While explorations of Australia at war have never been short on ‘male stories’, the prevalence of the masculine frame may yet increase in coming years as part of the ongoing examination of competing forms of manhood in this country, as evidenced by the upcoming symposium ‘Embattled Men: Masculinity and War’ at the Australian National University. The publicity surrounding the recent awarding of the Victoria Cross to Trooper Mark Donaldson for his actions in Afghanistan highlights the lasting currency and influence of the Anzac tradition, with its valorisation of the myths of mateship.