Vigilance in the Solomons
Four weeks after answering the call, soldiers are still keeping the peace on the islands 24 hours a day, as Capt Al Green reports.
Volume 11, No. 43, May 18, 2006

Time for talk: Sgt Adrian Hodges, 1RAR, chats with locals on patrol to the east of Honiara. Photo by Capt Al Green.

Food for the soul: Pte Nathan Weaver, 1RAR, shares his rations with local children. Photo by Sgt Katrina Johnson.

Eyes on: Lt-Col Andrew Gallaway, CO 1RAR, overlooks Honiara with New Zealand soldier Cpl Kurt Ata. Photo by Capt Al Green.

Everything new is old: Cpl Glen Keleher, D Coy 1RAR, on patrol in Chinatown Photo by Sgt Katrina Johnson

Through the fence: LCpl Brendon Emmanuel, A Coy 3RAR, chats to locals during a patrol.Photo by Capt Al Green

Team work: OC 1RAR Maj Simon Moore-Wilton gives his soldiers a situation report. Photo by Sgt Katrina Johnson

0530hr: HQ
Around dawn, the UH1Hs' engines whine and rotors begin to beat the air. The tents of the Combined Task Force flap and soldiers stir under their mossie domes, waking up to another day on ops - the real deal. Today, a section from D Coy 1RAR is flying to Malaita Island in support of a police patrol. Across Iron Bottom Sound the helos fly low over a new Armidale-class patrol boat - some of the ADF's newest and oldest hardware together for the first and probably last operation. This is HMAS Armidale's first overseas operation and the UH1Hs are due for replacement by the MRH90.

0900hr: Borderline Police Station
At a retrans station above Borderline Police Station kids cling to the fence and joke with a young D Coy 1RAR digger - the soldiers get on particularly well with the locals around here. There is nothing to indicate that this is regarded as a trouble area but the soldiers stay vigilant. And they need to be - Protective Service Officer Adam Dunning was murdered near here. They patrol intermittently down to the police station through a small market, chatting casually to the locals. As yet, there's no reluctance, no hostility.

0930hr: Industrial area
Soldiers from A Coy 3RAR patrol through a rabbit warren of alleyways in the light industrial area, as children peak through wire fences. A media camera crew follow, but there's no breaking story here. It's a far cry from a week ago when the same young soldiers assisted police arrest an arsonist with a squeeze bottle of accelerant as he prepared to torch a building.


1300hr: The Green Hills area
Above Honiara soldiers are moving cautiously in the heat, body armour presses in on a soaking wet shirt. Sweat pours from the brow, salt stinging eyes already more sensitive to the sun than usual thanks to the doxy.

For the kids that follow, it's pure theatre. The soldiers respond with thumbs up communicating every step of the way. While they're ready for action, the friendly interaction with locals is building good will in an area with a bad reputation. Suddenly the discomforts of patrolling in the heat in body armour seem bearable - so far today, kids and soldiers have been making each others day.

1500hr: Casino
A police car cruises the main drag, its windscreen replaced by chicken wire - the original smashed in the riots. Still, the car's in better shape than the burnt-out wrecks outside the trashed Casino Hotel. Locals look on regretfully at the damage. The hotel employed 600 locals, all now without an income. Most islanders, in some way, are sharing the burden. It will be a hard road back but, encouragingly, reconciliation is under-way. The churchs have been urging looters to return stolen goods as an initial act of redemption.

1700hr: HQ
O group all the players are there in the "blue room" where Australians run their operations. Last week, Lt-Col Andrew Gallaway commanded 1RAR - and still does. This week he's also in charge of a more complex grouping that includes companies from 1RAR, 3RAR, 2/1RNZIR, aviation elements, airfield defence guards, support elements and the patrol boats Armidale and Townsville. At O-groups, there's no time for waffle - just the essentials, then move on. As the CO often asks probing questions that go to the heart of the matter, those providing information are well aware that they need to be on top of their game.

His officers are up to it - efficient and calm as they plan and run operations that are necessarily a balance between the proactive and reactive in support of the police.

1800hr: Chinatown
Troops pick their way through Chinatown. Where was once the bustle of commerce is now the tortured sound of buckled corrugated iron flapping in the early evening breeze. It's worth maintaining a presence - five shops still function in the area and the patrol will deter looters purported to still roam, looking for opportunity. The only human movements this evening, however, are clean-up crews heading home.

2000hr: A Coy CHQ
A local church choir comes and serenades the troops between patrols. The harmony of the island voices is tone perfect and welcomed by soldiers heartened that they warrant such a visit.

2200hr: APOD
A C-130 rolls in from Townsville. These airframes have provided the lifeblood of the operation. An RAAF air-load team go to work. Logisticians and support teams keep the patrols equipped with the essentials to do their job. And, out there, unseen in the dark, providing security for the C-130, is a patrol of air defence guards. Mutual support is the name of the game.

Midnight: Downtown
Kiwis are patrolling downtown and the scene is "choice bro". The combined task force is effectively an Anzac battalion with the Kiwis patrolling out of Rove Prison controlling the west side of town. The Aussies and Kiwis had little time to prepare for this, yet given that, the command and control processes have been almost seamless.

0100hr: Ops cell
The police radio hums constantly - all quiet on the Solomons front. Tonight it is the Pacific island paradise it should and can be - the soldiers and police having restored the peace needed to allow accountable democracy a chance. The job is not yet finished, however, and those who rest also keep their weapons close. While the fragility and tension of the past week is slowly dissipating, it can come roaring back in a hurry. If that happens, the troops stand ready.