Our People in VIC
Vanessa Potter - Koo Wee Rup kid packs up Op ASTUTE
VANESSA Potter will be busy packing boxes this Christmas Day as the Koo Wee Rup product works hard in a sweltering hangar in Timor Leste.
The 27-year-old former Koo Wee Rup Secondary College student is deployed to Operation ASTUTE as part of the information management team bringing the Australia Defence Forces’ archived information back from the fledgling tropical nation.
Timor Leste is her third operational deployment after assisting evacuating Australian nationals from Cyprus and Lebanon in 2006 and serving on Operation SLIPPER in the Middle East in 2006.
“I deployed here from Darwin in October and will stay here until at least January as we prepare and pack all the equipment and files for return to Australia. It has been great to see first-hand the difference Australia’s contribution has made to the people of Timor Leste and making good friends along the way,” she said.
Vanessa joined the Air Force as a clerk in 2004 and posts to Amberley in Queensland on her return to Australia.
She said her most memorable moments from the deployment have been participating in the First Lady’s Fun Run in Dili, travelling to Balibo for a history tour and learning about the history of Timor Leste.
“I am enjoying the job but I am looking forward to getting home, moving into our new house in Brisbane and taking a food and wine holiday in Tasmania. Of course, it will be great to see my boyfriend Leevan Antalan and our two beagles Amidala and Buckley,” Vanessa said.
Vanessa plays for the Palmerston Magpies in the Darwin AFL competition and supports Collingwood in the national competition.
Timor Leste began an exciting new chapter in its history when the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) ceased security operations on 22 November 2012.
After more than six years of supporting the Timor Leste security forces, the ISF role has changed to the redeployment of its people and equipment to Australia and New Zealand.
ISF troops started to depart Timor Leste in late November and bases will be remediated for handover by mid-2013.