Reserves pitch in
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Corporal
Steve Ward (right) briefs Private Clint Stephens on the procedures
used to process personnel staging through the RAAF logistic hub
at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth, Northwest
Malaysia.
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By
Corporal Cameron Jamieson - filed 1 February 2005
Some people
think that mateship is a cliché.
For the Victorians of Rifle Company Butterworth (RCB) mateship is second
nature.
When the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami hit Southeast Asia,
the soldiers of RCB immediately offered to lend a hand to their RAAF
colleagues.
In doing so they proved that the mateship that binds the ADF together
is a very real and tangible thing.
Officer Commanding RCB 68 Major Douglas Laidlaw is proud of how his
Reserve soldiers from 4 Brigade have rallied together to help in any
way possible.
Their offer of help to the RAAF's 324 Combat Support Squadron was quickly
accepted, and the Reserve soldiers immediately set about helping the
Butterworth-based air services operators to prepare for Operation Sumatra
Assist.
Maj Laidlaw recalled how initially the severity of the natural disasters
was not apparent in Butterworth.
"We felt the ground tremor here, but it wasn't until I got a call
from the Padre from 324 Combat Support Squadron (CSS) across on Penang
Island that I got the indication that it was more than a tremor."
The earthquake was followed five hours later by the tsunami that killed
about 68 Malaysians, mostly on Penang Island.
The OC immediately initiated a recall of his soldiers to ensure their
safety and have them ready for action.
"From the very early days we were involved with assisting 324 CSS
with preparations for whatever might follow," Maj Laidlaw said.
"That involved some contingency planning and the moving of material
around to make way for whatever was going to be staged through Butterworth,
be it personnel or bulk stores."
Principally based around soldiers from 8/7 Royal Victorian Regiment,
there are also soldiers from 5/6 RVR, 4/19 Prince of Wales Light Horse,
4 Combat Engineers Regiment, 4 Combat Supply Support Battalion, 2 Military
Police Company and 108 Signals Squadron assigned to RCB 68.
The focus and drive they displayed in helping the RAAF has deeply impressed
their OC.
"I'm particularly proud of my soldiers, because as Reserves they
are very adept at grabbing whatever challenge comes their way and having
a crack at it," Maj Laidlaw said.
"I had soldiers assigned to RSO&I (reception, staging, on-forwarding
and integration) tasks, there were lots of driving tasks, and the signallers
got involved in shifts at the comm-centre.
"We turned our hands to whatever was required."
The civilian specialties of the Reserve soldiers were also put to good
use.
"There are a lot of Reserves with civilian work skills that are
not formally recognised by the Army but who can still assist,"
Maj Laidlaw said.
"We were able to provide an engineer soldier as a works-supervisor
- he does that in his civilian job - and he was able to help 324 CSS
by expediting the refurbishment of accommodation buildings by local
contractors.
"They had the roof off about three accommodation blocks [at the
time of the disaster], which was incredibly bad luck and timing, and
he was able to fill a gap until a replacement supervisor was flown from
Australia to take over the task."
The CO of 324 CSS Wing Commander Peter Viggers has the highest praise
for the Reserve soldiers.
"RCB were involved in our first day's planning, and it was clear
they were going to help - they helped from day one and were fantastic,"
he said.
"RCB were then force assigned when Operation Sumatra Assist started,
and they immediately integrated into the base response."
"They were absolutely vital in the early days before we had any
augmentation."
