Orange force 'water-tank' infiltrators - Back: LAC Chris Hay, LAC Geoffrey Bell, FLGOFF Wayne Ross, LAC Craig Fitzgerald and LAC Damien O'Day. Front: LAC Ben Parkinson and LAC Justin Abberton.

A night attack on RAAF Tindal took place in the early hours of 28 August. Air Force News' Amber McKinnon witnessed events first hand and provides a personal account from a civilian perspective.

Having spent a large and uncomfortable proportion of the night in a car, with two EXCON members, Flight Lieutenant Andrew Pickett and Warrant Officer Bob Dickson (who marvelled at the luxury we were enjoying?), Orange force as was outlined, were expected to attempt an infiltration at the RAAF Tindal water tank.

In the cover of darkness, a small Orange troop would attempt to secure and detonate charges. And the purpose of the target - to disrupt the Base water supply for mock conflict resolution in Orange force favour.

Given the nature of the scenario, phone calls are made between Orange force, EXCON and Blue Force; for Orange to inform of their potential success and for EXCON to relay to the Patrol point the mock explosion at the Base water supply… unless Blue catch them can catch them, that is.

FLTLT Pickett, WOFF Dickson and I settled in for the impending action and long after explosion-fraught nightmares on my part, Orange come through to complete their mission at 0551 hours.

We arrived on the scene and discovered the Quick Reaction force, which arrived at 0611 hours, scouting and securing the area. EXCON determined the explosive devices (card boxes) would have destroyed both pumps.

The Damage Assessment Team (DAT), comprised of a work supervisor, plumber, electrician and plant operator, arrived at 0626 hours to complete a damage report for a 'call back' to the Operations Centre, who then send out a recovery team.

The DAT turned in a redundancy plan that included Base water isolation, switching to town water, and calling on Environment Health to test the water for contamination, winding up at 0648 hours.

In the event that EH clear the water supply for use, DAT can run the water to Base facilities at reduced volume and pressure, while they waited for repair parts to arrive.

And how did Orange force accomplish their successful raid - according to Leading Aircraftman Ben Parkinson, who lead the six-strong force, they had planned the hit two days in advance.

The band was transported to the Stuart Highway from their outposted command some kilometres from the Base, patrolling in and out slowly over four hours.

With the Ninox night-vision the unit was unopposed, despite being spotted on the way out - however, the boys in Orange 'confused them with a few dummy stops'.

The ADGs explained they enjoyed filling opposition shoes, as 'it helps them fix their patrol' when they return to the primary role of ground defence.

The Base water supply was a high priority asset, and unfortunately for Blue, unmanned for the first time during the exercise, while Blue went patrolling.

How do Blue force recover from the infiltration - they examine the point of enemy entry and match that with the job completed, having marked their patrol route using GPS.