The dust and razor wire of the Taji military base in Iraq is a far cry from the jungle mist of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.
Corporal Tyson Lindley, from Melbourne, has spent the past five months training Iraqi soldiers going into battle against Islamic State militants to reclaim cities such as Mosul.
Military service is in the 24-year-old's blood.
His grandfather Les served as a medic at Kokoda during the Second World War, and lived to the ripe old age of 94.
He was a source of inspiration for Corporal Lindley's military service.
"I looked up to this man as someone who had done great things and achieved a lot and wanted the same things for myself," he told AAP from Iraq.
He plans to travel to PNG to walk the track once he returns from his deployment in two months.
On Tuesday morning, as the sky erupts into a pink and orange sunrise, he'll join his Australian and New Zealand trainer colleagues for an Anzac Day dawn service at Taji before getting back to the job at hand.
He said one of the proudest achievements so far was teaching Iraqi soldiers how to make an improvised tourniquet to stop severe bleeding.
Months later word got back that some of his charges used that knowledge in the combat zone.
"They went up to Mosul, a guy got shot in the leg, they used an improvised tourniquet and saved his life," Corporal Lindley told AAP.
He knows his overseas deployment is stressful on his family but they are incredibly supportive and proud.
"I''m sure mum will be happy when this is all said and done and I'm back on Australian shores, and she can get a good night sleep," he said.
Australia has 780 defence personnel in Iraq and Syria, carrying out air strikes, special operations, and training Iraqi soldiers and police in the fight against IS.
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