
it's, it's, it profoundly changes a lot of people's lives. It really does. And
then we support everybody, like all the participants. We've got a couple of
dedicated Trojans Trek pages on social media, and it's a great way of
communicating with our colleagues, whether we know 'em or not, on TRO through
Trojans Trek.

And if somebody's suffering, we've got a way of connecting with
them. Yeah. Look, I'm, I'm having a bad day. Can somebody give me a call? And
they just put the messages out there. Yeah. Instead of talking to a bottle or
talking to drugs or whatever, I need a mate to call me. Here's my number or
whatever it might be.

Rosie Skene:

Mm-hmm.

R

oger Eichler:

And
yeah, we are still looking after each other. And this started in 2009 and it's
been going on since then. And uh, yeah, it's fantastic. It's an absolutely
brilliant program. Costs you nothing to attend. Wherever you live in Australia,
we will get you to a camp

Rosie Skene:

that's
incredible. I think free in

Roger Eichler:

charge.

Rosie Skene:

That's
nice for people to hear, especially after

[00:13:00]

the conversation we had just before. Yeah. There's something so special about
sharing lived experience and being with people with lived experience. Like you
don't have to be a psychologist or have, you know, extensive mental health
training to, to make a difference in other people's lives.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah,
I

Rosie Skene:

think
that gets lost a little bit. Everyone thinks they need to be a professional or
they need to have this or that.

Roger Eichler:

No,
but

Rosie Skene:

something to be said for just. Being with someone who gets it.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Um, and
I guess that's why Trojan's Trek is so successful, because that's what you're
fostering.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
Yeah.

And now what we are doing, we are sourcing organizations that
will give us free online training or free, you know, training so that our
facilitators now have mental health awareness training. Yeah. We've also got
training in first aid and the, um, what do you call it, the de fbs and all that
sort of stuff.

So, and we've always got all that equipment on hand with
whatever we're doing. And Trojan's Trek isn't a trek of walking. You're not
going for a long walk somewhere. This is what I wanted

Rosie Skene:

to talk
to you about.

Roger Eichler:

The
trek

[00:14:00]

is in your mind. Yeah, it's in
your brain. Literally. Think of going to a farm somewhere, wherever it might
be.

That's remote. No phone reception or extremely limited. And
you're just sitting around a campfire. And then you might walk maybe 50 meters
or a hundred meters to another location, have a cup of tea, and then we'll go
for a walk to a dam and we'll sit on the side of the dam and talk about stuff.
I'm not gonna go about all the different programs that we talk about throughout
the camp, but we are just connecting and being able to let people express
themselves and finding what's.

What are the triggers and all that sort of stuff, and how to
deal with those triggers because we all have triggers about different things.
It might be sounds, smells, sights, whatever, rather. Mm-hmm. And also being
honest to yourself and then honest to those loved ones. And quite literally me
writing my book was the biggest profoundest change in my life besides Trojan's
Trek.

[00:15:00]

Getting it out there
and expressing to everybody what I'd been through, how I felt. What the impact
was on my family. But that's what we talk about at the camps as well. And then
you go home with different abilities to communicate. Yeah. And how to communicate
honestly with your partner and if your partner's willing to listen and not
react and you know, blow up or whatever or other, but just look, I've gotta
tell you this story.

This is what happened. This is why I do this, blah, blah, blah.
And yeah, I. It, it's profound. Absolutely profound. Yeah. We make massive
differences in people's lives.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
And how good does that feel for you guys too? Running? Oh, just,

Roger Eichler:

yeah.
A absolutely awesome. Yeah, absolutely Awesome. Uh, like I, I've read a lot of
different programs and been to a couple of 'em and everything, but Trojan's
Trek was just so profoundly different because it's run by your mates, you don't
know 'em.

But by the end of it, you're

[00:16:00]

just good mates, but they get you, they totally get what you are on about where
you've been and where you're heading. And it's shared lived experience. You
know, you are not the only one in your boat.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Which it really is very isolating, especially if we talk about PTSD. Yeah.

, and leaving an agency with that, it can, it can be really,
really isolating and. , feel, you just feel like you're the only one. Right?
Absolutely. So to be absolutely a, in a group of people that are all sort of,
maybe not the same symptomology, but you're all going through the same thing.

Roger Eichler:

Yep.
And, and you've, and you've, and you're beating yourself up because you're
letting yours, you feel like you've let yourself down from a career that you're
loved

Rosie Skene:

or your
family as well.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
And your family. Yeah. Like you've, you've totally let 'em down. And quite
literally, at the end of the day, they don't care. Yeah, I hung onto all my
uniform and all my memorabilia from the police and all that sort of stuff
because I thought they cared about that stuff and it took them to tell me, dad,
we don't give a damn about that stuff.

Yeah, we've got no interest in your police hats,

[00:17:00]

your uniforms, your whatever. Uh, we don't
care. And when I finally realized that after my camp that it wasn't important
and hanging onto all of that stuff was not important that I went out the
backyard and burnt everything.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah. I

Roger Eichler:

literally burnt everything that I owned and it was a massive weight being
lifted off my shoulders.

It's not important.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

That
career that you had was part of your life and it's helped change you. But it's
not what you have to hang onto for the rest of your life. Yeah. It's just part
of your story. That's all. It's

Rosie Skene:

literally a chapter in your book.

Roger Eichler:

It's a
chapter in your book. That is it. Yeah. It, yeah.

Love the job. I still miss it, but there's no chance that I'd
ever go back to it and I, I went back to the academy back in 2018, and that was
10 years after I got outta the cops, and oh my God, it was horrible. Absolutely
horrible. I thought I was going back to a bunch of mates and it was going back
to a bunch of, I dunno what they were.

Yeah. It was horrible.

[00:18:00]

Yes. I got some of the dark humor and a few of the things, and I loved being a
teacher at the academy or a lecturer or whatever they call it, but oh my god.
The people that I worked with. Oh, it was toxic. Yeah. Really, really toxic.
And it dragged me back.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Yeah. Horrible.

Roger Eichler:

Exactly what, what you did not need.

I did not need it. No.

Rosie Skene:

So you,
we were just saying about how the trek isn't a literal trek. It's a trek in
your mind. But yes, you guys are gonna do a literal trek. Now

Roger Eichler:

we're

Rosie Skene:

big one.
As a's case.

Roger Eichler:

As a
major fundraiser this year for Trojan's Trek. We are doing a bit of a trek for
a while and it, and it's called the Kokoda Trek.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,
just a little

Roger Eichler:

one.
Just a little one. So we're gathering 20 people. We don't care who they are, as
long as they're able to do a 96 kilometer walk through the jungles of Papua New
Guinea.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

And
they're quite willing to do fundraising. Trojan's Trek will cover your costs to
attend.

[00:19:00]

This Kokoda track as long as
you are willing to raise a minimum seven and a half thousand dollars before
September 18, if you can raise that money. You are coming with us and we will
go and do the Kokoda track.

Rosie Skene:

So what
does that include? Like flights, accommodation, before and after? Yep. As,

Roger Eichler:

yeah,
we're each participant, we're, we've got a group so far, we need a total of 20
participants. We're, we need, we can't do more than 20, but we are looking for
15 eligible people.

And that'll cover the, , your Regi, not registration. See it's
the fees of accommodation, your food and some of your equipment and all the
little bits and pieces that once you get over there. Plus our flights to and
from. Um, and basically over 10 days, we're gonna walk 96 Ks through the
jungles of Papua New Guinea as a, you know, as a achievable target, I believe.

And we're trying to raise a hundred thousand dollars.

Rosie Skene:

Wow.

Roger Eichler:

Because each camp that we put on Trojans Trek costs us 50 grand.

Rosie Skene:

Does it?
Really? Yeah. Wow.

[00:20:00]

Roger Eichler:

So
it's 50 grand each camp and we, we run three camps a year. Yeah. Yeah. That's
incredible. So, because we. You might live in Perth or Darwin or wherever it
might be.

So we'll fly you to a camp. Yeah. And then we'll feed and water
you for seven days and all that sort of stuff. So each camp costs us around 50
grand. Yeah. So that's why we're doing fundraising. We get no money from the
government at all. Wow. We get nothing. We, we we're not eligible. Okay. And if
you do, you only get a one-off grant.

Rosie Skene:

Okay.

Roger Eichler:

We
don't have a continuous flow of funding.

Rosie Skene:

Yes.
Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

So
we're trying to find organizations that are willing to fund us for a number of
years as well to sponsor us. Um, whether it might be to support us in our cost
of flights or whatever it might be.

Rosi:e Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

So
we're, we're doing the Kokoda track as our major fundraiser, which will cover
us for about a year.

Rosie Skene:

That's
so exciting.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
Yeah. And it's gonna be a huge challenge. And we've got 12 signed up so far, so
we just need a handful more people. A few

Rosie Skene:

people.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
And they don't have

Rosie Skene:

to be
veterans, uh, like. Could be veterans or army

[00:21:00]

defense. Anybody.

Roger Eichler:

Anybody that's willing to raise seven and half thousand dollars and is fit
enough and get signed off by the doctor that they're able to do it.

Um, yeah, you're more than willing to come. Um, you're not
carrying a massive 20 kilo pack every day. We've got porters that are gonna
carry our equipment to our next camp. , we've got a, a doctor on each, on our
camp, on our trek as well. We've got all, it's all properly run through
inspired in ventures. The company's called, that's all properly professionally
run.

Um, you just gotta cover your registration fee, your
insurances. Which is all up about 500 bucks. Um, and yeah, get a, get a pair
of, , boots and a bit of clothing and whatever else you need on the camp, they
supply all that information, what you need to bring. Yeah. , it's very, very
well done. Very, very well done.

Yeah, I think think it's so

Rosie Skene:

good
because there's so many, like, I wouldn't say it's a bucket list thing, but
it's definitely something that I've always had in the back of my mind that I'd
like to do Kokoda you know, , one of my grandfathers was in World War II and
actually.

[00:22:00]

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

, for
that. And so I've always thought that that would be something cool to do.

Mm. Um, and this year unfortunately is not for me, but it can
be really expensive.

Roger Eichler:

Oh
yeah.

Rosie Skene:

To, to
do it, like to go with a group and actually do the walk. So this is fantastic
for anyone that's think has thought about doing it. Um, yeah. But you know, the
prices has sort of put them off Yeah. To do some fundraising, , and to pretty
much be out of pocket 500 bucks or maybe a little bit more, you know, depending
on your insurance.

But, , I think that's incredible. Like an opportunity.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
But I, I'm estimating for myself, I'll be spending about a a thousand dollars
proper boots, proper clothing, all that sort of stuff, the registration
insurances and stuff like that to do a, a 10 day, 12 day trek into Papua New
Guinea. What an experience, what a lifetime goal for me.

I've been wanting to do this for years and years and, um, yeah,
it's cool. And look, age is no limit. The oldest person that's done the track
is 82.

Rosie Skene:

Wow.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
Yeah. It wasn't one of us,

[00:23:00]

Rosie Skene:

just

Roger Eichler:

never
us. Literally, literally our Zoom meeting the other night, every one of us was
above the age of 45, and I think we've got one guy who's about 65 that's coming
with us, and he's a military veteran.

But yeah. But, but we need more representatives from emergency
services. I'm the only bloody ex emergency services person on this trek so far.

Rosie Skene:

Oh
really?

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
So we've got all the usual military people, but um, I'm the only emergency
services person so far, so we need. Somebody from the ambos or firies or
whatever rather.

So, um, you know, or another copper from whatever state, who
cares? We just let a couple more people and, and the change in your life,
because it's not about your fitness only, it's about your mental attitude as
well. That's a huge mental thing as well to achieve this target. Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

96 K is
over 10 days. That's what, just under 10 Ks a day.

That's pretty typical. Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Some
days are gonna be longer because you're walking between mountains, but some
days you're gonna be shorter because you're climbing up to two and a half
thousand meters at the

[00:24:00]

highest peak.
Yeah. So, so what

Rosie Skene:

training
are you doing for that?

Roger Eichler:

So,
what training am I doing? Well, there's a couple of good steep hills here
around Canberra that, , that I'm not running.

Just, yeah, you throw a day pack on, which is a couple of
kilos, five kilos, and you just walk up and down, up and down, up and down. But
also going to the gym and doing lunges and battle rope exercises, core strength
exercises. Um, bit of running cycling. That's a lot of endurance training as
well. You've gotta do endurance.

Rowing is really, really good. Yeah, because you're building up
your. Your core plus your thighs and your arms and everything. So you gotta
build endurance. It's not about speed, it's about endurance because you know,
you could be climbing, , a thousand meters in one day. So you gotta be able to
get up that a thousand meters today.

You know, you start at eight and you finishing at six. Who
knows? I, I, I really dunno. But I, if you register. , when you get to a link
on the page with, in spite of Ventures, it tells you everything.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,
yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Or go
onto our Trojans Trek

[00:25:00]

page and go
onto our upcoming Treks page and it's on there. Yeah. Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

I did
see that. Very easy to navigate.

Roger Eichler:

Oh
yeah. And it, it tells you every day what you're gonna be doing and where
you're going and stuff like that. Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah, it
does. And it's got all the frequently asked questions and all that sort of
stuff on there as well. Like it's really, really informative for sure.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
Yeah. And as part of my major fundraising, I'm putting on a dinner

Rosie Skene:

Yes. A

Roger Eichler:

fundraising dinner on the 20th of May, 2025 here in Canberra. And I tracked
down and I've got. Australian athlete, Robert d Castella, who was our champion
back in the eighties and early nineties for marathons. Um, Rob d Castella is
coming along to do a talk, , at our dinner at the National Press Club.

Um, yeah, and I've got tickets available and I'm trying to get
as many people to the event as possible so I can raise my $10,000. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Awesome. So it's gonna be a great night. We've got a, um, music coming
and all that. It's gonna be a fantastic night. Yeah. Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Perfect.
I'll link to it

[00:26:00]

in the show notes so
people can grab tickets to that.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
National Press Club, if you don't know people is , where you see the polls do a
lot of their talking at two o'clock on every weekday. Yeah. On a, b, C. Yeah. ,
yeah, it's a very well known location in the main part of Canberra, near
Parliament House. Of course.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Um,
yeah. And that National Press Club, it's been a huge supporter of our event
too.

Big supporter. They've given us a really good deal because
we're a charity. But Rob d Castella, have a look him up guys. If you dunno who
he is, he was huge. He went to four Olympics for Australia.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah, I
do remember. . If people can't get to Kokoda or to the dinner.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.

Rosie Skene:

Can they
still donate?

Roger Eichler:

They
can certainly donate, yeah.

On my page or whatever you're gonna share on your socials?
Yeah. There is a link there that takes you direct to my page and it's, you get
a tax deduction.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.
Perfect. You

Roger Eichler:

donate
a hundred bucks, the government gives it back to you at tax time. Yeah. Great

Rosie Skene:

timing
of you to do it now, actually with tax time coming up.

Roger Eichler:

Absolutely. Yeah. So if you've got a few spare bucks around,

[00:27:00]

every dollar makes a difference. For every
participant to come to a Trojans Trek camp, it costs each person, or it costs
us about two and a half thousand dollars for each person to come to a camp.
Yeah. So every dollar supports one of those people to help resolve whatever
they've got is going on in their head.

Yeah. Yeah. .

Rosie Skene:

, I did
see that you have a, a couple of treks within Australia coming up this year
too, which we do, which is exciting. We do. And in New South Wales.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah,
in New South Wales. Yeah. So we've got a camp coming up in June in the Flinders
Ranges in South Australia. Beautiful.

Um, and then we've got one in August in Gunda Roo, which is
literally 30 minutes north of Canberra. And then we've got one in Wagga in
August, nos, September, October, I think it is.

Rosie Skene:

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

Yeah.
So we've got two camps in New South Wales, so, , so yeah. But one at Gunda Roo
is gonna be great. It's at a farm that is owned by a, uh, a, a couple who lost
their son to a suicide man in Afghanistan.

Oh yeah. He was an entrusted af Afghani.

[00:28:00]

Yeah. And then he turned around and shot
the, the, uh, army guys. Yes. And these people that own that farm. That's was
their son who lost his life as a result of that. So, , they donate their farms
resources to us to do our camps and uh, that's amazing. They're lovely people
and they're coming to our dinner.

Yeah. So, , so yeah, so we've got a few camps coming up and if
anybody's interested in the, in any of the camps, they just have to reach out
on our website. , to the point of contact. There's a link on our website or get
in touch through the. Notes that you'll have on your

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,
I'll definitely link to everything in the show notes for sure.

Yeah. , to the website and then people can navigate that. It's
easy to navigate. We're

Roger Eichler:

looking, when we're looking for people to come on a Trojan's trek, we're
looking for people to come to Kokoda and we're looking for donations.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah,

Roger Eichler:

yeah,
of course. Yeah, of course. Yeah. , and we're all trying to do our bit and if
everybody did their bit, that would make our lives so much better.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There's, . If everybody gave me 10
bucks, we wouldn't have to be asking for money ever again. Yeah. So, , yeah.

[00:29:00]

Every dollar helps.

Rosie Skene:

. Thank
you so much and thank you so much to you and, and the team for what you're
doing. Yeah. There, I know a couple of people that have been on the treks now.

Yeah. And, , have said it amazing. Yeah.

Roger Eichler:

It's
cool. Yeah. It's going back to basics. Yeah. You're not in hotel or motel
accommodation. It's going back to basics and that's the reason for it. Yeah.
You gotta go back to basics and strip away all that noise. Just to get down to
what is important and what is important is you and getting you to your next
stage in your life and you know, looking after yourself and you, and being nice
to your people that support you.

Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. And my motto is, the
greatest exercise for your heart is to help somebody else stand up. Yeah. And
you are doing your bit. And if any, everybody could help somebody else stand
up. How cool would that be? Yeah. Be a different world. Yeah, it'd be a
different world. Whether that's through giving donations or just saying good
morning.

Anything to help everybody. Have a

[00:30:00]

nice day. Perfect.

Rosie Skene:

What a
great way to end. Thank you so much for coming on again, Roger. It's been
terrific. Such a pleasure.

Roger Eichler:

Thanks
so much, Rosie. Really appreciate your support and one day we'll get to meet.

Rosie Skene:

Yeah, I
know. In real. In real life.

Roger Eichler:

Is
that what you look like?

Rosie Skene:

Yeah.

I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. If you have, make sure
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Your support means the world. My name is Rosie Skene join me
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Trauma. Until then, be kind to your mind and trust in the magic of your
consistent and positive efforts. Try off beyond Your trauma is closer than you
think. Have the best

[00:31:00]

week.