Anzacs on patrol
Volume 11, No. 51, September 07, 2006
By Maj James Baker
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On the beat: Cpl Lee James, D Coy Battlegroup Faithful, gives directions to New Zealand soldier Pte Allister Baker, 2/1RNZIR, during a joint patrol in Timor-Leste.
Photo by Cpl Bernard Pearson. |
AUSTRALIAN and New Zealand soldiers serving in Timor-Leste have been walking a few miles in each other’s shoes on Operation Astute.
Battlegroup Faithful and the 2/1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment’s D Coy have been exchanging soldiers for a week at a time.
So far more than 100 soldiers from both countries have lived and worked for a week with a section from the other country.
JTF 631 RSM WO1 Dave Ashley devised the scheme as a way of keeping soldiers sharp, giving them new experiences and teaching them new skills.
“On an operation or an exercise, we know there may be a Kiwi company next to us on the exercise, but the actual soldiers at grassroots level don’t get to see the Kiwis. They may only be referred to in orders groups,” WO1 Ashley said.
“Here’s an opportunity to get Kiwis to work in the actual sections with Australians, and Australians to work in sections with Kiwis – for the first time ever as far as I am aware.”
WO1 Ashley said that one advantage of the scheme was that both Australian and New Zealand soldiers were required to act as hosts for soldiers from another country.
“When you do that of course you switch on. If you’re picked as a soldier to be the national representative to another country, you will also switch on,” he said.
“It has been one of the means by which we have kept our guys alert. Nobody is going to let their team down.”
The soldiers report that seeing the other country’s kit, tactics, techniques and procedures, meeting their Anzac counterparts up close, and learning the way their close ally does business, have been the highlights.
Pte Matthew Jarvis said he enjoyed the chance to spend a week living and working with D Coy, 2/1 RNZIR.
“Their standing operating procedures are similar to ours. And meeting some of the guys, swapping some gear over and seeing how they operate, that was all great,” he said.
Kiwi soldiers too are singing the praises of the scheme. Pte Allister Baker was impressed with the .50 cal machine gun, as well as the thermal imager and mortars.
He said what he enjoyed most about the exchange was “probably the people. There are good fellers here”.
Pte Dayne Rameka was also impressed with the kit.
“They’ve got some mean kit here, so it was good to learn about that stuff,” he said.
“Between our nations though, we’ve all got pros and cons about our own kit. A lot of Aussies like our kit, and we like a lot of your kit. But that’s soldiers for you.”
Every Australian soldier returning to the battlegroup after the exchange is required to write a report on their experience.
WO2 John Hando, CSM of D Coy, Battlegroup Faithful, supervised the Kiwis coming into his company, and reviewed his own soldiers’ post-exchange reports.
“With soldiers, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
“Through these exchanges they realise their equipment is pretty good. And they also pick up other ideas and other ways of doing things, and maybe incorporate them into their own way of doing things,” WO2 Hando said.
