inducted 2012 Service
Sean was born in 1974 in Port Fairy to parents Mick and Cath Lanigan. He has two older sisters Helen and Marcia, and one younger brother named Mark. He joined Christian Brothers College after completing primary school at Saint Patricks in Port Fairy, and was there during the transition years as Emmanuel College was formed.
Whilst at Emmanuel College, Sean represented the school in Football, Basketball, Badminton and Athletics, before graduating in 1991. He played football with Port Fairy in Juniors and Seniors.
Sean studied Business at Deakin before working in the hospitality industry for many years in Queensland.
In the year 2000 Sean enlisted in the Australian Army as a Rifleman and after completing recruit and initial employment training, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in Townsville.
Sean deployed to East Timor on Operation Tanager in 2001,as part of the United Nations led peace keeping mission , and also on Operation Anode to the Solomon Islands in 2003, both times as a member of the 2nd Battalion. By 2005 he had been promoted to Corporal and also held the position of Sniper Team Leader.
In 2006 Sean was posted to Melbourne to study at the Australian Defence Force School of Languages, and by the end of that year he graduated with an Advanced Diploma of the Thai Language.
In 2007 Sean was posted to the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in Brisbane. During his time in 6 RAR he deployed to East Timor in 2007 on Operation Astute, which was focused on regaining peace within Dili , and to Iraq on Operation Catalyst in 2008, which was focused towards protecting the Australian Embassy and DFAT Staff in Baghdad.. After returning from Iraq he completed both his Sergeant Promotion Courses and in January 2009 was promoted to rank of Sergeant within the 6th Battalion.
In 2010 Sean deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper as a member of Mentoring Taskforce One. This deployment turned out to be most defining time of his career with amazing challenges working in an extreme terrain with a very high enemy threat. He spent 8 months in Afghanistan during which time the Australian Army received the most casualties since the Vietnam War.
As part of the 2012 Australia Day honours list, Sergeant Lanigan was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for courage under fire in hazardous circumstances. His Citation reads as follows : For acts of gallantry in hazardous circumstances on the 24th of August 2010 while a platoon sergeant and mentor with Mentoring Team Delta, the 1st Mentoring Taskforce at Derapet, Tangi Valley Afghanistan. His gallant actions in contact with a numerically superior and entrenched enemy, in rallying the soldiers and coordinating their return fire, gained time for both Australian and Afghan Soldiers to move into supporting positions. He then bravely led a frontal assault under heavy enemy fire to clear the enemy from their entrenched position, and subsequently disregarded his own safety while coordinating the partnered patrol to defeat the enemies counterattacks.
Sean was posted to 5th 6th Battalion Royal Victoria Regiment in 2011 and currently works there within the Operations Cell.
Sean has received the following awards in the Army. The Medal for Gallantry, the Australian Active Service Medal, the Australian Service Medal, the United Nations Medal, the Afghan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the ISAF medal, the Australian Defence Medal, the Infantry Combat Badge , the Meritiorious Unit Citation and the Return from Active Service badge.
