Business in paradise

One of the three Caribous from No. 38 Squadron shown over part of New Caledonia during Exercise Croix Du Sud.

Flight Lieutenant Daniel Rich Photos by PTE Simone Heyer

By PTE Simone Heyer

FLIGHT Lieutenant Daniel Rich, like most pilots, gets to travel around, see exotic places and work with different people.

So his recent trip to New Caledonia with other members from No. 38 was strictly business, even if it did place him in breathtakingly beautiful surrounds.

He flew one of three Caribous that ferried about 120 soldiers and a handful of Navy personnel on the 30-minute trip from mainland New Caledonia to The Isle of Pines.

“In bringing the army to a different location we were able to do combined squadron training by moving a body of people,” FLTLT Rich said.

The group was on a day trip to the island as part of its visit to New Caledonia for Exercise Croix Du Sud.
The exercise involved up to 1000 members of four defence forces. French forces hosted the exercise and were joined by the ADF, New Zealand Navy and Army, and the Tongan Army.

38SQN provided the Australian Air Force contingent of three aircraft, five crews and a 45-person maintenance team.
During the two weeks in country, the squadron trained with the French Air Force, then took part in the main exercise in northern New Caledonia.

FLTLT Rich said their tasks involved the movement of Australian and French personnel and cargo, resupply missions and the relocation of “refugee” role-players.

“Our role was beneficial and certainly interesting,” he said.

“Some of our aircrew have flown Casas and Pumas and transported French soldiers.”

A Company, 6RAR, provided the soldiers for the exercise, and it wasn’t the first time 38SQN had worked with them in the past 12 months.

“We’ve worked with 6RAR in Exercise Blue Diamond and others in 7 Brigade several times. So it was operations as usual,” FLTLT Rich said.

He said that working with the French, without linguists, proved difficult at times.

“We made dual signage for the aircraft and the pilots and flight engineers had certain phrases written down for ease of communication.”

FLTLT Rich said it was the first time the squadron had deployed overseas on a large scale since East Timor.
“It has been a valuable exercise in regard to training.”

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