Our People in WA
Phillip Bleach - TARCOOLA BEACH SAILOR SAYS “ALOHA”
RIMPAC 2008 brings together ten participating countries, 35 ships, a carrier strike group, 150 aircraft and 20,000 military personnel.
“We’re here as part of an Australian contingent to exercise with our partner nations in an environment that is as close to the real thing as possible,” said Phillip.
Leading Seaman Bleach, from Tarcoola Beach, is a former student of Mt Tarcoola Primary and John Willcock Senior High School. Although he left Geraldton ten years ago to join the Royal Australian Navy, Phillip still calls W.A home and travels back regularly to see family.
“I really love my job, it’s a challenge every day,” he said.
Phillip started his career in the armed forces as an Aviation Technician – Aircraft. Trained at RAAF Wagga, he has seen postings to HMAS Albatross at Nowra, NSW, HMAS Cerberus in Victoria, HMAS Watson in Sydney as well as HMA Ships Kanimbla and Tobruk.
“This is the second time I have been a member of Tobruk’s ships company,” he said.
“I changed over to Naval Police Coxswain about five years ago,” said Phillip.
“My current job is one that mixes administration, discipline and ship handling. I manage leave and travel movements for sailors, I’m a military policeman and one of the senior ship’s helmsmen.”
With so many visitors to Pearl Harbour, the home port for both the United States Navy Pacific Fleet and the armada of international ships participating in RIMPAC, there is always potential for unruly behaviour.
“We worked with the US military shore patrol whilst we were alongside,” said Phillip, “and there really weren’t any incidents. Certainly the Australian sailors were really well behaved and no-one got themselves into trouble.”
After working such long hours at sea and even while Tobruk was ashore, Phillip is looking forward to getting back to Australia to take a holiday.
“And I’ll be on a plane over to Perth to see my family as soon as possible,” he said.
Exercise RIMPAC is a biennial multilateral exercise held in the Hawaiian Islands Operating Area. Countries participating with their navies include Australia, Canada, Chile, Netherlands, Japan, Peru, Singapore, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom and the USA. The exercise is intended to enhance the tactical proficiency of participating units in a wide array of combined operations at sea, on land and in the air. By enhancing interoperability between participating countries, RIMPAC promotes stability in the Pacific Rim region to the benefit of all.
The Royal Australian Navy’s contribution to Exercise RIMPAC 2008 includes HMA Ships Anzac, Tobruk, Success and Waller, Clearance Diving Team 4, Fleet Battle Staff and a Headquarters element. RIMPAC 08 began on 27 June and ended on 31 July 2008. It was the 21st in the RIMPAC series.