Well, returning to live in Singleton for the third time, is as close to coming home as he’s managed in the past 20 years.

Next Monday, the 39-year-old Lieutenant Colonel will take over as commander of the School of Infantry, Lone Pine Barracks.

He was originally at the army camp for three years from 1997, commanding an initial training platoon and instructing an assault section and a platoon team.

In 2008 he was here for a year as the tactics wing senior instructor.

Singleton holds an additional strong tie as it was during his 1990s stint here that he married his wife Cherie at Nulkaba and they had their reception at Pokolbin.

“I met Cherie in Townsville, but because we were married here, Singleton is very much a personal home posting,” he said.

“It’s also home professionally as it’s the home of the infantry corp and I’ve spent a considerable amount of time instructing soldiers and officers at Singleton.

“I’ve been here as a lieutenant, captain, major and now lieutenant colonel, this is the capstone of my experiences.”

Lieutenant Colonel Constable has been at the base, on and off, for the past two months receiving handover advice from the previous commander, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lowe, who has been posted to Canberra.

Lieutenant Colonel Constable was born at Coffs Harbour, entered the Royal Military College, Canberra, in 1991, graduated in 1993 and was then appointed as a platoon commander at Townsville.

He has since had a six month exchange detatchment with a Royal Scotts battalion, in the United Kingdom, two stints at the Australian military headquarters, in Sydney, and two more terms at Townsville.

He has been to East Timor and the Solomon Islands where he was in charge of a multinational response force that included soldiers from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.

As a result, he was awarded a chief of defence commendation.

Lieutenant Colonel Constable said he had now been posted to Singleton for up to three years.

“Cherie and our children Caelan, Erin and Eamon celebrated Christmas here with me before going up to Townsville to spend some time with Cherie’s family,” he said.

“We’ve started to renew our friendships and I look forward to continuing, and strengthening, the good relationship between the military and Singleton’s civilian community.

“This year the RSL (Returned Services League) has sponsored two of our soldiers, sergeant Steve Perry and corporal Chris Buck, to visit Gallipoli for Anzac Day and I think that illustrates the connection we have.”