THE dusty, hot landscape of central Afghanistan is a far cry from Sydney's northern beaches, but for Stuart Cree and Jennifer Stuart, it is now their home away from home.

Stuart and Jennifer have both played key roles in the Australian Defence Force's Reconstruction Task Force, in Oruzgan Province, central Afghanistan.

Stuart, an Army Major, recently arrived in the war-torn country and is now in charge of planning and executing the Task Force's various missions. Jen, a 24-year-old Lieutenant and family friend of Stuart, will soon return to Australia after spending six months as a communications specialist, maintaining vital links within the Task Force and to the outside world.

As family friends that met through the Rural Fire Service, Jen watched the older Stuart graduate from the Australian Defence Force Academy and make his career in the Army. Jen pursued a similar career, joining the Corps of Signals upon her graduation from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2004, before she moved to the Darwin-based 1 st Combat Signals Regiment for further training as a signals officer.

Jen’s training prepared her well for this deployment which saw her managing both tactical communications with the soldiers in the field and strategic links with Task Force's higher headquarters in Kabul , Baghdad and Australia.

“It has been very satisfying developing the communications plans and maintaining all those vital links with the outside world,” Jen said. “The highlight of the tour though, was the donkey races we had for the Melbourne Cup Day celebrations last year.”

Stuart says Australians are well regarded for their counter-insurgency methods because of the experience gained in Malaysia, Vietnam and East Timor. “We are more attuned to the thoughts of the local population. In the end our goal is for them to realise that life will be better without the Taliban,” Stuart said.

“Trying to balance the competing demands of reconstruction, building indigenous capacity and providing security to our worksites brings a variety of challenges every day,” Stuart said.

Regardless of the challenges, Australia's military commander in the Middle East, Brigadier Mick Crane described the types of operations that Stuart and his predecessors have planned as “cutting edge” in the type of work that needs to be done in Afghanistan.

Home is never far from the thoughts of those deployed on operations. Jen says she looks forward dining on fish and chips at Mona Vale beach with her boyfriend, who is currently in Iraq commanding an armoured vehicle troop. Stuart is some way off coming home yet and is keen to spend more time with his wife after a gruelling year preparing for the operation.

Stuart and Jennifer are two of some 480 Australian Defence Force personnel currently in Afghanistan as part of the international coalition against terrorism. The Australian contribution, known as Operation Slipper, currently includes a Reconstruction Task Force working with the Netherlands in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Australians are focused on reconstruction and community-based projects as part of Australia ’s commitment to assisting Afghanistan achieve a stable and secure future.

MORE: Operation Slipper website