Major compo change
The ADF’s new Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Scheme (MRCS) provides treatment, rehabilitation and increased compensation for permanent and reserve ADF members, cadets, cadet officers and instructors who suffer mental or physical injury or contract a disease as a result of their service after June 30, 2004.


Destroyers given a big tick
Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has supported the Navy’s acquisition of three Air Warfare Destroyers.


Missile defence one step closer
The Navy’s new Air Warfare Destroyers will form an important part of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in missile defence to be signed by Australia and the United States this month.


Manoora due for a return
A shiny new, upgraded version of HMAS Manoora will undock next week after three months’ refit in Sydney’s Captain Cook Graving Dock.


Brunei accepts Leibbo as one of her own
HMAS Brunei (LCDR Byron Williamson) welcomed a new member to the ship’s company during her visit to Port Douglas during Carnivalle 2004.

Taxing times for Rwanda veterans
Navy veterans of the UN mission in Rwanda have been placed in a taxation holding pattern following the decision of the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to review part of the tax law.

Families reunited again
Two Minehunters HMAS Huon and HMAS Diamantina (LCDRs Kel Dillon and Paul Scott) arrived home in Sydney last month having traversed half the globe in their deployments.

ADF spend time in the big house
Two Navy officers are among six members of the ADF who have spent a week in Australia’s halls of power.

Key to recovery is comminity
Suicide was defined at the recent Mental Health conference as “a disaster”, literally of worldwide proportions.

Bad weather hampers Leeuwin
HMAS Leeuwin has completed a two-month survey of shipping routes around Flinders Island, the first time the waters have been charted in half a century.

Briefs

Three rescued from stricken Danish yacht
Three very relieved Danish sailors are taking it easy in Fiji after being plucked from a life raft in the mid-Pacific by HMAS Newcastle.

Freo has her hands full
It was a full catch for HMAS Fremantle when she came up with a much bigger haul than her ship’s company had expected.

New base for newest Navy
A team of 12 RAN sailors stationed in Iraq has completed the first half of its mission with the commissioning of the Umm Qasr Naval Base and its transfer to local control.

Welcome back Westralia
It was a proud day for the officers and sailors of HMAS Westralia as she sailed from Fleet Base West last month for the first phase of an East Asian deployment.

Cerberus claims Silver Spade
The Medical School at HMAS Cerberus (MS-C) has been awarded the coveted Silver Spade Award for 2003.

Sparrow clear for take-off
Operational release has been given to three Anzac Class frigates equipped with the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile system.

Black and white advice
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse provided plenty of words of wisdom during a recent visit to HMAS Ballarat.

Bulletin Board

Beneath the Southern Cross
Around 150 members from the RAAF, RAN and Army recently deployed to New Caledonia to participate in Operation Croix du Sud.

Tide changes in Cape York
HMAS Tobruk’s renowned can-do attitude came to the fore when a remote coastal landing was in jeopardy last month because of ill-tempered tides.

Exercising ties with Canada
RIMPAC was a cornerstone in the development of interoperability between navies, the Commander Maritime Forces for Canada, RADM Jean-Yves Forcier, said in Sydney last week.

Pump into action
The RAN is using new high pressure pumps to upgrade performance on existing high pressure cleaning equipment.

Solomons visit well recived
Australian sailors from HMAS Geelong and students from the Meleai School in the Solomons found some common ground on a recent visit.

Calling Navy wordsmith
The Sea Power Centre Australia, on behalf of Chief of Navy, VADM Chris Ritchie, is inviting members of the RAN at Commander rank and below to enter the 2004 Peter Mitchell Essay Competition.

Helicopter causes high excitement
Excitement and wonder were the expressions on the faces of students from the Willans Hill Special School in Wagga Wagga when an AS 350B Squirrel helicopter from 723 Squadron landed in their schoolyard.

Squirrel ages well
The Navy’s Squirrel helicopter celebrated its 20th birthday on June 8. In the twenty years, the Squirrel has achieved over 42,500 hours of training, fleet support and embarked operations.

Practicing plenty of good medicine
Health personnel from Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane RAAF Tindall were put through their paces during Exercise Eagle 04.

Hat trick of trophy victories
Nowra’s 817 Squadron has won the McNichol Trophy for proficiency for the third consecutive year.