Movers and shakers
JMCC gets no surprises with supplies
Volume 11, No. 45, June 15, 2006
By Cpl Andrew Hetherington

Boxed in: Pte Chris Dudman and Pte Keith Zele, JMCC, check supplies. Photo by LAC Rodney Welch.

DRILL bits and even a refrigerator are among the cargo that has arrived in East Timor as part of Operation Astute.
Keeping track of the diverse cargo that arrives on a daily average of 12 flights from Australia is the Joint Movements Coordination Centre (JMCC) at Dili airport.

Acting OC of the JMCC Capt Josh Prucha said the unit’s primary role was to inform the Op Astute CO about the cargo and personnel moving into and out of the AO via ship and aircraft.

“Typical items coming into country are pallets of water, body armour, rations, safe hand material, vehicles, personnel and passengers,” Capt Prucha said.

“We also deal with outgoing cargo returning to Darwin, such as returned stores and passengers.”
The JMCC comprises eight Army personnel formed from members of the Joint Movements Group drawn from all over Australia.
Capt Prucha said each day’s work began the evening before, when the unit contacted the JMCOs in Darwin, Townsville and Air Command to find out the aircraft schedules for the next day.

“We then disseminate that information to the RAAF air load team, the termites, the Air Force Evacuee Handling Centre and the JTF HQ,” he said. “We plan the next day’s work and know what times to meet the aircraft or ships to check what cargo has arrived.”

The unit regularly gets updates on flights and their cargo during the day, information that is passed to the relevant units.
“We do this because occasionally the night before the flights are due out information can be sketchy on what cargo is actually going to be on board,” Capt Prucha said.

“For example, one morning the JTF Commander directed that we were to have an ambulance onboard one of the flights out of Townsville, so we had to call Townsville on the morning of the request, after they had already loaded the aircraft the night before. The aircraft had to then be reloaded.”

The unit’s routine in the first two days after arriving in country was fairly hectic and Capt Prucha said the members of the unit worked two days straight.

“We didn’t have enough personnel to run two shifts, but after the first two days we settled into running regular shift hours from 5.30am through to 10.30pm,” he said.

About half of the unit has had previous service in East Timor, including Capt Prucha, who said it was good to be working with people who understood where things were in Dili and what level of infrastructure they had to deal with.