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Brother, it’s good
to sea you again |
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The brothers, Cpl Matt Riordan, C Coy 2RAR, and AB Dan Chun, couldn’t believe their luck when they saw each other on HMAS Kanimbla during Exercise Sea Lion recently. The brothers enjoyed a joyous reunion on Kanimbla’s flight deck, which drew strange stares from ADF personnel who were puzzled as to why a soldier and a sailor would suddenly hug each other in public. Cpl Riordan said that with the high operational tempo and commitments to duty, they had only caught up with each other on ADF amphibious warfare exercises, beginning with Swift Eagle in 2006 and Sea Lion last month. Cpl Riordan, who changed his surname for personal reasons 12 years ago, said he and his Navy brother were wondering if it would be “third time lucky” at Exercise Talisman Sabre. “It’s ironic that with various deployments and the operational tempo that we’ve never had leave at the same time to visit our family in Melbourne, which is where you’d expect us to catch up,” he said with a chuckle. Cpl Riordan said he did not know if it was chance or destiny that he and his brother reunited on the last day of Sea Lion as he filed down the gangway in Townsville. “We got some funny looks from people when he started hugging and laughing,” he said. Cpl Riordan said there were no brotherly or inter-service rivalries between them. In fact AB Chun said he originally wanted to join the Army, but he has a crook knee and had to settle for the Navy. Cpl Riordan said he joined the Army instead of the Navy because he didn’t like the confined spaces of a ship. Cpl Riordan said the amphibious exercises he had met his brother on had served to reinforce his appreciation of how the Army and the Navy need to leverage off each other, “which is kind of the way we grew up as brothers in arms”. Exercise Sea Lion report |
