US-based Aussies stay in the loop

By Lt-Col Andrew Leith

AUSTRALIAN Army personnel posted to northern America have been kept up to date on current ADF deployments.
At the recent annual Army Conference in Washington DC, members received briefings on Operations Catalyst, Anode, and Spire.

They also focused on how the US Army and US Marine Corps were coping with transformation into the new millennium and the implementation of their Future Combat Systems.

Developments in technology from Armed Robotic Vehicles through to Unmanned Air Platforms were discussed, with an emphasis on the applicability of such systems to the ADF in the future.

The 58 participants and a number of their families were also given the opportunity to socialize, and swap notes on their individual experiences whilst serving in northern America and Canada, participate in a Civil War battlefield study tour at Antietam, and attend a formal Regimental Dining In Night.

Spouses of US based Australian personnel serving with US units on Operation Iraqi Freedom were invited to attend.