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Well done, by George
By Lt Kris Gardiner
Edition 1175, September 20, 2007 |
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Greetings: Pte Luke Willmott (left) and LCpl Andrey Mazourenko meet US President George Bush at a barbecue at Garden Island.
Photos by Cpl Chris Moore |
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TWENTY-ONE world leaders, 42 ministers and 4400 business delegates visiting one city at the same time sounds like a serious security headache, but with the ADF lending a hand the job became easier.
Code named Operation Deluge, JTF634 was tasked by CDF to support NSW Police security operations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Sydney from August 29 to September 10.
Commander JTF634 Brig Andrew Smith said Op Deluge was at the time the largest operation the ADF had running.
“In terms of personnel and assets assigned, it involved the full range of ADF capabilities from major platforms such as
F/A-18s and ships to dedicated and committed Army reservists,” Brig Smith said.
The task force stood ready to respond to official requests for a number of tasks, including counter-terrorism response, air and sea surveillance, vehicle and building searches, ordnance disposal and mass casualty evacuation.
“We had to make sure we had the forces available to be ready to respond, for example the police weren’t sure how big the low-risk search tasks were going to be so we had to be prepared to provide enough personnel,” Brig Smith said.
“Ten months in advance, we invested in people who were dedicated in planning with the police and involved ourselves their training, in particular special operations very heavily. By doing this we ensured an excellent working relationship knowing what to expect and who to see when we needed answers.”
Sydney’s subterranean rail system was among the places that soldiers patrolled.
Dark, dirty, stuffy and vermin infested, it was far from a pleasant environment.
LCpl Scott Burnham, 8CSSB, was one of the troops who painstakingly checked every part of the subway, looking for IEDs and possible sabotage of the lines.
“We searched the entire rail network under the central business district, making sure the system was clear of anything suspicious,” he said.
The railway tunnels, which were built between 1928 and 1932, cover an enormous area under the city.
While most of the network is in regular use, there are kilometres of tunnels that were built and never used. These enormous vaults, which include a large bunker used by General MacArthur, also needed to be checked for suspicious items.
“By checking these tunnels we provided security for APEC that went beyond what was visible to the greater public,” LCpl Burnham said.
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