Ramp up after op
Volume 11, No. 53, October 05, 2006 By Michael Brooke

Support: WO2 Michael Rossendell, 1HSB, at the welcome home ceremony with his wife Fiona.

AN AFTERNOON tea at Sydney’s Victoria Barracks for the 120 ADF personnel who deployed on Op Ramp served as “food for thought” on the ability of Australian service personnel to respond to short-notice crises.

The afternoon tea on September 25 featured an official welcome home ceremony for the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel who took part in the operation to evacuate Australians from Lebanon during the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

Those on hand included CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy, LCAust Maj-Gen Mark Kelly, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence Sandy Macdonald and Shadow Defence Minister Robert McClelland.

Op Ramp involved the evacuation of more than 5300 Australians and 1300 foreign nationals from the Lebanese ports of Beirut and Tyre.

The ADF contingent included a team of 22 to support Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff in Beirut, Cyprus and Turkey and a task force of 96 that included a command element, two evacuee processing teams, liaison officers, movements officers, health specialists and linguists.

Lt Sarah Molloy, 1HSB, was a member of the primary health care team and appreciated the thanks expressed by the Australians they rescued.

“My major role was as the Ops Lt working in the emergency response cell which put me in contact with the evacuees on the boats at the port, who I found to be very appreciative of our assistance,” she said.

WO2 Michael Rossendell, 1HSB, said the deployment was one of the most fulfilling experiences in 18 years service.

“My main role was to provide medical support to the evacuees who were fleeing Beirut on boats to Turkey, and the people we helped were just so overwhelming in their gratitude,” he said.

WO2 Rossendell said he only had 48-hours’ notice to deploy but such is the “culture of readiness” within the ADF that this wasn’t a hurdle because he was on standby for Timor- Leste.

Cpl Natalie Roberts, 17 Comd Sigs Regt, was posted to the HQ in Cyprus as an Ops Clerk. Twice she accompanied the evacuation team to see a number of evacuees off at the airport, “which really brought home the value of our humanitarian assistance”.

“This was my first deployment and was really very rewarding, so much so I am looking forward to the next one,” Cpl Roberts said.