Sharing a language barrier

Soldiers from the New Zealand Army perform the haka at Chepenehe, New Caledonia, during an open day held as part as Exercise Croix du Sud.

A French soldier loads Australian packs as members of 3RAR arrive in New Caledonia.

Soldiers from the French Armed Forces New Caledonia disembark from an Australian Sea King aboard HMAS Tobruk.

From Capt Kate Noble in New Caledonia

ABOUT 150 members from the Air Force, Navy and Army recently deployed to New Caledonia to participate in Exercise Croix du Sud.

Croix du Sud, meaning Southern Cross, is the major biennial exercise for the French Armed Forces New Caledonia (FANC).

The exercise scenario was based on a non-combat evacuation operation in the fictional state of Greenland following a major natural disaster and subsequent political and military destabilisation.

While the Coalition Task Force (CTF) headquarters and components were based on mainland New Caledonia, the bulk of operational activities took place on the Loyalty Islands named Lifou, Mare and Ouvea.

The Pacific Islands Coalition (PIC) consisted of soldiers, sailors and airmen from FANC, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Tahiti.

Australia contributed troops to land, sea and air components as well as deploying augmentees to the PIC headquarters, based in Noumea.

Soldiers from A Coy, 3RAR, operated within the PIC battalion’s D Coy, under the leadership of an Australian-led, FANC-augmented Coy HQ.

D Coy Commander Maj Kyle Tyrrell said the company worked well but there were numerous challenges to overcome during the conduct of the exercise.

Those challenges were met head-on with Maj Tyrrell electing to swap sections from platoons to encourage and assess interoperability.

“Communications was definitely one of our biggest challenges,” he said.

“The language barrier was the first obstacle but incompatible comms equipment also made things a bit difficult at times.

“We dealt with equipment problems by attaching our sigs to non-Australian sections and platoons, which worked well.”

Within the limitations of language issues, Maj Tyrrell said the soldiers of D Coy worked well together and were welcomed by the locals in their AO.

“There’s a school across the road from Company HQ and they love having us here,” he said.

“The soldiers here are just like soldiers all over the world – they work hard but they’ll always find the time to adopt kids and dogs.”

In addition to land operations, the ADF deployed HMAS Tobruk and HMAS Brunei to provide amphibious capabilities and offshore. CO HMAS Tobruk, Cmdr Nick Bramwell, fulfilled a dual role throughout the Exercise with his appointment as Maritime Component Commander.

Two Australian Caribou transport aircraft and one C-130 were deployed for the exercise and tasked through Air Component Command based at Tantouta on mainland New Caledonia.

The planning exercise for Ex Croix du Sud will be conducted in New Caledonia next year followed by a full deployment on Exercise Croix du Sud 2006.