Roberts-Smith joined the Australian Army in 1996 at the age of eighteen. In 1999, he was deployed twice to East Timor. In 2003, he was selected to serve in the elite Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). In 2004, Roberts-Smith was deployed to operations off Fiji as part of Operation Quickstep. In 2005 and 2006, he served as part of Security Detachment Iraq. Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions during 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012. In addition to the Victoria Cross For Aust