DPR 84/97 Wednesday June 18, 1997
AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS TO TRAIN IN INDONESIA
Ten Australian junior officers and sergeants will train in Indonesian Army units for the next three months.
They will be taking part in Exercise Kartika Exchange 97, a reciprocal, short-term individual exchange between the Australian and Indonesian armies. A similar exercise was held last year.
The officers and NCOs left on June 16 and will return on September 17. The exchange comprises a month of language training, a month in training establishments and a month's attachment to units.
The exchange is aimed at promoting personal ties at a junior level, stimulating language skills and giving participants a working knowledge of the host country's operational, logistic and administrative procedures.
(Note: 'Kartika is part of a motto 'Kartika Eka Paksi', probably in sanskrit, on an Indonesia Army badge, meaning roughly, 'Win in the land Army'.)
Further information:
Lieutenant Colonel Ian Edwardson (06) 265 4065 (bh)