The media relishes a military funeral. The last rites of any Australian now dying abroad on active service will almost certainly be reported in the newspapers, usually with pictures. The crackle of the firing party’s volley across the grave, the bugle’s fading notes, are now almost television clichés. A nation’s proper tribute to a fallen soldier, the private grief of loved ones—these indeed are delicate matters, and the decency and seemliness of every formality touching them should command the respect of Australians as a whole. But have we got it right? Over the two hundred years that Australian forces have…