Help at hand for evacuees

Volume 48, No. 14, August 10, 2006

SUPPORT ALL ROUND: LAC Greg Paige wheels an Australian evacuee to a C-130J Hercules aircraft. Photo by SGT Katrina Johnson.

AIR Force is once again at the forefront of Australia’s assistance to its citizens overseas thanks to Operation Ramp.

A C-130, which was supporting Australian ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Air Force personnel from 382 and 386 ECSS, 1ATS, 1CLS, 37SQN, 1 and 3 AFDS, and RAAF Base Edinburgh, are part of Op Ramp, the ADF’s part in the evacuation of Australians from Lebanon following the outbreak of hostilities there in mid-July.

Air Force personnel are employed at the Evacuation Handling Centre (EHC) at Larnaca Port. Here they process evacuees for on-forwarding to Turkey. Also working at these centres are medical personnel, who have been dealing with minor medical problems such as fatigue and headaches, and more significant problems such as shrapnel wounds.

The Hercules, based at Akrotiri in Cyprus, assisted in the movement of Australian citizens from Larnaca to regional transport hubs and between Mersin and Ankara in Turkey. Capable of transporting 130 evacuees each flight, the Hercules made its first flight from Cyprus to Turkey on July 23.

About two weeks later, the ADF team had assisted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to evacuate 4,900 Australians and 1,300 foreign nationals from Lebanon.
From Ankara, evacuees were returned to Australia or other destinations by commercial aircraft.

Commander of the operation, COL Andrew Condon, congratulated his personnel on the success of their endeavours.

“Since our arrival, we have hit the ground running in supporting the evacuation of Australian nationals from Lebanon as part of a coordinated Australian government response,” he said.

“I think all Australians would be very proud of the work of the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Joint Task Force in their efforts to assist fellow Australians.

“Australian evacuees have found seeing our troops in uniform and hearing a familiar accent to be comforting and reassuring for them.”

OC of the Air Force EHC team, SQNLDR Craig Sedgman from 1CLS at RAAF Base Townsville, paid tribute to the endeavours of his staff.

“I’m really proud of the [EHC] team, they have worked extremely long hours under stressful conditions, working with other Government departments. They are a credit to the ADF,” he said.

Australian Ambassador to Turkey, Ms Jean Dunn, described the team effort as “impressive”.

“It has gone really efficiently,” she said.

“The ADF have made a massive difference to the operations, with the integration being excellent.”

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