Image Gallery 2009
07 April 2009
Combat team patrols targeting insurgent caches
Combat Team Tusk, the Force Protection element from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, regularly conduct patrols throughout the Battle Group’s Area of Operations. Many of the patrols are targeted in areas identified to be likely to house weapons caches.
The discovery and removal of these weapons and Improvised Explosive Devices, deny the insurgents the chance to utilise them against our soldiers, their Afghan counterparts and the local national population, thereby removing the threat these people pose and allowing the local population to continue their lives in a safer and more prosperous environment.
Combat Team Tusk has had a high success rate in their mission to deny the insurgent weapons and explosive devices.
| 20090327adf8185016_0004 Soldiers from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force’s Combat Team Tusk, prepare their home for the night. The soldiers are digging their shell scrapes for a night outside the wire. The scrapes provide protection from indirect fire. (Date taken: 27 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090327adf8185016_0008 With their patrolling over for the day, soldiers from Combat Team Tusk dig in, as the sun sets on another day of operations in southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 27 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090327adf8185016_0018 Lieutenant Thomas Larter (right) fills sand bags with Corporal Thomas Grieve (left) as the soldiers of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force prepare for a night outside the wire in Uruzgan Province. (Date taken: 27 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0019 A local woman moves past an Australian patrol in the mountainous Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0022 Corporal Robert Matheson (left) and Sapper Rowen Coward (right) scan the surrounding countryside as their platoon from Combat Team Tusk conducts a patrol in the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0024 Sergeant Daniel Kerwin (rear) and lance Corporal Kane Lukassen (front) of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, scan for any threats during a patrol in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0026 Australian Engineers working with the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force’s Combat Team search ruins for insurgent weapon and explosive caches, during operations in the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0046 After a metal signature is identified on his mine detector, an Australian Engineer carefully probes the ground as he and his fellow soldiers conduct a patrol in the Baluchi Valley, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0060 Local villagers watch as Australian Engineers and Infantry soldiers from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force conduct a search for insurgent weapons caches in the Baluchi Valley region of Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0068 A patrol from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force moves through the steep and mountainous terrain in southern Afghanistan. As the summer greenery becomes more abundant, Australian soldiers swap their “desert cams” for the greener uniforms worn back in Australia. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090328adf8185016_0072 Private Graeme Wood scans the surrounding hills as he and his fellow soldiers from Combat Team Tusk conduct a patrol through the Baluchi Valley in southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 28 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0004 Private Scott McNair (right) makes his way through a poppy crop as local farmers look on, during a Australian patrol through the Baluchi Valley in search of insurgent weapons caches. The Australian patrols create a security footprint in the region which denies insurgents freedom of movement. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0009 Lance Corporal Benjamin Hammond secures the corner of a quala compound, during a halt in patrolling. Lance Corporal Hammond and his fellow soldiers from Combat Team Tusk are conducting security patrols in the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0012 Private Scott McNair patrols through the verdant foliage of the “green zone” in the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0014 An Australian soldier patrols with his Mag 58 machine gun through a wheat field in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0019 Combat Team Tusk soldier, Private Christopher Gaglairdi moves into one of the village areas that dot the rural “green zone” of the northern Baluchi Valley in Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0035 Private Marcus Ryan from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, pushes through the fringes of a local national compound during a patrol in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0042 Private Dylan Jaffer, a soldier from the Darwin based 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment patrols through a wheat field in the Baluchi Valley region of southern Afghanistan. Private Jaffer is deployed as a member of Combat Team Tusk with the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0047 Private Dylan Jaffer (left) scans the surrounding village, as he provides security for Australian Engineers as they search a compound for weapons caches and Improvised Explosive Devices during a patrol in southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0050 Sapper Rowen Coward (left) scans a storage area for insurgent caches, whilst Private Christopher Gaglairdi (right) provides security for the search. The soldiers are members of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, based in Uruzgan, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0052 An Afghan elder watches on as soldiers from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force search his village for insurgent weapons caches. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0068 Corporal Thomas Grieve confirms his patrols position by map and GPS whilst they conduct security operations in the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0081 Sergeant Daniel Kerwin of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force patrols through a wheat field in the northern Baluchi Valley, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Patrols such as this foster greater security in the Australian Area of Operations. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0086 Australian soldiers chat with a local villager, as they patrol through the population centres of the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0087 Private Christopher Gaglairdi (right) guides an Afghan farmer past their security cordon as they patrol through his village, while Private Scott Yeates guards the compound entrance as his fellow soldiers discuss the local security situation with the Quala’s residents. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0151 Smiling local children run alongside Australian soldiers from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, as they patrol through the villages of the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0156 Private Michael Egan patrols through the lush crops and foliage that makes up the “green zone” in the Baluchi Valley. Private Egan is a member of Combat Team Tusk, deployed in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090329adf8185016_0169 With the towering mountains of Afghanistan as a backdrop, Private Graeme Wood of the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force patrols on the outskirt of a village in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 29 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090330adf8185016_0005 Corporal Andrew Booth leads off, as his dismounted patrol moves from an overwatch position, reinforced by Australian Light Armoured Vehicles. The patrol is being conducted in the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 30 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090330adf8185016_0009 Lance Corporal Joseph Byrnes descends into the Baluchi Valley, during a 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force patrol. (Date taken: 30 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090330adf8185016_0015 Private Marcus Ryan carrying an F89 Minimi machine gun patrols near a village in the northern Baluchi Valley, Uruzgan Province. (Date taken: 30 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090331adf8185016_0017 Corporal William Pittaway moves from the high ground as Australian soldiers establish patrol formations as they step off during operations in the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 31 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090331adf8185016_0021 Private Dylan Jaffer patrols beside a quala wall as his platoon conducts a security operation in southern Afghanistan. (Date taken: 31 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090331adf8185016_0036 Afghan farmers tend to their wheat crop as Australian soldiers from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force patrol through their village in the northern Baluchi Valley, Afghanistan. (Date taken: 31 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090331adf8185016_0054 Private Dylan Jaffer and Private Scott Yeates patrol through the Baluchi Valley in southern Afghanistan. Locals now used to the Australian presence and the security it provides, go about their daily business. (Date taken: 31 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090331adf8185016_0060 Private Dylan Jaffer and Private Scott Yeates move through an Afghan village as their platoon conducts security operations in the area. These patrols ensure the security of local nationals and deny the insurgents freedom of movement. (Date taken: 31 March 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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