Reach out

Capt Clint Marlborough of 1 Psych Unit screens a deployed soldier for potential trauma. Photo by Cpl Cameron Jamieson, Army newspaper

From Cpl Cameron Jamieson in East Timor

A COMMON fact of military planning is that you can never have every military resource on-hand to deal with every contingency.

Sometimes there are problems with manpower availability or manning level caps, which do not allow for some specialists to be permanently deployed on operations.

ADF personnel will still need access to specialists from time to time, and it is for this reason reach-back has been developed as a rapid-response solution.

This capability allows a commander to quickly have specialist personnel on-hand in-country, providing ADF personnel with continuity of care and support from a range of sources, including psych officers, Padres, and MPs.

Capt Clint Marlborough, a psych officer from 1 Psych Unit, has been deployed on numerous occasions as a reach-back resource for various operations.

Recently, he was called forward to Op Spire to provide critical incident screening for Australian soldiers who came across a fatal accident while on duty in East Timor.

“The ADF acknowledges the need for people’s mental health to be looked after and that’s why we have the reach-back facility,” Capt Marlborough said.

“If a commander on the ground identifies the need for psych assets to be brought into country, we’ve got the facility to do it.

“It’s very much about us moving forward to provide our services to personnel rather than bringing them back to see us.

“If we can do that then there is the likelihood the member will be able to continue on with the minimum of fuss and they will remain effective on deployment.”

From the customer’s point of view, reach-back is a capability-multiplying resource.

OC Spt Coy UN Security Force in East Timor, Maj David Lavers, knows firsthand how reach-back has benefited his soldiers.

A Darwin-based Padre who visits for a week each month makes life a lot better for the members of Spt Coy, as the majority of the soldiers are also Darwin based.

“Chaplain Rod Bailey from 1CER gets enough time here in-theatre to talk to people, and then he can go back to Darwin and talk to their families,” Maj Lavers said.

“The advantage of having a Padre who can work with both the deployed members and their families is significant.”

Capt Marlborough admits a great deal of flexibility and availability is required of the staff of the servicing reach-back units.

“We very much work on the principle of being ready to go at short notice in that regard,” he said.