Aussies multi-roled in Spire

An Australian Mack truck and trailer climbs the hills above Maliana.

Brazilian MPs of the UN Security Force’s International Response Unit disembark at FOB Moleana from a UN Mi-8 helicopter.

WO2 Ed Wright, CSM Spt Coy UN Security Force (part of UNMISET), tests his ‘monkey harness’ before departing on a recon sortie along the road from Moleana to Suai. The loadmaster of a Bangladesh Air Force Bell 212 helicopter looks on.

The flags of the UN Security Force fly over FOB Moleana.

UNMISET Force Commander Lt-Gen Khairuddin Mat Yusof congratulates Pte Nathan Kalisch on being awarded the UNMISET medal for his service in Timor Leste. Pte Kalisch also received a group commendation certificate for his work with the UN resuscitation team.

Roadbuilding work the Australian engineers have undertaken.

At all levels, initiative is something that has come to the fore, asCpl Cameron Jamieson reports

There is the potential for people within the ADF to misunderstand the purpose of Operation Spire. While the continued presence of the UN in East Timor is referred to as the UNMISET Follow-On Mission (FOM), there should be no doubt that Op Spire is a totally new operation – not Op Citadel Mk 2.

The FOM provides a UN presence that supports the public administration, law enforcement and security functions of the East Timorese Government. This has resulted in the UN military component primarily taking on a security force role for the UN, as opposed to providing security for all of East Timor.

The Deputy Force Commander of the UNMISET military component, Col Nick Bartels, is an Australian who works at the UN military command level and is removed from the Australian contingent’s command structure. As an outside observer, he has seen first-hand how the new Australian operation swung into action, despite the short notice available due to the timing of the FOM decision.

“There was a lot of very rapid work done, from all the little things to the big things,” Col Bartels said.

“Things like establishing the mail system under the new way of doing business, right through to the medical support to the contingent, with everything in between.

“It’s a credit to Lt-Col Phasey and his team.”

Lt-Col Jim Phasey wears two hats on Op Spire. He is the UN military component’s chief logistic officer and the national commander of the Australian contingent. He explained how the relationship between Op Spire, the FOM and the Government of East Timor now works.

“Operation Spire is Australia’s contribution to the UNMISET FOM,” Lt-Col Phasey said.

“The FOM recognises the responsibility for external security and internal law and order issues are now the sole responsibility of the East Timorese Government.

“What that means for the military component of the FOM is that we are here to protect UN personnel, and only in an extreme situation – and at the request of the government – would we respond and provide security assistance.

Lt-Col Phasey’s appointment as chief logistic officer is fitting, as Australia’s main manpower commitment to the FOM’s UN Security Force (UNSF) is the 78 soldiers of Spt Coy. This unit provides the military logistic and engineer support to the UN mission. Located at Forward Operation Base Moleana, Spt Coy is busy moving stores and repairing the main road from Balibo to Suai.

OC Spt Coy Maj David Lavers ordinarily is a Darwin-based RAE officer with 1CER, but now he heads a dynamic multi-corps team of can-doers and achievers. The excellent results the company is providing to the UNSF can be sourced back to the highly experienced and competent soldiers under Maj Laver’s command, who can be trusted to take broad-statement commands and turn them into a working reality.

“I’ve got very, very smart operators,” Maj Lavers said.

“I’ve got a bunch of people I can put in place – mission command in its purist form – and give them very broad tasks.

“For example, the task for engineer troop was to construct horizontal construction work – that was it.

“The task for the logistic troop was to sustain engineer operations, with the main effort being the maintenance of our plant equipment.

“The troop commanders then back-briefed me, and I signed off on it.

“At all levels, initiative is something that has come to the fore.”

The engineer troop is currently involved in road maintenance along the MSR, but in an emergency would revert to its primary UNSF mission – providing mobility support for force extraction.

For logistic troop it’s business as usual, providing sustainment for the UNSF beyond that supplied by UN contractors. This means that everyone is very busy, a situation that is made a bit easier by not having to also conduct security operations. That is the role of the Fijian Security Company and the Brazilian Company’s International Response Unit (IRU).

The Fijians provide a permanent patrol presence at Moleana, Occusi and at Suai, while the Brazilians maintain security at various other UN installations, and it is the Brazilian IRU that would provide a security response force on request from the Government of East Timor.

Australians can be found in other roles outside of FOB Moleana though. ADF members are serving in the headquarters of the military component, the Military Liaison Group, UNSF HQ, Aero Medical Evacuation team, Resuscitation team and in the ASNCE.

Contingency planning is now underway to provide a second rotation to Op Spire should the UN Technical Assessment Mission give the go-ahead after their assessment in October.

Meanwhile the efforts of the Op Spire soldiers have not gone unnoticed by the UN.

Col Bartels has been impressed by the adaptability and conduct of the Australian contingent, sighting the recent example of the awarding of a Force Commander’s group commendation to the Resuscitation team.

“The Force Commander does not readily give out group commendations,” he said.

“That’s just indicative of the excellent way the Australians are going about their work.”