Image Gallery 2008
24 October 2008
Captain Clare O’Neill in Afghanistan
Reconstruction Task Force 4 (RTF 4) soldiers have returned home to Australia after a gruelling 6-month tour in Afghanistan. During the tour, which began in April, RTF 4 pushed deep into the former Taliban stronghold of the Baluchi Valley, denying the area to the Taliban and building a major patrol base – PB Qudus – which split the insurgents and cut their major supply line through Uruzgan to Helmand Province.
The RTF also deployed on an epic 800km short notice operation to re-open the vital Highway 1 from Kandahar to the capital Kabul, fighting through a Taliban ambush on the way, and creating the conditions for a major ISAF operation to install a new turbine at the Kajaki Dam.
The Engineers, with Infantry and Cavalry support carried out $9.1 million worth of major and minor projects in the Tarin Kowt area, including PB Qudus and an all weather river crossing, school and bazaar in the Baluchi Pass.
That operation saw almost the entire Task Force deploying into the field for two and a half months in arduous conditions of 46 degree temperatures, choking dust and sporadic Taliban rocket and IED attacks.
RTF 4 has handed over responsibility for its area of responsibility to the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force (MRTF 1) which began its 8 month tour on 16th October.
| 20080814adf8239682_0709 Captain Clare O’Neill of the works section from the Reconstruction Task Force 4 in Afghanistan. (Date taken: 14 August 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20081006adf8239682_064 Captain Clare O’Neill of the works section from the Reconstruction Task Force 4 at the new women's hospital in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 06 October 2007) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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