Aloha Aussie sailors

IN PARADISE: LS Wayne Bemet, LS Amy Ryan and AB Chad Freund from HMAS Stuart soak up the rays on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, during RIMPAC 06. Photos: ABPH Quentin Mushins.

Photos: ABPH Quentin Mushins

Volume 49, No. 12, July 13, 2006

Aussie sailors were among more than 19,000 members from eight navies to be welcomed at the official opening of Exercise RIMPAC 06 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on June 26.

The flags of Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States were a colourful backdrop to the welcome address by ADML Gary Roughead, Commander US Pacific Fleet.

ADML Roughhead stressed the importance of building relationships between countries during the exercise, especially in the junior ranks.

“The relationships you form today and through the next month are what we require for the future, especially from the leaders of tomorrow’s navies,” he said.

Later in the program, Australia’s LCDR Andrew Willis presented the exercise overview and administration. For the past 18 months LCDR Willis has been serving as the RAN Liaison Officer with the US Third Fleet in San Diego.

Later, an Australian reception was held on HMAS Manoora, providing an opportunity for invited guests to sample a small piece of Australian fare in Hawaii.

Host of the reception, Maritime Commander RADM Davyd Thomas, welcomed more than 500 guests aboard and gave a short address about the importance of Australia’s participation in the exercise.

“RIMPAC is all about opportunity: opportunity to exercise, opportunity to meet, opportunity to grow together and develop as professional forces providing stability in our part of the world,” RADM Thomas said.

He also acknowledged that such opportunities do not magically appear and that a lot of coordination, collaboration and plain hard work had gone into the exercise.

There was a special mention for the ship’s company of HMAS Manoora, as hosts for the evening, as they had only berthed alongside Pearl Harbor a matter of hours before the reception.

Guests from Canada, Chile, Japan, Peru, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the US were treated to a fine selection of Australian food, some of which was cooked on a traditional BBQ.

.