Hats off to unity

By CPL Damian Shovell

Air Force members introduced US Army and US Air Force members to the traditional Anzac Day game of two-up.

AFTER hosting one of the most high-profile Anzac Day ceremonies in the world, the Air Traffic Control detachment at Baghdad International Airport held its own informal celebration later in the afternoon.

WGCDR Scott Winchester, CO ATC detachment, said although it was great to have the PM and CDF at the dawn service, he also believed it was important to “commemorate Anzac Day as a unit, and with our close coalition friends that we do business with on a daily basis”.

WGCDR Winchester presented slouch hats to visiting US colonels at a short service and parade. The recipients were Colonel Dyfierd Harris, the commander of the 4th Brigade 1st Armoured Division, whose aircraft operate from BIAP, and Colonel Gerry Schultz, commander of 447 Air Expeditionary Group, which provides support to the Australians.

At a barbecue that followed the ceremony, ATC detachment members introduced the US personnel to another great Anzac tradition, two-up.

Both colonels later presented the ATC with US military caps as a token of their close working relationship.

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