The shadow of an Australian Special Forces Task Group soldier during a training activity in Afghanistan. Photo by Cpl Wade Laube, 1JPAU(P)

Australian Special Forces Task Group soldiers during training in Afghanistan. Photo by Cpl Wade Laube, 1JPAU(P)

The man in charge of the 10th Mountain Division, the main US ground force element operating in Afghanistan, has had a long association with Australians.

Maj-Gen Buster Hagenbeck spent 18 months posted to Australia, his unit worked closely with 1RAR in Somalia and now he finds himself with the SASR on the ground in Afghanistan.

“It was great to come into the Afghanistan-Central Asia theatre and find that Australians were already here on the ground when I arrived last December,” he said.

The Australian Special Forces Task Group was making its presence felt along a large section of the Pakistani border region in Op Mountain Lion.

“They have had a whole wide array of missions that have come their way from Anaconda and the role that they played there, all the way through to the special reconnaissance missions they have and continue to do so.”

During Op Anaconda, Maj-Gen Hagenbeck used the Australians in a role he knew suited them.

“They were there, did what they needed to do – a supporting role in the first days but by the third day they were the main effort for the fight and they came through superbly.”

The Australian AO is a region in which armies of the past have met their fate.

“It’s a tribal area that, in the past, foreign armies have not spent any time in. In fact the mantra in this part of the world was that foreign armies could survive there.

“The Australians have proven that to be absolutely wrong.

“A tremendously professional organisation. I don’t think there’s any better in the world at what they do than these guys.””

From Cpl Wade Laube
in Afghanistan

.