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Reconstruction team’s pride
WO2 Graham McBean
and Cpl Corinne Boer

Edition 1162, March 22, 2007
 
Political goodwill: Capt Paul Sanderson with Peter Lindsay, Parliamentary Secretary to the Defence Minister, at the official farewell in Brisbane for RTF2.
Photos by WO2 Graham McBean
 
In step: RTF2 soldiers take part in a farewell parade at Gallipoli Barracks.
JUST as Ricky Ponting is confident of his team’s prospects of success at the Cricket World Cup, similar sentiments were expressed at the farewell to the second Reconstruction Task Force to Afghanistan at Gallipoli Barracks on March 2.
Equating the deployment of RTF to being selected to play for Australia, Lt-Col Harry Jarvie said he could understand how proud and excited Ponting and Wallabies captain George Gregan must feel when they put on the green and gold and led their teams.
“We have just finished pre-
season training, and over the past two weeks we have had a good hit out against the guys at the Combat Training Centre,” he said.
“But no-one can predict how the rest of the year will pan out, and I for one do not underestimate the enormous challenges that lie before us. The spring and summer is traditionally a time of increased threat-force activity of all kinds, but we are going there well prepared and well protected for that environment.”
The contingent will have a broad range of duties and their challenges will include command, construction, communications intelligence, protection and logistics support.
At the farewell, Peter Lindsay, Parliamentary secretary to the Defence Minister, said RTF 2 would continue the work on the reconstruction of community-based projects around the Oruzgan Province as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
“The Australian contribution will also include skills training for the local population to ensure the benefits of the deployment continue long after our personnel have returned home,” he said.
The contingent is made up of almost 400 soldiers drawn mainly from 2CER, 2/14LHR (QMI) and 1RAR.
“We have a fantastic team, drawn from the best specialists available to us,” Lt-Col Jarvie said.
“We have had the opportunity to integrate them into a team and what we have now is an extremely powerful combined arms team, tailor-made for the mission.”
RTF 2 personnel did three months of preparation for the deployment. Initial training focused on integrating the specialists and adapting soldiers to new vehicles and equipment where necessary.
“At the end of our mission, Oruzgan Province will be a safer place, and the people there will be able to see the value of working in partnership with the international community which will ultimately lead to the defeat of the Taliban and the criminals who would otherwise try to bully and intimidate the people into supporting them,” Lt-Col Jarvie said.

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