Medal
imbalance
I WOULD like to make comment on a letter I
read recently in the Air Force newspaper (Vol 47, No. 3, March
2005) “What kind of operational service deserves a medal?”
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Do
personnel who deploy within Australia to support overseas
operations deserve recognition for their service?
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Photo
illustration
by PTE John Wellfare
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It
made points as to the lack of recognition of personnel deployed
to areas within Australia in support of overseas operations.
I was one of those personnel who was given very short notice to
deploy to Tindal in August 1999, with no indication as to why,
or how long, just to be ready to go in an hour.
I have been a part of the RAAF family for the past 25 years and
in this time I have been asked to go here and go there with no
complaint as I always felt it was an integral part of my job,
but I agree totally with Warrant Officer Paul Dowdle and his comments
when he says that the ADF has a long way to go in providing recognition
for the efforts and constant sacrifices we make in support of
our country and its political leaders.
I, too, was very dismayed at the lack of recognition for a job
well done by all deployed personnel in support of the operations
being conducted in East Timor.
I came back to my unit at 386ECSS as if I hadn’t even been
away but at the same time felt as though the efforts of all the
support personnel at the top end during Operations Spitfire and
Warden did go largely unnoticed and were not duly recognised.
To this end, I would like to see a logistics and support medal
awarded to personnel deployed away from their units in support
of these operations and any future operations of a similar nature.
We are all part of the same team and deserve better recognition
for our efforts and I feel this would be a short step towards
recognising the unification of our efforts in times of operations
and operational support.
SGT M. Lyttle
386ECSS
RAAF Base Richmond
Leave
lapse revision worth fighting for
By
Graham Howatt
CURRENT
leave policy provides for the accumulation of leave for three
consecutive leave years before it would be lapsed.
In exceptional circumstances, the Service chiefs have been delegated
the CDF authority to extend accumulation of recreation leave into
a fourth year before it would be lapsed/forfeited.
Personnel might recall the [Armed Forces Federation of Australia’s]
involvement last year regarding the lapsing of accumulated leave,
insisting that this should not occur where members are unable
to clear leave through no fault of their own.
It was, and remains, the federation’s view, that leave under
threat should be “cashed out” rather than forfeited.
Our persistence paid off last year, with CDF General Peter Cosgrove
reviewing policy and directing that no leave
would be lapsed for leave year 03/04. That meant people who had
their leave lapsed on July 1, 2004, were to have it reinstated
(CDF directive 863/04 dated August 20, 2004).
A secondary purpose of the CDF directive was to examine the feasibility
of cashing out leave days for members who risked losing their
leave for reasons beyond their control. We understand that this
option has been examined by the Personnel Steering Group but is
yet to get a favourable response from higher committee level.
Remaining concerned that members risk losing leave without a financial
offset, the federation again raised this with the CDF on May 6,
and requested the directive on leave lapsing be extended for a
further leave year to ensure members have ample time to clear
accumulated leave credits.
GEN Cosgrove gave an undertaking to have members’ leave records
further examined and assess the magnitude of the problem before
making a decision on the federation’s request.
Now that we have had time to examine the question on the ability
of members to clear leave in the 2004 Defence Attitude Survey,
we note with interest that more than one third of members across
the ADF answered this question in the negative, so our request
to prevent leave lapsing was timely.
While the federation is confident the CDF will give full consideration
to our request, and not knowing the likelihood of a cash-out option
ever gaining the seal of approval by Defence higher management,
we suggest that those who are able to clear backlogs of leave,
should do so before the end of this month.
Graham
Howatt is the industrial officer of the Armed Forces Federation
of Australia.
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