Australian Defence Force - Thread

[vor033]

Over 200 members of the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) parachuted into Townsville's High Range area during an Air Combat Team Insertion during Exercise Kapyong Warrior. Exercise Kapyong Warrior is 3RAR's annual live fire exercise run by the battalion and supported by 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery and other 3rd Brigade units. Exercise Kapyong Warrior 11 (KW-11) was held in Townsville, which will soon become the 3RAR's home town, as the regiment moves from Holsworthy Barracks to Lavarack Barracks throughout 2011. KW-11 tested 3RAR's capability in a range operating environments including live fire and urban assault phases.

Commanding Officer of 3RAR, LTCOL Trent Scott said the training provided the opportunity for the soldiers to practice their professional mastery up to the combat team level in a combined arms live fire environment. "The exercise confirms 3RAR as being combat ready and combat capable," LTCOL Scott said. “This exercise has also given the soldiers greater exposure to Townsville, which has meant that they are very excited about moving to Townsville with their families. The new facilities at Lavarack Barracks are world class, and we look forward to moving into them by August this year”

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct preparations for a para insertion into Townsville's High Range as part of Exercise Kapyong Warrior

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct preparations for a para insertion into Townsville's High Range as part of Exercise Kapyong Warrior

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct preparations for a para insertion into Townsville's High Range as part of Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct a para insertion into Townsville's High Range during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Personnel from3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct a para insertion into Townsville's High Range during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Personnel from3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct a para insertion into Townsville's High Range during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Daniel Kelly of 3 RAR hits the ground ready after a parachute insertion near Townsville, Queensland by the Air Combat Team. The activity was a key element of Exercise Kapyong Warrior, 3 RAR’s annual live fire activity conducted by the battalion.

3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) on patrol during Exercise Kapyong Warrior

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct all-round defence during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct all-round defence during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

Personnel from 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conduct all-round defence during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR)) on patrol during Exercise Kapyong Warrior

3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR)) on patrol during Exercise Kapyong Warrior

3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) Rifleman, Private James Milne, on patrol during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) Rifleman, Private Jordan Balsarini, conducts all-round defence during Exercise Kapyong Warrior.

[vor033]

3RAR beat out strong competition to win the Duke of Gloucester Cup for the second year in a row at the Singleton School of Infantry from June 17-24. Infantry sections from each battalion competed for a series of trophies including the prestigious cup awarded to the Army’s best infantry section, which dates back to 1947. The event put each battalion’s best soldiers through bayonet assault courses, life-fire exercises, navigation and marksmanship challenges to find the best infantrymen in the RAR. Average overall scores from the challenges determined the winners while 6RAR finished second and 1RAR came in third.

PTE Cameron Thomson, 6RAR, keeps watch for his section during the Duke of Gloucester cup.

A soldier runs through the smoke during the bayonet assault course at the Duke of Gloucester cup.

(Left to right) 2RAR soldiers CPL Adam Gawne, PTE Tanner Hibel, PTE Marko Pavlicic, traverse the rope obstacles during the Duke of Gloucester cup

PTE Shane Bayliss, 8/9 RAR, crawls under barded wire during the bayonet assault course during the Duke of Gloucester cup.

PTE Malcolm Stone, 6 RAR, slides under the cargo net obstacle Duke of Gloucester cup.

PTE Cameron Thomson pulls PTE Joel Erhard out of a tunnel as the 6RAR section run through the obstacle course during the Duke of Gloucester cup.

3 RAR’s Duke of Gloucester cup winners. Back: CPL David New, PTE Andrew Murphy, PTE Mathew Phillips, PTE Thomas Massey Front: PTE David Heffernan, PTE Sean Williams, PTE Samuel Inacio, LCPL Ben Hames

[Alfacentori]

Two diggers seriously hurt in Afghan accident

• Related Story: PM says no change to Afghanistan troop levels
• Related Story: Diggers kill Afghan insurgent commanders
• Related Story: Guests targeted in 'meticulously planned' hotel attack

Two Australian soldiers have been seriously injured in an accident at the Tarin Kowt heavy weapons range in Afghanistan yesterday.
One soldier is in a very serious condition the other is serious but stable.
Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power said the incident was the result of an accident rather than an insurgent attack.
"The two soldiers received fragmentation injuries in an accident at the Multi National Base - Tarin Kowt heavy weapons range," he said.
The soldiers will be flown to Germany in the coming days to receive specialist care.

continued
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...03/3259770.htm

Quick recovery, any idea what happened?

Alfa

[Ballistic]

Accident seriously injures two Australian soldiers in Afghanistan

Two Australian soldiers serving as the dedicated security element to the Provincial Reconstruction Team - Uruzgan in Afghanistan, are receiving medical care after being seriously injured on Saturday 2 July, 2011.

Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power said the incident was the result of an accident rather than an insurgent attack.

“The two soldiers received fragmentation injuries in an accident at the Multi National Base - Tarin Kot heavy weapons range,” Lieutenant General Power said.

Lieutenant General Power said that an investigation to determine the facts surrounding the incident would be conducted, but his primary concern was for the health of the soldiers.

“The health and wellbeing of the soldiers is my foremost concern,” Lieutenant General Power said.

“Fortunately, their location in Tarin Kot meant that both soldiers were able to receive emergency medical treatment at Tarin Kot’s ISAF Medical Facility immediately after the accident occurred.”

Following initial treatment, one soldier remains in a very serious condition and the other is assessed to be in a serious but stable condition.

“They will be transferred to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in the coming days to receive ongoing specialist care.”

The families of the injured soldiers have been notified and are receiving support from Defence.

This incident will be subject to a formal investigation and until this process is complete, Defence will not comment on the circumstances of the accident.

Further details of the injuries and names of the personnel affected will not be released for privacy reasons.

Media contact: (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664

[Toddy1]

SASR on Patrol:

[0497]

About a month late but still useful; Pentagon Press briefing by Australian Army Maj. Gen. Michael Krause, ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff (?)

http://player.theplatform.com/ps/pla...7Fcc1LBWurmkwf

[grendel]

Counting the cost of our Afghanistan mission
Dan Oakes and Rafael Epstein
July 6, 2011

... ''Since the Dutch left, the number of combat outposts and patrol bases has almost doubled,'' said Afghanistan analyst Raspal Khosa of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

''The area controlled by the Afghan National Police has quadrupled in that period, which goes to show how different the approach is from when the Dutch were there.''

As well as exerting control over more territory, their aim has been to root out high-ranking Taliban leaders in the province and to destroy insurgent arms dumps. On body-count alone, they have achieved the former aim, with dozens of senior insurgents captured or killed in recent months...

...Australian soldiers on the ground say the areas nominally under their control have become more peaceful. With this initial gain of the expansion, the federal government's definition of success has changed subtly, from the training of Afghan security forces to the actual taking and holding of territory.

The network of Australian-built patrol bases has crept outwards along the Mirabad, Chora, Tangi and Baluchi valleys, as the insurgents have watched and waited, biding their time. As movement through the mountain passes becomes easier in the warm weather, greenery begins sprouting in the valleys, providing better cover for attacks on Australian and allied patrols.

...Away from the relative backwater of Oruzgan, soldiers from Australia's special operations task group - including commandos, special air service soldiers and specialists attached to them - range across neighbouring southern provinces such as Helmand and Kandahar.

Among their tasks is interrupting the movement by insurgents of weapons and men from Pakistan through the so-called ''rat lines'' in the south of the country to other areas in Afghanistan, such as Oruzgan, and to disrupt Taliban havens in the southern provinces.

Australia already has the third biggest contingent of special forces troops in the country. Long after the bulk of the regular troops have been withdrawn from Oruzgan, they are likely to be operating in the barren mountains of the south...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/count...705-1h0jo.html

[grendel]

Special Forces Capture Insurgent Bomb Maker

URUZGAN, Afghanistan (July 6, 2011)- Afghan National Police and their Australian Special Forces partners have captured a prominent insurgent bomb maker and several associates in a targeted operation in Uruzgan’s Mirabad Valley.

On 2 July 2011, members of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) partnered with the Provincial Response Company Uruzgan (PRC-U) conducted a cordon and search operation in a known insurgent area and detained nine individuals, one who was positively identified as a senior district level insurgent commander.

“The man was a significant threat to friendly forces and the local population, a key improvised explosive device facilitator and commander of many insurgent fighters,” Commanding Officer SOTG said.

“We have been tracking this individual for several months and the outcomes of his capture will be significant. Removing insurgent leaders from Uruzgan has a considerable impact on insurgent operations in the province,” Commanding Officer SOTG said. Combined SOTG and PRC-U operations have led to the removal of 23 senior insurgent leaders since March 2011.

http://www.isaf.nato.int/article/isa...omb-maker.html

[trikora88]

In this photo released by the Australian Defense Force, members of the National Interdiction Unit (NIU) and the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) await the arrival of two Mi-17 helicopters in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, July 8, 2011. SOTG includes members from the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), 1st and 2nd Commando Regiments, the Incident Response Regiment, Special Operations Logistic Squadron and supporting units. Australian special forces were showing signs of fatigue in Afghanistan but the regiments' high retention rate showed that soldiers were still keen to fight in the decade-old war, their commanders said on Friday.

In this photo released by the Australian Defense Force, a Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) member kneels to scout locations ahead in the snow of the Uruzgan mountains in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, July 8, 2011. SOTG includes members from the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), 1st and 2nd Commando Regiments, the Incident Response Regiment, Special Operations Logistic Squadron and supporting units. Australian special forces were showing signs of fatigue in Afghanistan but the regiments' high retention rate showed that soldiers were still keen to fight in the decade-old war, their commanders said on Friday.

[Bushranger]

Goods pics thanks.

I notices on the news tonight when they were talking about the stress on SF soldiers & they had combat footage of them using the Mil- 17. Are these being flown by Contractors?

[0497]

Goods pics thanks.

I notices on the news tonight when they were talking about the stress on SF soldiers & they had combat footage of them using the Mil- 17. Are these being flown by Contractors?

Could be, I'm aware the Canadians used contracted Mi17s - Australia has a Mi-26 under contract in Afghanistan. Also could be ANA helicopters or USSOCOM who are known to operate their own fleet.

If the only the pictures were clearer.

[JoaMei]

In some of these pictures there are beautiful pictures of the austrian mountains....

[vor033]

A Special Forces soldier scans the terrain near a village in Uruzgan.

Members of the Special Operations Task Group escape the midday after an operation in June.

A Special Forces soldier fires at insurgents during the battle of Kajaki, Helmand on 23 May 11.

A Special Forces soldier searches a Kajaki cave system for drugs and hidden insurgent caches.

A Special Forces soldier searches a Kajaki cave system for drugs and hidden insurgent caches.

Special Forces members wait for a snow storm to pass in the Zamto Valley, Kandahar.

[vor033]

Members of the National Interdiction Unit and the Special Operations Task Group board an Mi-17 helicopter prior to a mission.

Australian Special Forces prepare for a rotary wing extraction after a successful operation in Nesh, Kandahar.

[vor033]

Pharmacist Officer Flight Lieutenant Josie Jarrad, from Headquarters Health Services Wing, checks the vehicles and their equipment before accepting delivery of the new Bushmaster Ambulances at Damascus Barracks, Eagle Farm. Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Pharmacist Officer Flight Lieutenant Josie Jarrad, from Headquarters Health Services Wing, checks the vehicles and their equipment before accepting delivery of the new Bushmaster Ambulances at Damascus Barracks, Eagle Farm. Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Internal image of a Protected Mobility Vehicle (Bushmaster) fitted out as ambulance. Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.

Four new Protected Mobility Vehicles (Bushmasters) to be fitted out as ambulances were delivered to Headquarters Health Services Wing that will enable the development of an enhanced casualty transport and treatment capability within the Combat Support Group at RAAF Base Amberley.