Father and son assist relief operation

By CPL Simone Liebelt, Directorate of Defence Newspapers - filed 14 January 2005

When Sergeant Peter Gray left for Operation Sumatra Assist following the tsunami disaster, he never expected he would be working alongside his son in the humanitarian relief effort.

But just after arriving in Medan, Indonesia, the Air Force aircraft technician from No. 36 Squadron was told his 22-year-old son Kai, an Army private, was about to join him.

"When I found out I was coming over [to Medan], Kai abused me because I got all the good trips and he never went anywhere," SGT Gray said. "Then when we got here, a couple days later I got a phone call from home to say he was coming over.

"My wife was a bit stressed about it. She didn't mind me going away because I do it all the time, but it was like, 'you can have my husband, but you can't have my son too!'"

PTE Gray, an air dispatcher with 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, has been deployed to the region as part of the ADF aid operation. His dad met him on arrival in Medan only four days after arriving himself.

"It was really weird having him here as well," SGT Gray said.

He said they didn't work together directly in Medan, but he helped his son whenever he could.

"When Kai first got here, he was helping everybody set up, so in quiet times I would go and give him a hand," he said. "He spent three or four days here before going to Banda Aceh, so I saw quite a bit of him."

While SGT Gray returns home on January 16, Kai is expected to spend another few months in the devastated region.

"This [tsunami] was an absolute tragedy, but it's an awesome feeling to be part of helping these people out," he said. "I know Banda Aceh isn't the prettiest place in the world, and conditions can be atrocious when you're sleeping under a hootchie, but Kai's a big boy and he signed on the dotted line. They've got all the support they need and they're safe so I'm quite happy for him to be here."