Our People in SA
Bronwyn Arnold - Desert Duty for Latest Family Member
Bronwyn is now serving as an avionics technician with the RAAF in the Middle East, while her Dad, Army chaplain Captain Bob Bishop, tends to the troops in Darwin. Meanwhile her brother Allan, 15, has donned an Army Cadets uniform.
Bronwyn, 23, a graduate of Edward John Ayre High, joined the RAAF in 2003 and last year she watched her father Bob leave for the Middle East. He would be serving for six months as a chaplain with the Al Muthanna Task Group in Iraq’s south.
“I knew he was with really well trained guys and he would be safe where he was,” Bronwyn said.
But now it’s Bronwyn’s turn to serve half a world away, and CAPT Bishop, 51, supported his daughter when she departed for the Middle East. Bronwyn is now part of the 170-strong RAAF contingent that operates surveillance flights over the Persian Gulf and Iraq.
In the Middle East it’s Bronwyn’s job to maintain the electronics of the AP-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft. Her Dad, a former electronics teacher at TAFE, has been known to lend a hand from time to time.
“Avionics-wise the Orion is probably the most advanced aircraft we have, ,” Bronwyn said. “It was handy to call him up and say “Dad, I don’t understand this.”
“But when I’m back I’ll be re-aquainting myself with my dogs Phoebe, a kelpie-cross-blue healer, and Hunter, an English-Staffordshire-bull terrier.”
Orion aircraft act as long range eyes in the sky and their missions have included overland reconnaissance and maritime patrols over the Gulf. In an average month the aircraft fly over 200 hours in support of Coalition operations.
Bronwyn is one of some 1400 members of the Australian Defence Forces who are now on duty in the Middle East as part of Operation Catalyst, the Australian Government’s contribution to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq. Working with the Iraqi Government and coalition forces, Australian military personnel are continuing to work for a more secure environment and assist with national rehabilitation programs.