AIRAIRFF RCERCEVol. 62, No. 8, May 14, 2020 The official newspaper of the Royal Australian Air Force

INSIDE: WEDGETAIL’S DECADE OF SERVICE – Page 2 CHALLENGES BRINGING OUT OUR BEST – Pages 14-15

TOPMUMS

Celebrating their incredible contributions

Pages 9-11

SGT Sarah Joost with sons Riley, left,

and Blake at home in Canberra.

Living the Air Force Values: RESPECT – EXCELLENCE – AGILITY – DEDICATION – INTEGRITY – TEAMWORK

2 News

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EDITORIALDirectorDavid Edlington

Acting Managing EditorRichard Mihaich

EditorBenjamin Doherty: (02) 6266 7612

ReportersSGT Max BreeSGT Dave MorleyCPL Sebastian BeurichCPL Veronica O’HaraCPL Julia WhitwellLS Kylie Jagiello

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AIRAIRFF RCERCE

IMPORTANT Defence industry partnerships and a culture of excellence have been the key to decade-long operational effective-

ness of Air Force’s highly advanced airborne early warning and control capability – the E-7A Wedgetail.

Of significance, 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the E-7A platform’s introduction into RAAF service.

Air Force operates six E-7A Wedgetail aircraft from RAAF Base Williamtown, which provide Australia with one of the most advanced air battlespace manage-ment capabilities in the world.

Based on a Boeing 737-700, the E-7A Wedgetail combines long-range surveillance radar, secondary radar, passive detection surveillance receivers and tactical/strategic voice and data communications systems. Fundamentally this provides the ADF with its ability to survey, com-mand, control and coordinate a joint air, sea and land battle in real time.

As the sole operating squadron for the platform, CO No. 2 Squadron WGCDR Jason Brown said over the past 10 years the E-7A fleet has been regularly dispersed throughout the world supporting concurrent exercises and operations, often with all aircraft deployed simultaneously with mission success.

“As Commanding Officer during this significant milestone, it is a great honour and I am immensely proud of what has been achieved by the squadron, not only during my com-mand but historically both at home

A tale of success

and abroad,” WGCDR Brown said.Major contributions since the

E-7’s introduction into RAAF ser-vice include Operations Spate, Atlas and APEC Assist.

The E-7A also provided concur-rent support for Operation Okra, deploying to the Air Task Group in the Middle East several times since October 2014, with 2SQN E-7A maintenance and aircrew achieving an extremely high mission success rate in support of the US-led coali-tion operations.

“At Op Okra, the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail had responsibility for the command and control of all coalition aircraft in a ‘battle management area’ and crews regularly managed more than 80 combat aircraft during a sin-gle mission. RAAF E-7A crews also conducted record-breaking endur-ance sorties for their aircraft type,” WGCDR Brown said.

“In an integrated force, the E-7A shares information with other coali-tion aircraft, which allows the force to have situational awareness across air, land and sea domains. The E-7A Wedgetail provides a force multiplier effect not only for RAAF but all par-ticipating nations.”

With many operational mile-stones and achievements to reflect

upon, 2020 also represents a sig-nificant year for 2SQN Association members, with some marking the 50th anniversary of their service contribution to the Vietnam conflict (2SQN Canberra bombers eventually returned to Australia in 1971).

“As the most decorated Squadron within the RAAF, 2SQN nota-bly was awarded a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and a United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Commendation for this distinguished service in our operational history,” WGCDR Brown said.

“Also of note, 2SQN received a US Presidential Unit Citation for service in World War II.

“These honours and awards acknowledge the brave women and men who laid the foundations of service for our squadron and with whom we maintain a meaningful connection today. The women and men of 2SQN continue to honour this legacy and are proven operators in a cohesive and agile team environ-ment and their important contribu-tions have provided Air Force with an advanced, highly capable airborne early warning and control platform that is the envy of armed forces worldwide.

“The ability to perform with

excellence, consistently achieving a high rate of serviceability under diverse, demanding and complex conditions is a direct result of our personnel’s professionalism and dedication to duty. These efforts were acknowledged with 2SQN being awarded the 2018 Duke of Gloucester Cup for outstanding achievement as the RAAF’s most proficient flying unit, supporting E-7A operations.”

The important partnerships and successful collaboration with the Airborne Early Warning and Control System Program Office (Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group) and Defence industry partners, including Boeing Defence Australia, have also been a key contributing factor to the effectiveness and opera-tional success of the platform – from its introduction into RAAF service to the ongoing sustainment and contribution to ADF capability at home and abroad as called upon by government.

Boeing Defence Australia’s Vice-President and Managing Director Scott Carpendale said it was a part-nership that continued to deliver successful outcomes for the ADF – ensuring the highest levels of aircraft availability and mission readiness.

“We have built deep sovereign capability and are exceptionally proud of our contribution to the development and ongoing delivery of critical upgrades and sustainment for this world-class capability,” Mr Carpendale said.

A Geelong-based company has been awarded a significant con-tract with the US Navy under the global F-35 Program cementing Australia’s reputation as a top defence exporter.

Chemring Australia, based in Lara, near Geelong, secured the US $107.5 million contract for the production and delivery of counter-measure flares for Australian, US and international F-35 operators.

Chemring Australia is a lead-ing manufacturer and supplier of air-launched counter-measures against sophisticated electronic systems.

An E-7A Wedgetail soars through the clouds on a training sortie. Photo: CPL Shannon McCarthy

For 10 years, the E-7A Wedgetail has provided Air Force extra dimensions in surveillance and strategic capability, Bettina Mears writes.

Geelong-based company awarded F-35 Program contractDefence Minister Linda

Reynolds said the contract rep-resented the culmination of a multi-year joint effort between the US Government, the Australian Government and Chemring Group to qualify Chemring Australia to produce counter-measures for the global F-35 fleet.

“This is a strong endorsement of our domestic manufacturing capability, and the policies we’ve put in place to bolster our sover-eign defence capability,” Senator Reynolds said. “This contract will also aid the ongoing advance-ment of a domestic munitions

manufacturing capability – one of 10 Sovereign Industry Capability Priorities under our Defence Industrial Capability Plan.”

Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price said Australian industry continued to perform outstandingly as part of the global F-35 Program.

“This will create highly skilled manufacturing jobs in Victoria, as well as opportunities across Chemring Australia’s supply chain for many Australian small busi-nesses from procurement of raw materials, to qualification testing and transportation,” Ms Price said.

Since 2011, Chemring Group and Defence have worked with the US Navy’s Naval Air System team to qualify Chemring Australia as the second source supplier of the MJU-68 counter-measure, and MJU-61 training flares. More than 50 Australian companies have shared in almost A$1.7 billion in production contracts as part of the global F-35 Program.

US honours RAAF member Page 13

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RCE 3May 14, 2020AIR F COVID-19 pandemic

FLGOFF Claire Burnet

THE ADF and an Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) have concluded their support at Burnie’s North West Regional Hospital (NWRH) fol-lowing an outbreak of COVID-19 among its staff.

Fifty members of the ADF and seven AUSMAT health profession-als ensured the emergency depart-ment remained open and provided essential health services to resi-dents of north-west Tasmania while hospital staff undertook 14 days of quarantine.

The team – comprising 31 Air Force members, 16 Army and three Navy personnel – included ADF medical doctors, emergency nurses, a pharmacist, a radiographer, an environmental health officer and a group of general support personnel.

Special deliveries at Tindal

WITH the impacts of the COVID-19 epidem-ic, some ADF members and their families may wish to stop, slow down or pause their transition. Defence is facilitating this and members can get more information on how they can request a change through their Service Career Manager, or through their ADF transition coach.

Experienced transition coach Viv Lawrence said there was still a wide range of support options available for those members and their families progressing with their tran-sition and leaving full-time service.

“Everyone’s circumstances are different and some transitions may need to proceed,” Ms Lawrence said.

“We have been busy working on flexible ways to support members during this time, including making changes in how individuals and families can access transition information and support.

“ADF transition coaches are available in all areas to support members through video calls, phone calls or email. They can help progress transition plans, or adjust timelines, depending on what the ADF member pre-fers.”

Programs like the popular Job Search Preparation workshop are now available online. These workshops are open to all ADF members and their partners, at any time throughout their military career and for up to 24 months after transition. The two-hour webinars are designed to help members learn more about how to manage careers, sell skills and experience and build resumes to capture military skills.

Launched in January, the Defence Force Transition Program also remains accessible to transitioning members. Specialist advice through the Career Transition Coaching, Personalised Career and Employment Program, and Transition for Employment Program are all being delivered virtually.

“Transition coaches will work with ADF members and their families on options for career transition training and financial advice depending on choice of providers and their ability to support a virtual service,” Ms Lawrence said. “The Defence ADF Member and Family Transition Guide has also been updated to reflect the needs-based Defence Force transition program, and there are refreshed checklists and tips to help plan and manage transition.”

Defence will also be offering virtual semi-nars as part of online transition support ser-vices. In the meantime, members and fami-lies can access online versions of seminar presentations at any time. The presentations include information on Defence’s transition programs, how to transition to the Reserves, navigating the public health system, manag-ing your money, accessing support from DVA, ex-service organisations and more.

Helping hand for thosetransitioning

Team effort

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the ADF had shown its ability once again to coordinate and support state and territory gov-ernments when called upon.

“This was the first time the ADF had been called on to help operate a domestic hospital. Within just a matter of hours of being tasked, the team was heading to Tasmania to assist,” Senator Reynolds said.

“For more than two weeks, they provided support to the people of north-west Tasmania including enhanced infection control, primary care, acute resuscitation, minor pro-cedures and consulting care.”

Commander of Joint Task Group 629.5 COL David Hughes said the ADF medical team sup-ported AUSMAT to reopen and operate the emergency department at the NWRH.

“The team has worked tirelessly with AUSMAT in the emergency

department and over the last 14 days has seen over 400 patients,” COL Hughes said.

AUSMAT Mission Lead Bronte Martin said the team was grateful for the support and welcome shown by the north-west community.

“We would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the staff of the NWRH Emergency Department for their ongoing support, and that of Tasmanian health colleagues across the region for their commit-ment to the health and safety of the community throughout this time,” Ms Martin said. “On behalf of the nurses, doctors, medics, allied health and support team members, it has been our collective privilege to serve the north-west Tasmanian community and step in to restore and provide essential emergency care services while the healthcare system recovered.”

COL Hughes said the deploy-

ment was an excellent example of the ADF supporting the national interest.

“It has been a great privilege to be involved with this mission that has provided a degree of normalcy and confidence to the community of the north-west in this difficult time,” he said. “I am extremely proud of the efforts of AUSMAT and the ADF medical team.”

With hospital staff having com-pleted their quarantine period, a final handover took place on April 29 and ADF and AUSMAT person-nel flew out of Tasmania on two RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft on April 30.

Before they departed, COL Hughes presented the team with a small gift each from the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, as an expression of gratitude on behalf of the Tasmanian people.

CPL Michelle Debnam, of No. 2 Expeditionary Health Squadron, prepares to leave Tasmania with a gift of home-made shortbread from the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner.Photo: SGT Mark Doran

AMID isolation and social-dis-tancing measures, the personnel living at RAAF Base Tindal have embraced an idea aimed at ensur-ing that everyone in the close-knit Top End community remains well-nourished and socially connected.

Struck by the effects of COVID-19 and inspired by popu-lar food delivery services, No. 17 Squadron Personnel Capability Officer FLGOFF Kelly Harris has spearheaded a food delivery ser-vice that’s not only satisfied hun-gry stomachs but warmed hearts as well.

“The delivery service idea was formulated pretty quickly and reac-tively to COVID-19,” FLGOFF Harris said.

“Being a remote base where a high number of personnel live-on, we had an immediate requirement to feed quarantined members who couldn’t leave their rooms to attend the Mess. 17SQN Catering section

FLTLT Robert Cochran

has the ability to produce the meals, and I came up with the means for the food to be safely delivered, fresh and delicious, three times daily.”

Members in isolation call the mess to place their order. Rostered volunteers deliver the meals using trolley-mounted hot boxes. PPE is used and social-distancing followed.

“Our community has seen all ranks getting involved; even the Commanding Officer of 17SQN and Mac our welfare dog have pitched in to deliver meals,” FLGOFF Harris said.

The delivery service was also a medium for sustaining social con-nectedness.

“It’s not just about making sure that members are able to eat healthy and delicious food while they’re in isolation; it’s also about making sure that they still have the opportunity to connect and talk to people who care about them,” she said.

RAAF Base Tindal’s Senior ADF Officer WGCDR Timothy Ferrell has been moved by the way personnel banded together.

“The delivery service initia-tive demonstrates the resourceful-ness and community spirit of the Team Tindal family volunteers from across the base have put their hands up to assist their mates in circum-stances that none of us have expe-rienced before,” WGCDR Ferrell said.

“I’m extremely proud of the ideas, such as this one, that Team Tindal has come up with in response to the COVID-19 restrictions to look after their mates.”

RAAF Base Tindal welfare dog Mac with the delivery trollery.

4 News

Building a military milestone

THE first military aircraft to be designed and built in Australia in more than 50 years has been rolled out as part of a partnership between Air Force and Boeing Australia.

The Australian Government has invested up to $40m in the Boeing L o y a l Wi n g m a n – A d v a n c e d Development Program, alongside Boeing’s largest investment in a new unmanned aircraft program outside the United States.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new capability would help protect and support Australia’s most valuable

Defence aircraft and the pilots who fly them.

“We’re investing to enhance the agility and capability of the Australian Defence Force so we can protect our nation and our allies. It means Australia can sharpen its edge and pre-pare for the future,” Mr Morrison said.

“Our investment also highlights our Government’s commitment to grow-ing and developing our local defence industry, creating jobs and boosting our global export potential.

“The Loyal Wingman program has helped support around 100 high-tech

jobs in Australia. Such projects will be critical to bolster growth and support jobs as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Loyal Wingman will have a range of more than 3700km, enabling Defence to better understand how such aircraft can be used as a force-multi-plier, helping to project power forward while keeping manned capabilities out of harm’s way.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the partnership allowed Defence to bring innovation to Australia in a future-focused technology space.

“The program will examine how autonomous unmanned aircraft can support existing manned aircraft, such as our Joint Strike Fighters [F-35A], Super Hornets and Growlers,” Senator Reynolds said. “This is Australian ingenuity at its finest and presents Australia and our allies with opportu-nities for critical capabilities to fight emerging global threat systems.”

Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price said the program was welcome news for Australia’s defence industry, particularly suppliers from small busi-nesses.

“This is a truly historic moment for our country,” Ms Price said.

“It’s the first time that Australian industry are locally designing, devel-oping and manufacturing an aircraft of this type.

“This demonstrates the impor-tance of the relationship that Defence has with companies like Boeing, and defence industry more broadly, and provides a fantastic example of the innovation we can achieve together.”

The first aircraft is scheduled to begin ground trials soon.

The Loyal Wingman will have a range of more than

3700km.

SCIENTISTS at Defence Science and Technology (DST) are working with counterparts from the United States to demonstrate the capa-bilities of hyperspectral imaging for use by the Australian Defence Force.

Hyperspectral imaging exploits the unique spectral characteristics of targets to aid in detection and identification of materials.

DST Scientist Tim Bubner said it was very hard to hide from these spectral sensors, which scan across multiple electro-optical frequency bands.

“While artificial camouflage does the job matching the surrounding environment in the visible spectrum, it actually can make you stand out in the other bands, if you can exploit them,” he said.

Dr Bubner’s team has been col-laborating with a team from the US Naval Research Laboratories (NRL) for several years, honing skills in exploiting hyperspectral phenome-nology and developing state-of-the-art sensor technology and systems for use in airborne surveillance.

“Hyperspectral sensing is unique,” Dr Bubner said. “Very seldom can you create camouflage that defeats all the wave bands that are accessible to us.”

Gavin Fowler and Tim Bubner (under the DEAP aircraft) conduct a perfor-mance check of the sensor systems just installed on the aircraft at RAAF Base Edinburgh.

Investigating full spectrum of high-tech scanning

“In the past, hyperspectral sen-sors were predominantly used in the daytime, but a thermal hyper-spectral sensor currently operating on DST’s Defence Experimentation Airborne Platform [known as the DEAP aircraft] gives us both a day and night time capability.”

This type of sensing also allowed users to scan the environ-ment accurately and silently from a safe distance.

Jonathan Neumann, an NRL sci-entist integrated with DST, said the partnership had been valuable.

“There are limits to what we can accomplish back in the US,” Mr Neumann said.

“DST nicely complements what our research is aiming to achieve.

“The partnership has included experiments of direct relevance to Australian and US Defence prob-lem spaces, including supporting the Australian AIR7000 and US PMA290 programs.

“DST’s DEAP aircraft, which has flight-certified pods custom-built for mounting advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

(ISR) sensors, was a key enabler for the program. Recent flight trials, including experiments in tropical North Queensland, were excep-tional.

“The DEAP aircraft carried dual reflective [daytime] and thermal hyperspectral payloads, enabling our respective teams to do every-thing necessary to support the trial objectives.”

A key focus of the research has been to demonstrate to Defence the unique capability that hyperspectral technology offers.

Keen to see the uptake of this technology, the experiments carried out by Dr Bubner and his colleagues have informed Defence of the wave-bands, spectral resolution, pixel size and other parameters that should be considered when defining future capability options.

Underlying it all is an under-standing that hyperspectral sensing is an evolutionary and comple-mentary enhancement over high-resolution motion imagery video snapshots or video clips.

DST Scientist Gavin Fowler said it was much more than just looking at a picture.

“Hyperspectral sensing provides an understanding of the target materials’ properties, which is not

available from other imagery,” Mr Fowler said.

“We’re working with high-performance thermal sensors and extremely long-range, short-wave infra-red (SWIR) hyperspectral sys-tems for surveillance tasks, includ-ing maritime surveillance, target detection in cluttered environments, stand-off gas plume detection and overwatch.

“If we can retrieve the spectral characteristics of the target, ana-lysts get a much better understand-ing of what’s happening on the ground. The other real strength of our system is that it allows for auto-mated processing. You can have an on-board processor which can auto-detect, identify and geo-locate targets of interest. We’ve demon-strated automated stand-off detec-tion of invisible gas plumes in near real-time and automated anomaly detection in the maritime environ-ment.”

Dr Bubner said having Mr Neumann and his US colleagues embedded in the DST team at RAAF Base Edinburgh had been crucial.

“We’ve been doing real research work, side by side. The trust and friendship that builds up is critical to collaborative success.”

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RCE 5May 14, 2020AIR F News

Conduct at the cutting edgeIN A RARE achievement, an Air Force staff cadet received the highest award from Royal Military College - Duntroon, Canberra, on April 28.

The Sword of Honour was award-ed to SCDT (now FLGOFF) Adam Dahmer for exemplary conduct and performance of duty during his course.

A ground defence officer in training, FLGOFF Dahmer said the achievement was widely acknowl-edged.

“It’s a healthy sense of competi-tion, whether you get the Sword of Honour, Queen’s Medal or any other accolade at the college; I think there’s a level of respect to whoever holds it,” FLGOFF Dahmer said.

“You have to sustain the effort – you can’t rest on your laurels if you have achieved something, it’s about maintaining.

“Over 18 months, that’s more dif-ficult than it sounds.”

He also received the Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey Award and Chief of Air Force Award for the high-est achieving Air Force cadet since December.

Due to COVID-19 social-distanc-ing restrictions, there was no gradua-tion parade or dinner for the 99 gradu-ates.

FLGOFF Dahmer quietly celebrat-ed at home, although his focus shifted to the next phase of initial training, the Regimental Officer Basic Course at School of Infantry.

“The biggest thing for me was being home with family and my five-month-old son Remy,” he said. “Next week begins the combat shooting and range qualifications, then two weeks at Tully, which will all be pretty intense, so there’s not much time to keep the focus from training.”

FLGOFF Dahmer completed nine years as an airfield defence guard and three deployments to Afghanistan and

CPL Veronica O’Hara Iraq before being accepted for officer training.

The past 18 months of training at RMC-D had taught him the value of self-control.

“In the various environments we’re assessed in, whether that’s field, barracks or academic, main-taining a level of composure and a high degree of emotional intelligence across all those is probably the most important,” FLGOFF Dahmer said. “If you sort of lose that, you lose not just your will, but also your compo-sure and if you’re abrasive to some-one one day, it can impact the next few days.

“When you’re confined and train-ing close together with over 100 peo-ple, this can shape your experience.”

The graduation was accelerated and brought forward two months due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The rare achievement was signifi-cant for Air Force Security Forces and their relationship with the Australian Army, according to RMC Instructor FLTLT Dominic Haynes.

“He’s represented Air Force to a very good standard and has main-tained a healthy relationship with Army and especially his peers,” FLTLT Haynes said.

“His peers have limited exposure to RAAF early in their careers and by being in this position he’s posi-tively influenced their opinions of Air Force.”

In December, FLGOFF Dahmer became the most senior cadet and responsible for the Corps of Staff Cadets after being selected as Battalion Sergeant Major.

Air Force ground defence officers train at the Australian Army officer training establishment Royal Military College – Duntroon due to their simi-larity in job requirements.

FLGOFF Dahmer will post to No. 2 Security Forces Squadron in Amberley, Queensland.FLGOFF Adam Dahmer will now turn his attention to training at the School of Infantry.

THE outstanding contribution of an Air Force pharmacy officer has been recognised by Com-mander Combat Support Group, with the awarding of the annual McCarthy Rowbottom Jones Memorial Award.

FLTLT Allison Jones has been honoured for her work at No. 1 Expeditionary Health Squadron in 2019.

The award is named after the three RAAF Health members who lost their lives in the 2005 Nias Island helicopter crash, and is given to the Air Force Health member whose actions exem-plify the Health Services Wing motto of ‘Compassion, Skill and Courage’.

FLTLT Jones was surprised and honoured to receive the award.

“Having worked closely with several past recipients of this award my growth as a RAAF officer has been shaped by their experiences and influence, and I am honoured to now share this award with them,” FLTLT Jones said.

Commander Combat Support Group, AIRCDRE Veronica Tyler

Recognised for displaying compassion, skill, courageFLTLT Jessica Aldred

said FLTLT Jones displayed exceptional leadership and initia-tive in driving enhancements to Air Force’s expeditionary health capability.

“Her dedication and drive sig-nificantly contributed to the suc-cessful deployment of the Role 2 Health facility on a number of ADF exercises in 2019, and her

development of an aide-memoire has provided an authoritative source document for squadron members, higher headquar-ters and enabling agencies,” AIRCDRE Tyler said.

“I congratulate FLTLT Jones for her commitment to the enhancement of Air Force’s expeditionary health capability.”

FLTLT Allison Jones said she was honoured

to be able to share the award with

those who had helped shape

her career. Photo: CPL David

Cotton

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RCE 7May 14, 2020AIR F News

Rewards of a career shiftNo. 1 Squadron Aircraft Tech-

nician, LAC Martin Ritchie is an example of someone who can find a positive in any

situation.Taking a voluntary redundancy at

the age of 46, LAC Ritchie decided it was the perfect opportunity for a career change.

“I had worked at the local paper mill for 21 years, so it was a bit daunt-ing thinking about getting out there and learning something new,” LAC Ritchie said. “I decided this was the time to try something I was passionate about; I knew it had to be something to do with aviation.

“Over the years I have built and flown remote controlled aircraft and have done some flying lessons getting as far as passing the general flying progress test.

“It was a nice surprise when I found out that I was still eligible to join the RAAF, so I submitted an application and here I am.

“I really enjoy coming to work each day, not only because I get to work on the mechanical system of the F/A-18F Super Hornet but because I

am part of a great team and get to try so many new experiences.”

After calling Hobart home for 38 years, LAC Ritchie said it had been a bit of an adjustment having a job that could send him anywhere.

“In the last six years I have trav-elled extensively around Australia with work. I recently even had the oppor-tunity to participate in Exercise Red Flag, which is a major international air combat exercise in the US,” he said.

“This was a highlight of my career

as it was the first time travelling inter-nationally since arriving in Australia, from the UK, in 1974.

“It was also a good opportunity professionally, as it gave me a chance to see how my job contributes to the broader RAAF mission.

“While on the exercise I spent time with the aircrew to get an understand-ing about what is involved in prepar-ing to fly a mission.

“Sitting in the preflight brief was like listening to a foreign language. I

almost needed a translator there are so many acronyms.”

LAC Ritchie said the big career change had only been possible because of the support from his family.

“They play a big part in my life. My wife and I have seven children and 12 grandkids with the 13th on the way,” he said.“Besides the travel absolutely the best part is being able to share this adventure with my family.

“When I received the Airmanship award at 1RTU there was no prouder moment than having my family there to cheer me on, in particularly being able to share that moment with my Dad.”

LIFE IN THE RAAF

LAC Martin Ritchie left the paper mill for Air Force and has never looked back, FLTLT Alyssa Vickridge writes.

Stepping stones for next generation to find their feetFLGOFF Malia Naupoto

THE Officers’ Training School (OTS) has formed a new Operational Support Flight (OSF) to capitalise on the benefits and flexibility of the Total Workforce System (TWS), in order to maximise efficiencies and effectiveness in training.The OSF is a significant achieve-ment with partnership across Air Force Training Group, Directorate of Personnel – Air Force, as well as the Reserve Branch – Air Force.

OTS CO WGCDR Daniel Cassilles said the OSF gave reserv-ists and interim students alike an opportunity to provide relief to directing staff of OTS and develop the next generation of Air Force leaders.

“The OSF is made up of mem-bers of SERCATs 3 and 5, as well as students of Ground and Air Academy holding flights from RAAF Bases Wagga and East Sale,” WGCDR Cassilles said.

“The flight is tasked with specific assignments to support training,

including role playing for field exer-cises, transport driving and logistic support.

“These duties used to belong to key unit personnel as ‘secondary duties’, and often require extended hours planning, preparing and remaining out on field with the train-ees. Working behind the scenes, the OSF frees up valuable time for OTS directing staff to focus on command and welfare, and enable trainees the best chance to consolidate what they have learnt, whilst simultane-ously reducing the risk of fatigue

and providing greater work-life bal-ance.”

WGCDR Daniel Cassilles com-mended the initiative and its influ-ence in showcasing the creative opportunities that can be under-taken to maximise total workforce capability.

OSF Officer-in-Charge SQNLDR Michael Bannerman praised OSF members for their dedication and commitment.

“Although no Academy Award-winning performances are required, from playing local villagers, to car-

rying out ambushes and engage-ments using blank rounds, the OSF members have been able to immerse themselves, change hats (literally) and costumes to react to a new scenario in support of OTS field exercises,” SQNLDR Bannerman said. “The contribution of OSF members provides greater realism for training and assess-ment scenarios. The experiences of involving OSF in OTS training have highlighted the positive collaboration between the flight members, OTS directing staff and trainees.”

LAC Martin Ritchie cleans a split rim during Exercise Red Flag. Photo: SGT Bill Solomou

This review starts Thursday 28 May 2020 and checks your personal circumstances to confirm your ongoing RA eligibility.

Get ready for the review now by updating your personal circumstances in Online Services and obtaining a current rent receipt or tenant ledger from your real estate agent.

If you are selected for the review you will receive an email and be notified via Online Services.

The annual Rent Allowance review is coming

For more information visit dha.gov.au/RAreview

8 News

Capability review THE terms of reference and discussion paper for the independent review into the government’s Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC) have been released. The review aims to strengthen support, service and access for small and regional businesses to better assist them to make the most of opportunities in Australia’s defence industry. The CDIC was a key initiative of the 2016 Defence White Paper, which was formed to help grow a competitive, sustainable defence industry base. It is often referred to as the ‘front door’ for service support for local defence companies and the review aims to boost this help. For more information contact cdic.review@defence.gov.au

IN BRIEFFLTLT Sean Wrigley at the Protected Mobility Vehicle

Bushmaster Storage Compound at Australia’s main operating base in

the Middle East region.

Photo: LS Craig Walton

Seeking innovative partnerDEFENCE is seeking an industry partner to provide prime vendor services for product acquisition, integration and support to help deliver the Integrated Soldier System project. This project aims to maintain a modern, well-equipped, dismounted combat capability with an advantage over current and emerging threats. Defence will hold an online Industry Briefing in May 2020 on the project, which will then be advertised on AusTender under the ATM category of defence and law enforcement and security and safety equipment and supplies.

Productivity soarsLINTEK, which produces circuit boards for F-35 radar and electronic warfare systems, unveiled a new manufacturing system which doubled their production capacity. According to Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price this would create more jobs in the region and increase Lintek’s chance of winning further F-35 global supply chain contracts.

Innovation key to dataFLTLT Dean Squire

A NEW and innovative website and smart app has been developed to revo-lutionise how technicians access data needed to manage aircraft continuing airworthiness.

T h e t r i s e r v i c e C o n t i n u i n g Airworthiness (CA) team located with-in the A9 directorate of HQAC, has been working on a project to digitise the relevant corporate processes and poli-cies for aviation-related duties in the ADF. Systems have been put in place for real-time updates and creating an online platform to enable staff to access key information such as the Air Force Continuing Airworthiness manual at any time from virtually any location.

The app has a new Air Force Continuing Airworthiness manu-al (AFCAMAN) that was developed to replace AAP7001.59 – Aircraft Maintenance Management Manual.

FLTLT Justin Crosby, Project Manager for the ADF CA website and

smart app, was challenged with replac-ing an aging system with something more contemporary.

“AFCAMAN is just the start. The ADF CA app and website will also feature articles, podcasts and videos contextualised for our broad a u d i e n c e . Future devel-opment may see a host of other manuals and informa-tion available instantly on your smart device,” FLTLT Crosby said.

“Systems are in place for real-time updates. By creating an online platform, technicians throughout the ADF will be able to readily access key information just when they need it most.”

The app is user friendly and has voice and personalisation capabilities. The app is now available and compat-ible for both android and IOS phones and tablets.

Defence Science and Technology (DST) has unveiled a new plan for collaborative mission-directed research to ensure Australia’s forces maintain a capability edge.

Titled More, together: Defence Science and Technology Strategy 2030, it reiterates the necessity for national science and technology enterprise to focus on opportunities.

Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds said it was more important than ever to harness science and technology for a secure Australia.

“Australia’s defence and national security is facing a period of tech-

nological change and increasing threats,” Senator Reynolds said.

Over the next decade, DST will play a vital role in enabling and coor-dinating the support to Defence from a national science and technology enterprise. A centrepiece of the strat-egy is a set of ambitious science, technology and research strategic programs, known as STaR shots. The eight STaR shots are each focused on capabilities that will be critical on the future battlefield.

More information at www.dst.defence.gov.au/strategy.

LS Craig Walton

IN AN environment where planning is important, the ADF’s Engineer Support Element deployed to the Middle East region (MER) to lead local teams to build new and upgrade existing infrastructure.

FLTLT Sean Wrigley is the project engineer at Australia’s main operating base in the MER where he leads the joint engineering team – Charlie.

“My job as the project engineer is to develop and deliver infrastructure pro-jects within theatre by pro-viding them with upgraded or new infrastructure, ena-bling continuity for existing capabilities and providing resources for new ones,” FLTLT Wrigley said.

“I also provide the MER with an airfield engineer capability that provides sub-ject matter expert advice of airfields and aprons.”

A recent project was the Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV) storage compound.

“My team and I man-aged all aspects of this pro-

ject from initial planning and design through to the deliv-ery of the project, to ensure it was on time, on budget and to the required safety and quality standards,” FLTLT Wrigley said.

“It will protect the vehi-cles and attached equip-ment against the harsh local environment, until the vehicles are ready to rede-ploy or return to Australia,” he said.

The Engineer Support Element has planned, designed and delivered a range of infrastructure pro-jects from minor upgrades to brand new facilities across the MER in support of ADF operations.

On the completion of his deployment FLTLT Wrigley will return to RAAF Base Richmond as the 2IC air-field engineer.

“The role of project engineer has enhanced my experience and skillset both professionally and person-ally. I’ll take away only great memories of the work and people here in the MER,” FLTLT Wrigley said.

Solid foundations for MER delivery

Grabbing hold of opportunities

RCE 9May 14, 2020AIR F Mother’s Day

FLGOFF Aaron Curran

FOR SGT Sarah Joost little things like sleeping in and spending time with her two children are what makes her happi-est on Mother’s Day.

SGT Joost, originally from Somerset, Tasmania, is the Personal Assistant to CAF, a mother of two boys and wife of a Navy petty officer.

Needless to say, her life is a busy one, filled with long days and time away from family.

Three years ago she transferred over from the Navy into the Air Force Military Police after completing 15 years’ service. In that time she deployed as far afield as Operations Catalyst, Resolute and Relex.

“I also have completed some really long courses and exercises,” SGT Joost said.

“It’s hard being away from the boys, however I have an amazing husband who is very supportive. The RAAF have been great too. While my husband Daniel was away I was approved to have flexible work arrangements to spend time with the boys while still being able to complete all my work.”

SGT Joost said working within the Office of CAF was amazing.

“Daniel is working at ADFA as a

Grateful for the flexibility to focus on family and career

A special calling to span the generations

MOTHER’S Day this year for Darwin Health Centre Manager SQNLDR Amanda Gloury, was spent in the Top

End wilderness with her husband, Dar-ren, and three children, Lincoln, 10, Isabelle, 8, and Gabriella, 6.

The gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the Northern Territory meant the active family was allowed to go camping just in time for the dry season.

Having grown up in Rockhampton and Bundaberg, SQNLDR Gloury joined the Air Force as a nursing offic-er in 2002 to help people in need and travel the globe.

“I liked the idea of being able to assist with humanitarian missions and

Alwayshelping home

and away

SQNLDR Amanda Gloury attributes support from Air Force and family to being a successful mum as well as pursuing an important career of caring, FLTLT Robert Cochran writes.

SQNLDR Amanda Gloury with children Lincoln, Isabelle and Gabriella. SQNLDR Gloury says mother’s groups are a great way for Defence mums to support each other.

the opportunity it provides to see not only Australia but also the world,” SQNLDR Gloury said.

In 2016, she deployed to the Middle East for six-and-a-half months leaving her husband to care for the kids.

“I would not have gone if it wasn’t for the support from my wonderful husband,” SQNLDR Gloury said.

“We’ve never had family close by and so we decided to have an au pair live with us – it was the best decision

we ever made because I knew Darren would always have help.

“It was hard being away from the kids, seeing them upset because they wanted me to be home, but thankfully we had video chats,which kept us all connected, and they enjoyed getting the packages I sent.”

SQNLDR Gloury feels blessed to be able to raise a family and have a successful career in the Air Force.

She attributes much of this to the flexibility provided by her chain of

command and the ongoing support of her husband and extended family.

“Having the flexibility to be able to work part-time was a huge help as it allowed me to have a good work-life balance and be there for the kids when they needed me most,” she said.

“While working part-time hasn’t been possible for every role, the flex-ibility has always been there when I needed it, such as starting later in the mornings for daycare and school drop-offs. During exercise periods we

work longer hours and weekends, but with the support of my husband and Defence family here in Darwin I’m able to achieve the higher tempo.”

One of the keys to success as a Defence mother was establishing a good network of like-minded mums who understood the challenges of modern parenthood.

“My mother’s group was the best support network because we were all going through the same things,” SQNLDR Gloury said.

“Also, make sure you tap into the base playgroups and neighbourhood houses – you’ll make some great friends who understand life as a mum in the Defence Force.”

FLTLT Alyssa Vickridge

IT WAS her father’s 26-year Air Force career that influenced CPL Amanda Palmer to join the RAAF and she is now a person-nel capability specialist based out of RAAF Base Williamtown.

Little did CPL Palmer know at the time that her decision to join would go on to influence her mother, CPL Linda Kay, to make the same commitment.

“I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after high school but when dad told me the military might offer some unique oppor-tunities, I thought it was worth looking into,” CPL Palmer said.

“When mum decided to join not long after it was a bit of a sur-prise but it has been great, we are in the same mustering so we often bounce ideas off each other.”

CPL Palmer said that having a husband in the Air Force and two young boys meant that sometimes life was a bit of a balancing act.

“We are often juggling post-ings, exercises and deployments as well as family commitments.

Divisional Senior. His hours at times clash with mine, however ADFA have been very accommodating and support-ive allowing him to work around me.”

SGT Joost said it could be hard jug-gling family and career.

“You miss out on things like school assemblies and athletic carnivals, which breaks my heart,” she said.

“But I love my kids’ faces when they come into my office – they think I work in the coolest of places.”

SGT Joost said women could have both a career and be a mother.

“You just have to remember you don’t need to feel guilty when putting your family first,” she said.

SGT Sarah Joost with sons Riley and Blake.

Having mum close by for the last few postings has really made it possible, she plays a big part in making our lives run smoothly,” she said.

CPL Kay’s decision to join the RAAF was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, as she had pre-viously applied in 1983.

“I had been accepted as a steward but unfortunately it was around the same time that I met

my husband and long-distance relationships were not really a thing in the 80s,” CPL Kay said.

“Once my youngest child turned 15, I thought, I need to start thinking about what comes next for me. Seeing how much my husband and daughter had enjoyed their life in the military, joining was an easy decision to make.”

After joining she realised that a mum’s job was never really done.

“Coming th rough bas ic training in my 40s meant that I became an unofficial ‘course mum’,” CPL Kay said.

“Even though I had finished raising my own three kids I felt like I had gained another 20 to look out for during course!”

Both CPL Palmer and CPL Kay agreed that taking the big step to join the RAAF had been a positive experience.

Being in the Air Force was a great career choice. You met amazing people on a daily basis and had the flexibility to have a career and raise a family.

CPL Amanda Palmer with youngest son James.

11May 14, 2020RCEAIR F10 Mother’s Day

Eternal bonds that make service special

Important to open lines of communication

FLTLT Courtney Jay

JUGGLING full-time work and five children is no easy feat, but for Brisbane local and RAAF mum FLTLT Halina Domalewski, it is all about finding the right balance.

The mother of five boys, aged from three to 10 years old, is a personnel capability officer at No. 3 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond.

She’s been in the RAAF since 2005

and got the chance to embark on her first overseas deployment last year.

Experience had taught her that the use of technology was the best way to stay connected with her young family and had aided her transition back to fam-ily life after deployment.

“I spoke to my husband and children every day I could and routinely sent care packages home to the kids,” FLTLT Domalewski said.

“The American camp where I was has a small but great Post Exchange

shop, so the kids got to sample some American snacks and candies, which they loved.”

Her integration back into home life was seamless and she credits this to the great communication technologies she had while away.

She was able to watch her kids grow up through the wonders of Facetime, so she didn’t feel like she missed out.

With no family in NSW, FLTLT Domalewski’s Defence family banded together to ensure her husband, who is

also a RAAF member, and children were well supported during her deployment.

“My unit and my husband’s unit were amazing. As we have no family support in NSW they stepped up and went over and above,” she said.

“Without asking for help, they went about providing a weekly meal roster, welfare calls and with the assistance of Defence Community Organisation they flew my mother down at short notice when my husband and the children became very unwell with the flu.”

After having four children in three-and-a-half years, FLTLT Domalewski made the decision to return to the workplace part time, two to three days a week.

“It was the perfect way for me to juggle raising a young family, supporting my husband’s career but also giving me the ability to progress with my career,” she said.

“The ability to use a flexible work arrangement allowed my family to find a happy medium.”

Although it was a difficult decision to return to full-time work, she’s confident her family made the right choice, as it gave her the opportunity to commit to the RAAF career and to deploy.

Reflecting upon her 15-year career in RAAF, the combination of flexible work options had enabled her to have quality time to raise her children and support her return to work.

She acknowledges that support and understanding from Defence has been vital to her family construct.

The Defence family at workFLTLT Halina Domalewski with her husband, SQNLDR Michael Blott, and their five children. FLTLT Domalewski says support from Air Force had made it possible to juggle career and family.

FLTLT Bel Scott

SGT Samantha Syron has experienced first-hand the effects of someone who lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was determined to keep the conversation open about good mental health practices on Mother’s Day.

SGT Syron, pictured, grew up in a rural area in Alligator Creek, south of Townsville, and her dad still lives in their family home.

The Queenslander now lives with her husband, Bob, two children, Harvey, 20, and Conor, 17, in Gawler, South Aus-tralia.

While mothers around the nation have been home-schooling and working from home adding further stress to their daily routine, SGT Syron knows all too well the impact poor mental health can have on the family unit during such testing and isolating times.

“I was born into the military lifestyle with my pa, uncle and dad in the Army,” SGT Syron said.

“Dad is a Vietnam veteran and served in the Army for 20 years. He too suffered at the hands of PTSD which wasn’t open-ly discussed or diagnosed back then.

“Then I met my husband at the age of 19 and two years after we met he was diagnosed with PTSD resulting from his deployment to Rwanda in 1995.

“I soon discovered that being a child of a Vietnam veteran was preparing me for my role as a wife of a Rwandan vet-eran.

“Through these experiences, I real-ised talking about mental health with my two boys, husband, with my friends and work colleagues, has become one of my biggest passions and an important part of the healing process.”

In 2017, SGT Syron began her jour-ney to share her experiences with the Air Force community and was given an op-portunity to speak at RAAF Edinburgh Women’s Integrated Networking Group (WINGs) about ‘Living as a family with PTSD’.

“I remember several women coming up to me after the presentation and ex-pressing relief that they weren’t alone,” SGT Syron said.

FLGOFF Clarice Hurren

A LOGISTICS officer at No. 36 Squadron, Newcastle local FLTLT Melissa Moore was able to take Mother’s Day off.

With the support of her husband, she’s been busy caring for children, age 9 and 7, helping them with remote school work, working her own flexible hours from home and from her office at RAAF Base Amberley two days a week as well as complet-ing her university assessments.

Despite these commitments, FLTLT Moore never misses out on family and down time, advising other mothers to do the same.

“Be kind to yourself and don’t compare your situation to the next person,” FLTLT Moore said.

Her first child, son Zane, was born in 2011 and since then, she has returned the encouragement and workplace support she received.

“The flexible work options I was provided nine years ago, and again in 2014 when my daughter Lola was born, have shaped me as a manager in such a positive way,” FLTLT Moore said.

“My advice to women wanting

to start a family in Defence is to be open and honest with your chain of command and understand the systems available to you.

“Also, regardless of your time out of full-time service, or the workforce completely, make sure you have lin-ear reports from supervisors to track your development and any additional study or work experience.”

FLTLT Moore grew up in Newcas-tle and joined Air Force in 1999 as a supplier.

She then transferred to air move-ments and promoted up to the rank of FSGT before commissioning in 2017 after 17 years of service.

“Since then, I’ve been asked to speak at several Squadron Safety Days at RAAF Base Edinburgh talking about my experiences and encouraging people to keep the conversation going.

“I have also been fortunate enough to attend two Department of Veterans Af-fairs Female Families and Veterans Fo-rums in Canberra to help Department of Veteran Affairs shape their new policies.

“I was also invited to attend the ‘Women United’ by Defence dinner held at Parliament house in 2019, which was an amazing ex-perience. These opportunities al-lowed me to keep the conversation going and extend my networks.”

The personnel capability special-ist’s nurturing na-ture has seen her fulfil people-focused roles throughout her military career and supporting per-sonnel on many exercises and operations.

“Being a mother in uniform is the best job I have ever had,” SGT Syron said.

“I’ve had many memorable career moments working with some amazing people at each unit and on deployments.

“My most challenging moment would have to be my last deployment on Operation Slipper where my training and deployment meant I was away from my family for 10 months. This was ex-tremely challenging for my husband who lives with PTSD and especially for my two boys who were 10 and 13 years of age at the time.

“We work really well as a family unit and when we’re away from one another for an extended period of time our little unit starts to feel the pressure. This de-ployment allowed me to reflect on what my priorities in work and life were so I could balance them accordingly.”

Her advice to deployed mothers or those working from home with children was to look after ‘YOU’ first.

“Take time for yourself even if it is a walk around the block or a quiet moment of reflection with your tea or coffee,” SGT Syron said.

FLTLT Melissa Moore with her chil-dren on Anzac Day.

Be honest with yourself: good advice for beginnersTaking time out to enjoy

life’s little treasuresEvita Ryan

Deployed to the Middle East region (MER), Senior Dental As-sistant CPL Bianca Atkinson, pic-tured, enjoyed the simple things in life on Mother’s Day, including chatting with her daughter who turned three on Saturday.

“Calories don’t count on Moth-er’s Day, your birthday, at Christ-mas or at Easter,” CPL Atkinson laughed. “Oh, and they don’t count on your daughter’s third birthday either.”

While this isn’t the first time CPL Atkinson has been away from her daughter, Quinn, it’s her first deployment to the MER.

Two months in to her deploy-ment, CPL Atkinson admitted she was missing home, but the deployment remained one of the highlights of her career to date.

“We often get called in at random hours and have extra pa-tients added in to the day, but I’m absolutely loving it,” she said.

Born in Geraldton and spending most of her childhood in Serpen-tine, Western Australia, CPL Atkinson knew she wanted a stable job with long-term career options that would also allow her to travel.

“When I’m at home, I’ve got flexible work arrangements in place for daycare and I don’t think I’d get that same level of support from outside of Defence – they’ve been wonderful,” she said.

CPL Atkinson said her hus-band, a fellow Air Force member, was very supportive.

“I’m extremely lucky that home is running so smoothly and that Darryn’s got flexible work arrange-ments in place to accommodate daycare hours.”

Bettina Mears

WITH a long family history of service in the ADF, Air Intelligence Analyst and No. 92 Wing WOFF Suzanne Hall was destined to join the Air Force as it was already part of her DNA.

WOFF Hall’s father was a radio tech-nician in the Air Force for 20 years and with her mother, Lesley, already accus-tomed to service life (also as a RAAFie child), it was a life she knew well.

Today, as a serving mother herself and also married to an Air Force member, WOFF Hall has a special bond with her mother, both having experienced the full spectrum of life stages within an ADF family.

As serving mothers it is a point of re-flection especially on Mother’s Day.

“Essentially ‘she gets it’ as it is a unique life, full of challenges but with many rewards,” WOFF Hall said.

WOFF Hall is posted to RAAF Base Edinburgh and acknowledged that mov-ing location on posting from friends and family and being away from children for long periods to attend courses and exer-cises were challenges to overcome as a serving mother.

“I am so fortunate to have a very sup-portive husband and a chain of command who have also been very understanding of my family circumstance,” WOFF Hall said.

“This has had a significant impact on my decision to continue to pursue my career goals in Air Force despite having such a young family.

“Without that support and understand-ing, I would imagine it would be quite a difficult juggling act when we, as De-

fence members, typically find ourselves in locations without family support.”

Earlier in her career, WOFF Hall con-ducted two overseas deployments to the Middle East Area of Operations support-ing AP-3C Orion missions in 2003 and again in 2007/08.

Since having children, however, she has been fortunate to not deploy opera-tionally.

Flexible working arrangements avail-able to serving mothers and fathers, plus access to a range of healthcare options had also been important .

“My experience of the medical sup-port during pregnancy has been outstand-ing and access to MATL and paternity leave – with the option to change service category for both myself and my serving partner – has provided much needed sup-port to our family,” she said.

WOFF Hall said Max and Sam had always been understanding of her job. Despite their young age, they had already lived in four states and attended two dif-ferent primary schools.

“They see it as an adventure, and actu-ally enjoy helping to choose new houses to live in,” she said. “As serving moth-ers we worry at times about the impact of this life on our children – however, in my experience, it has built individual and family resilience.”

This strength of character has no doubt been handed down through the generations – with a service tradition that WOFF Hall is proud to share with her boys; attending Anzac Day marches and services with her family.

“My great grandad served in both World War I and World War II and my granddad served in World War II – join-ing the Air Force after the war as a black-hander [aircraft technician],” she said.

With the pride and support of her fam-ily and a wealth of knowledge and expe-rience acquired over more than 20 years of Air Force service, WOFF Hall offered advice to other serving mothers.

“Create yourself a network of other serving mums and parents that you can reach out to and use as a sounding board. Always let your supervisors know what is going on – they can’t help you if they don’t know there’s an issue – you’ll find they’re typically very understanding,” she said.

WOFF Suzanne Hall with husband SQNLDR Maurice Hall and sons Max and Sam.

Forget social media and focus on your own realityFLTLT Dean Squire

SQNLDR Renee Burke had four reasons to smile on Mother’s Day.

Patrick, Millie, Kate and Joseph served up breakfast in bed for their mum at their home in Hawaii.

Everlasting memories saved and cher-ished as handmade cards from the young-sters aged 9 and below accompany the breakfast spread.

SQNLDR Burke’s a long way from her home in Mount Barker in South Aus-tralia.

She’s 16 years into a career as a per-sonal capability officer and working remotely from her Hawaii home. She joined her husband, Andrew, posted to the American state as a logistics officer and in common with other career mums, juggles home and work life.

“Mum guilt is a real thing. I think we should understand what our own capaci-ties are and try not to compare ourselves to other mums,” SQNLDR Burke said.

“That’s very hard to do, especially when social media normally only con-tains posts by super mums. We should only focus on what works best for us, our family and our career.”

SQNLDR Burke is proof positive that a Defence career is open to work-ing mothers. She’s been deployed to the Middle East along with six weeks away

from home on Exercise Rimpac and three weeks away on Exercise Bushido Guard-ian.

“It was a challenge being away from my family, especially with young kids who don’t really understand why I go away,” she said.

“But having modern technology helps, to be able to talk and see my chil-dren whilst I am away helps them im-mensely.

“My husband and I are an excellent team and are able to parent solo when we need to.”

SQNLDR Burke is no stranger to ser-vice life, her father was in the Army.

She knows well what it takes to con-tribute to the defence of the country and at the same time take on that unique role of mum.

“I believe it is possible to be a won-derful mum and a very capable RAAF member, but there may be times when I need to compromise one for the other in order to stay sane. When I am able to, I spend time with my family and try to be present in their lives,” SQNLDR Burke said.

SQNLDR Renee Burke with her four

children at their home in Hawaii. She

says she and her husband work well as

a team.

Seizing opportunities, includingthe precious lunchtime catch-upFLGOFF Claire Burnet

PHYSICAL distancing doesn’t get much further than 13,000km but that’s about how far CPL Rachel Murray was from her husband and four kids on Mother’s Day.

CPL Murray is on deployment in the Middle East region (MER) where she is working in an administrative role.

“I’ve been away for three months so far and I’m due home later in the year,” CPL Murray said.

It’s a long time to be away from family, but being on a deployment was a challenge CPL Murray had been wanting to undertake.

“When the opportunity to deploy came up I didn’t hesitate because I knew I would be supported by my husband, children and extended fam-ily,” she said.

CPL Murray contacts her family every lunchtime for an hour.

“This contact has been espe-cially important during the COVID-19 pandemic as my children are all doing online schooling while being super-vised by my husband,” she said.

CPL Murray has been a member of the ADF for 18 years, starting out full-time, switching to part-time reserve while she raised her children

and then going back to full-time work as they became more independent.

“The ADF has been very flexible for me as a mum,” said CPL Murray, who has twin 15-year-olds, a 14 and a five-year-old.

“Last year when my youngest had 12 weeks of pre-school induction, I was able to work a compressed week so I could attend with him.

“I was also able to work two days a week from home which allowed me to do school pick-up and stay con-nected to my teenagers.”

CPL Murray didn’t grow up in a Defence family, but many of them now serve their country in one way or another: her twin sister was in the

Army and deployed to East Timor; her brother in law is in the Army and also currently on deployment; her husband is in the RAAF and her elder sister was in the Australian Federal Police and deployed to East Timor as part of a United Nations Peacekeep-ing mission.

CPL Murray said it wasn’t always easy for children who had ADF parents relocating every three years but they benefited from some great experiences.

“We lived overseas for three years, which the kids absolutely loved and they’ve been able to travel extensively around Australia due to the ADF,” she said.

CPL Rachel Murray work-

ing at her office in the

MER with photos of her family on the

wall.

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RCE 13May 14, 2020AIR F Features

HAVING spent the past four years in the US, GPCAPT Brown is well-placed to advo-cate for the benefits of a col-laborative international partner-ship bringing the F-35 Program to fruition.

“When you consider the JPO recently awarded the largest Defence contract in US history to Lockheed Martin, you know you are on a big program,” GPCAPT Brown said.

“There are natural benefits to being in an international

Honoured for leadershipINTERNATIONAL collaboration is the corner-

stone of the global F-35 Program, with personnel from around the world working together to deliver a transformational air combat capability to their

respective nations.Leading Australia’s contingent at the F-35

Joint Program Office (JPO) in Washington DC is a group captain who acts as the conduit between the Australian and US governments, as well as partner nations. GPCAPT Michael Brown recently returned to Australia after a four-year posting in this critical posi-tion; his efforts recognised with the awarding of a US Legion of Merit.

“While the personal recognition is very gratifying, it was made achievable by the outstanding support I received from all the other Australians who do an

exceptional job at ensuring not only our interests are managed, but also strive to ensure the over-all F-35 enterprise is performing well,” GPCAPT Brown said.

“My role in the US was to ensure the Air Force and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group leadership were kept abreast of strategic and tactical issues so they could make appropriate decisions on

this important program. I was also part of the JPO leadership team and responsible for keeping the US leadership aware of issues or concerns the Australian program may have been having. I also provided sup-port to the Australian team working within the JPO.”

GPCAPT Brown said one of the highlights of his posting was when the first two Australian F-35A air-craft were ferried to Victoria for the 2017 Australian International Airshow at Avalon.

“I was on the phone to my wife Pam, who was back in the US, and became a little emotional watch-ing the first jet touch down as a result of the hard work of many people on the project before and at the time,” he said. “The skills of the aircrew and maintainers ena-bling the aircraft to travel the largest distance for the first time in the southern hemisphere made me very proud.”

Another great milestone was when Australia’s first two aircraft arrived at RAAF Base Williamtown for permanent basing in December 2018, according to GPCAPT Brown. “It was fantastic to be part of the excitement of not only the whole base but the broader Newcastle population who lined various vantage points to get their first glimpse of this amazing air-craft,” he said.

GPCAPT Brown believes the F-35A capability will be critical to future operations and enhance the inter-operability of the ADF.

“The opportunities this weapons system will bring to the whole ADF are exciting,” GPCAPT Brown said. “Our talented men and women are just starting to learn how to operate this amazing system and, from the little I have seen to date, I think this will be a force multi-plier far greater than we ever imagined.”

GPCAPT Brown will transition from the per-manent Air Force to the Reserves after a rewarding 40-year career.

The United States has awarded the Legion of Merit to RAAF GPCAPT Michael Brown for his helming of Australia’s F-35A Joint Program Office in Washington DC, Alisha Welch writes.

Top End tour to open way for F-35A arrival

Benefits of cooperation are clear to see

DEFENCE personnel and industry partners from Australia and the US have visited RAAF Bases Tindal and Darwin to conduct a Site Activation Task Force (SATAF) activity before the scheduled arrival of the F-35A Lightning II aircraft to the Top End in early 2022.

The task force visited Tindal and Darwin in late February, with the pro-gress impressive according to Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Branch’s Project Director Support Systems, GPCAPT Rodney Srinivasan.

“The SATAF process identifies gaps with existing capabilities and the work required to ensure the bases are ready to support the fifth-generation aircraft,” GPCAPT Srinivasan said.

The most recent SATAF activity followed on from the first Northern Territory site visit in early 2019, which was led by the F-35A pro-

Alisha Welch ject team in Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group. GPCAPT Srinivasan said Air Force played a greater role in February’s activ-ity, which was appropriate as the Australian F-35A Project continues to transition from acquisition to sustain-ment.

“It is important the capability man-ager is heavily involved in this process in order to ensure they understand all the issues and are part of the decision-making process,” he said.

GPCAPT Srinivasan said while last year most of the meetings were held in Darwin with one site visit to Tindal, this year the majority of time was spent at Tindal to get a better picture of what is required.

F-35A SO1 Logistics Engineer WGCDR Aleisha Broadhead, of HQ Air Combat Group, was part of the SATAF working group and said it was important having all key stakeholders in the same place at the same time so

issues could be discussed and resolved.“Being able to provide a clear

understanding across the F-35 enter-prise regarding Air Force’s require-ment for a ‘First Aircraft Arrival’ (FAA) date, and ensuring this was captured in key documents while aligning with other requirements, was a highlight of the SATAF,” WGCDR Broadhead said.

“This will allow Air Force to bal-ance its resources to undertake each activity sequentially, providing maxi-mum efficiency. We are on track with a project plan that articulates depend-encies and the critical path.”

WGCDR Broadhead said Tindal’s unique geographical location and envi-ronmental constraints were a challenge but the experience of preparing RAAF Base Williamtown for F-35A opera-tions would assist in setting up Tindal and No. 75 Squadron.

The CO of the Air Combat Systems Program Office, WGCDR David

Jorgensen, said the SATAF was a great opportunity to inspect the progress of the new facilities and undertake plan-ning to ensure F-35 stand-up activi-ties de-conflict with essential 75SQN Hornet operations.

“We still have a lot of work to do, including important contracting work with the F-35 Joint Program Office, but the plan is achievable,” WGCDR Jorgensen said.

“It was also important to consider Darwin in the plan, as that base will play a key role as a supply point for the delivery of spares into Tindal as part of the Global Support Solution.”

JSF Site Activation Lead SQNLDR Jocelyn Williams, who is currently working at the F-35 Joint Program Office in the US, said it was vital for all functional areas involved in the stand-up of Tindal F-35A operations to share their knowledge and experience.

“The SATAF working group was able to conduct a deep dive into

Tindal’s FAA requirements and inte-grate their plans,” SQNLDR Williams said. “Local industry in Darwin and Katherine is also being evaluated as product support suppliers for the cali-bration, repair and overhaul of F-35 support equipment, training and auto-nomic logistics information system equipment.

“The expe r i ence f rom the Williamtown stand-up gave us a base-line from which to assess and miti-gate potential challenges to the Tindal stand-up. While it won’t immediately impact Tindal operations, we are mon-itoring and planning for changes to the global supply processes and improve-ments to F-35 equipment that will need to be rolled into Tindal during sustainment.”

GPCAPT Srinivasan said the way in which Australia was preparing its bases for F-35A operations was an exemplar to other partner nations in the F-35 enterprise.

GPCAPT Michael Brown.

Alisha Welch program: the economies of scale; the ability to have a truly global support infrastructure; the ability to have smaller indi-vidual national investments in the development of future capa-bilities; and the interoperability of the weapons system among partner and Foreign Military Sales countries.”

And with more than 50 Australian companies already sharing in almost A$1.7 billion worth of global F-35 produc-tion contracts to date, it is clear Australia’s participation in the F-35 Program is supporting the

Government’s goal to achieve a sovereign defence industry that has the capability, posture and resilience to help meet Australia’s defence needs.

“Watching the collaboration from within the JPO, I also think the diversity of thinking, experi-ences and ideals is something for which the partnership is not given enough credit,” GPCAPT Brown said.

“Whether it is seeing how the Dutch are developing a regional warehousing solution that will help all the regions; the UK and Australian team at Eglin Air

Force Base in Florida bringing a new perspective to the repro-gramming enterprise; or how Australia has been activating its bases assists other nations as they stand up their own capa-bilities … all of these achieve-ments are a direct result of the dedicated men and women from all the partner nations, includ-ing US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps and those Services’ civilian staff.

“It has been great to be part of such a dedicated and diverse workplace.”

An F-35A taxis to the hangar at RAAF Base Williamtown. Photo: SGT David Gibbs

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14 Features

SINCE his time as an artillery forward observer, LTGEN Greg Bilton has been routinely tied into Navy and Air Force.

Whether that was naval gunfire or calling in air strikes, joint warfighting was always on LTGEN Bilton’s mind.

After 38 years of service, he became Chief of Joint Operations just before one of Australia’s worst bushfire seasons and a global pandemic, and at a time of increasing competition between global powers.

LTGEN Bilton said the crises were “bringing out the best in us”.

“During Operation Bushfire Assist, I was impressed by how we integrated so well into the state emergency services to support Australians in need,” he said.

LTGEN Bilton paid tribute to the many countries who sent help.

“Their assistance underscores the extent of our friendships and we are very grateful to all of them,” he said.

When Bushfire Assist ended in March, COVID-19 was already gripping the world and Defence launched Operation COVID-19 Assist, which involves about 2000 ADF personnel. ADF members now augment state planning and contact tracing teams, assist police in monitoring health orders and temporarily ran an emergency ward in Tasmania.

LTGEN Bilton said protecting Defence personnel and their families was at the forefront of operational planning.

“The wellbeing of our people is our biggest consideration and we will need everyone to be ready to help over the coming months,” he said.

He also emphasised ADF support was crucial to ensuring the safety of Australians.

“The Australian public can count on us to work with civil agencies to protect the Australian way of life,” he said.

While there was a reduction of personnel deployed overseas due to the virus, LTGEN Bilton said Defence still had a presence abroad and would continue to pursue Australia’s interests.

“We’ve still got more than a thousand people deployed in the Middle East and more in our region,” he said.

“HMAS Toowoomba is in the Gulf interdicting illegal narcotics and keeping

shipping lanes safe and we have Army elements deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“The school we were mentoring in Taji became the first in the country to be declared independent. Our special forces also continue to enable Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service to keep Daesh at bay, which is so important at this point in the campaign.

“Closer to home, HMAS Parramatta has recently undertaken some very pleasing exercises with the United States Navy in the South China Sea and a RAAF P-8A returned last month from monitoring ship-to-ship transfers off the Korean peninsula.”

LTGEN Bilton’s headquarters near Bungendore has instituted arrangements to keep the workforce safe and engaged.

“We are planning exercises and activities remotely where we can so the ADF is still able to work with its allies, partners and other agencies to maintain interoperability,” he said.

“We may have cancelled some face-to-face engagements but we still command and control three standing joint task forces plus a fourth we stood up for Operation COVID-19 Assist.

“I think we have also learnt some important lessons about what is possible from a flexible workplace perspective and I will be looking into this with some interest in the future.”

Advancing Headquarters Joint Operations Command’s (HQJOC) abilities over the coming decade is a focus for LTGEN Bilton.

“HQJOC is a critical node in Australia’s intelligence architecture, focused on supporting the joint force and detecting threats to Australia’s national security,” he said.

“It is one of the world’s best purpose-built joint headquarters facilities. However, we continue to pursue initiatives to ensure we stay fit for purpose in the future.

“I’m in this position until July 2022 and it’s my job to try to make the organisation better than how I found it.”

LTGEN Bilton said HQJOC was at the cutting edge of Defence.

“Our people are experts in their field, dedicated to supporting the joint force, Australia and our allies,” he said.

“All personnel at HQJOC are involved in the employment of the ADF on operations.

“It gives people a sense of satisfaction in planning, executing and seeing it all unfold.”

Disasters such as bushfires and a pandemic are ‘bringing out the best in us’, CJOPS says as he steers a steady course through the tumult.

A presence to count on in times of crises

LTGEN Greg Bilton was made an Officer in the Military Division of the Order of Australia during this year’s Australia Day Honours.

He was recognised for distinguished service as Deputy Commanding General of the United States Army in the Pacific, Deputy Chief of Joint Operations and Commander Forces Command.

The citation said his strategic leadership and diplomacy strengthened Defence’s relationships with major allies and Indo-Pacific partners.

He was credited with preparing Army for the introduction of new capabilities and leading the modernisation of Army’s training.

LEADERSHIP AND DIPLOMACY

LTGEN Bilton lays a poppy on the cenotaph in Camp Baird as part of a sunset ceremony during his first tour of the Middle East as CJOPS last August. Photo: CPL Dan Pinhorn

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CJOPS LTGEN Greg Bilton at Headquarters Joint Operations Command near Bungendore. Photo: LS Kylie Jagiello

LTGEN (then MAJGEN) Bilton, in his previous role as Commander Forces Command, with State Emergency Service personnel in Townsville during the North Queensland floods last year. Less than a year later, he was responding to bushfires as CJOPS. Photo: PTE Brodie Cross

16 Features

IN 2018, I travelled with two friends to Belgium and France to commem-orate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and to make a second vis-

it to the grave of my great uncle, PTE Arthur Ashton Hughes, who died on June 10, 1917, serving with the 42nd Battalion AIF, part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division.

Born in Roma, Queensland, PTE Hughes was the only son of Mrs Jessie Hughes, of Charleville. Before enlist-ing, PTE Hughes worked as a stock-man.

He was 29 when he was killed in the field, not far from where he is buried in the Bethlehem Farm East Cemetery, south-east of Messines.

I visited Arthur’s grave on the 100th anniversary of his death and placed eucalyptus foliage from trees growing at the Army Recruit Training Centre, Kapooka, the Home of the Soldier, on his grave.

On the Centenary of Armistice visit, we were escorted by husband and wife, Annette and Christian, from Camalou Battlefield Tours. Their two-person company specialises in tours of the Ypres Salient and the Somme.

Having lived and grown up around Ypres, they have superior knowledge of the World War I battlefield sites, their history and tragic aftermath.

They were able to point out the field where my great uncle fell during the Battle of Messines – the first time the 3rd Australian Division saw ser-vice on the Western Front.

Back in Australia, I decided to send a gift to Annette and Christian, a limited-edition Spirit of Remembrance bear inspired by traditional British and continental mohair teddy bears, which Annette and Christian named ‘Arthur’ in honour of my great uncle.

Head bowed and standing 52cm tall, the bear is dressed in khaki green service tunic and medals with the Rising Sun badges on his slouch hat and collar.

A recent email from Annette and Christian said that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgians were allowed to walk or ride for exercise, so they were visiting the cemeteries in their area where previous tour guests had a relative buried and had taken the bear to visit my great uncle’s grave.

“There is now another connection to bears in Belgium,” Annette and Christian wrote.

“Because our health department wants that we all have exercise dur-ing this difficult period somebody had the idea to put bears in front of their

Gentle tribute a world awayTwo tour guides in Europe have saluted a fallen Australian, WGCDR Mary Anne Whiting writes.

house and very soon lots of people did the same. The reason is that children when they do an hour of walking with their parents are happy to see all those bears. So we decided to take our bear when we go shopping for food and

take the opportunity to visit cemeteries in our area.”

On this past Anzac Day, on the other side of the world, in the even-ing under the Menin Gate in Ypres, the Last Post was sounded by a single

bugler under the memorial’s great arch, watched only by two stone lions. During World War I, the lions on each side of the Menin Gate, were seen by troops as they went towards the front line. The memorial commemorates

those killed in Belgium but have no known grave and carries the names of 55,000 soldiers including 6000 Australians –so great were the casual-ties not all the names of ‘the missing’ are inscribed.

Last Post privilege after Australian dream comes true

HER experiences travelling around Australia as a young backpacker sowed the seed of the idea to move here, but SGT Shelby Powell could never have imagined she would one day take an active part in an Anzac Day ceremony in Canberra.

Born in Shrewsbury, England, she grew up in a small town called Market Drayton in Shropshire.

At the start of her career she enlisted in the Royal Air Force in August 2002 as a geospatial intel-ligence analyst.

“I had an interest in sport and photography. The recruits told me that this would be a great trade for that,” SGT Powell said.

“I then joined the RAAF as an air intelligence analyst after hav-ing exposure to the Australian lifestyle and culture whilst on exchange with the RAF in 2009 to

FLTLT Bel Scott

The Spirit of Remembrance bear at the grave of WGCDR’s Mary Anne Whiting’s great uncle, PTE Arthur Ashton Hughes, buried in the Bethlehem Farm East Cemetery near Messines. Top right: the bear where PTE Hughes was killed. Right: Annette, of Camalou Battlefield Tours.

SGT Shelby Powell at the Australian War Memorial.

support military operations.“On return to the UK, I submit-

ted an ‘expression of interest’ to be a lateral transfer, then three years later I was given my ‘letter of offer’ to transfer.

“I turned down my RAF promo-tion to come across to the RAAF as it had been a long-term dream to live and work in Australia, and I’ve never looked back.

“Since arriving in Australia, most of my career has been pre-dominantly with the Air Force’s Geospatial Intelligence 460 Squadron in Canberra.

“I had been a backpacker when I was 18, doing all the typi-cal backpacker stuff, which made me fall in love with the country that I now call home.

“I have since set roots by mar-rying an Australian and having two beautiful children.”

SGT Powell was given the honour of doing the reading at

the Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Day.

“Being selected to read at the Last Post ceremony really is a privilege and a career highlight, considering special permission had to be granted due to the cancellation of all services due to COVID-19,” she said. “Anzac Day to me means the loyalty for the country you love and digging in through the tough times.”

SGT Powell is a recipient of multiple UK and Australian awards from her operational deployments to the Middle East region, includ-ing being a member of a unit that earned a Meritorious Unit Citation.

ADF members currently deployed on operations or working overseas, and who are also supporting the COVID-19 response, are upholding the Anzac spirit while serving Australia’s national interests.

Entries Now Open

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Open to all current and former service personnel in the Australian Defence Force. Entrants can submit any visual art medium.

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Two-week research residency in the Art Section of the Australian War Memorial

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Entries open Monday 20 April 2020

Entries close Monday 7 June 2020

RCE 17May 14, 2020AIR F Features

A MEMORIAL service was held at Brocklesby Estate to com-memorate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force Lancaster

Bomber ME442 that was shot down and crashed on March 4, 1945, at Brocklesby Estate in Grimsby, UK, killing the one RAAF and six RAF crew members on board.

Part of No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, RAAF FLGOFF John Ryan led the final flight and was returning from a suc-cessful night-time bombing raid on the Dortmund-Ems canal at Ladbergen, Germany. The bomber was over England and nearing their home base at RAF Spilsby when the aircraft was attacked and shot down by a Luftwaffe Junkers 88 night fighter. Tragically for the crew, the bomber was shot down on the first night of a new Luftwaffe strategy named Operation Gisela, which targeted return-ing bomber aircraft over England as they were preparing to land.

The memorial was organised from Australia by Garry Mahon, a nephew of FLGOFF Ryan, with assistance pro-vided from Brocklesby Estate, No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron Association, and the Moseleians Association which assisted with tracking down UK based relatives.

Australian relatives of FLGOFF Ryan and British relatives of the remaining crew and representatives of the RAAF, RAF and ex-service organisations were able to attend. Special permission to access the estate for the memorial was provided by the Earl of Yarborough, as it is normally closed to visitors during winter.

UK estatehushedfor victimsThe RAAF and RAF crew of a crashed Lancaster bomber have been remembered.

Writers encouraged to explore experience through awardsFLTLT Carl Curtain

A RETIRED RAAF pilot, who received wide acclaim for writing about his own experiences serv-ing in Vietnam and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is encouraging others to share their own writing and research to add to the histori-cal knowledge of work done by service people.

Former FLTLT Bob Grandin’s book Answering the Call: Life of a Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam was published as his prize for winning the 2018 RAAF Heritage Award.

The book details previ-ously undocumented accounts of helicopters operating during the Vietnam War and coping with life as a returned serviceman.

Mr Grandin says he found writing to be a cathartic experi-ence, allowing him to face issues it raised.

“It was also important from my perspective to describe the day-to-day operations of the 9SQN helicopters, which I believed had not been told, and the impacts upon a veteran’s life following war service - from my experience and perspective,” Mr Grandin said.

Although his book took many years to complete, it was the opportunity to publish the story that prompted Mr Grandin to enter the RAAF Heritage Awards.

“I had completed a manu-script when I entered and looked to adjust it to better suit the historical aspect of the award by adding details of operations that were described from the personal involvement level,” Mr Grandin said.

“I was able to work with the publisher to present the story in a marketable form and, most importantly, finally have the story presented to the public.”

As a co-pilot of a 9SQN heli-copter which resupplied soldiers engaged in battle at the Long

Tan rubber plantation in 1966, Mr Grandin was also recently depict-ed on the big screen via the 2019 movie Danger Close: the Battle of Long Tan.

The RAAF Heritage Awards, which are now open to nomina-tions for the 2021 round, is a literature competition designed to enhance the records of Air Force and foster interest in its history and heritage.

In 2021, the three prize categories include an award of $25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second place and $10,000 for third place. In a break from previous years, the 2021 round will seek entries that highlight areas of the Air Force’s history, which have not been thoroughly covered in the past. The focus will be on Cold War activities and South-East Asia Treaty Organisation involvement, United Nations commitments, and post-war transitions as a period of force regeneration and force rebalance.

Submissions are to be received no later than midnight June 30, 2021, with winning manuscripts published over the following two years. Further details, including full conditions of entry, can be found at air-force.history@defence.gov.au

Author Bob Grandin.

SQNLDR Adam Lawson, the RAAF Air Warfare Centre (AWC) liaison officer at the RAF AWC in Waddington, was hon-oured to attend the event on behalf of the Australian High Commission.

“It is important for the RAAF to con-tinue to honour the memory of the men and women, and their families, that have sacrificed so much for Australia during times of conflict,” SQNLDR Lawson said.

“In particular the ability to meet and share the experience with the families of both the RAAF and RAF servicemen was a significant privilege.”

The 10-month search to find the UK relatives of the crew members was finally concluded only three weeks before the event, when a nephew of air gunner SGT Herbert Payne was found after the death of his sister and posting of her obituary in a local paper.

The service at Brocklesby Estate. Top right: a plaque listing the crew. Photos: SAC James Skerrett RAF

18 Features

The Directorate of Organisational Behaviour and Culture – Air Force has developed the Air Force Diversity and Inclusion Guide which discusses diversity of thought, perspectives and approaches using examples, members’ stories and a range of online resources including Ted Talks and useful templates.

The Guide

WGCDR Samantha Freebairn says to thrive is to embrace differences, FLTLT Jessica Aldred writes.

Adaptingto newchallengesA CHILDHOOD dream to

fly became the reality for WGCDR Samantha Free-bairn, which turned into a

fantastic career flying incredible mis-sions to far-flung places.

WGCDR Freebairn said pioneering Air Force women pilots paved the way for her to follow her dream, although women are still in the minority in the pilot world.

“I’ve truly lived my childhood dream of being a pilot, but I look at the early years and feel I spent a good deal of them trying to ‘fit in’ with the men in the male-dominated environments I worked in,” WGCDR Freebairn said.

“When I was returning to opera-tional flying after having my children, I had to return part-time as we were unable to secure full-time daycare. It was a crazy juggle – I had to maintain all full-time currency and recency requirements, individual readiness, regain and retain full flying medical status and a flying schedule that was often ad hoc and short notice.”

It was during one of these mis-sions WGCDR Freebairn’s aircraft was retasked for another week while they were on the way home. As an Air Force pilot, this was just part of the job. But as a working mother, this meant making urgent arrangements for her mum to help out with her children as her husband was also due to fly out the next day.

“I felt like I was holding on by a thread – I had to fit back into the nor-mal operational squadron routine, but my life’s situation was anything but normal,” WGCDR Freebairn said.

“I am eternally grateful to the empathy and courage of my new boss who asked me how I was going. His leadership gave me permission to stop trying to juggle the ‘fitting back in’, and instead we explored ways for the organisation to adapt, and for me to adapt.”

WGCDR Freebairn believes diverse experiences and perspectives are critical for Air Force to adapt and evolve.

“Air Force recruits each of us for

our unique attributes and aptitudes, to be trained to perform a role. Because everyone is different, it means what enables one person to thrive may struggle to allow someone else to,” she said.

“We need to be open to different perspectives at all levels; it’s essential to reach the high standards expected and achieve our capability effects.

“As a pilot, I have experienced many occurrences where having a crew with varying experiences, back-grounds and perspectives has ensured not just a safe outcome but a more efficient and holistic one.”

WGCDR Freebairn said the Air Force workforce should represent the community it serves.

“We need this diversity, and the supporting policies, in place to encour-age people to join this incredible organisation; and it’s important to note that while some policies may be designed for a specific group of people they can benefit others. In my team now, I have two men job-sharing under a flexible work arrangement. A policy that was originally developed for women,” WGCDR Freebairn said.

More stories from members can be found in the Air Force Diversity and Inclusion Guide at: http://drnet.defence.gov.au/raaf/AirForce/PERSAF/PersonnelBranch-AF/Pages/Resources.aspx WGCDR Samantha Freebairn says Air Force should reflect the community it serves. Photo: CPL Kylie Gibson

THE Australian public is on the cusp of gaining access to a treasure trove of historical RAAF documents, many of which have been kept under lock and key for 100 years.

Air Board Agendas and Orders, along with Chief of Air Staff Advisory Committee (CASAC/CAFAC) min-utes are set to be digitised, under a partnership with the National Archives of Australia (NAA).

For the first time, the public will have online access to the docu-ments, which are regarded as key artefacts in the history of the Air Force. Digitisation of the documents is well advanced, with the first vol-ume about to be released online.

The records, which consist of

RAAF documents set to see light of digital age FLTLT Carl Curtain

more than 130 bound volumes, have been kept secure by the Directorate of History and Heritage Services – Air Force, at Defence Establishment Fairbairn.

The papers date back to 1919, detailing key decisions made in the formation of Air Force, including planned appointments and rank structures.

Among those historical docu-ments are the signatures of first Chiefs of Air Staff AIRMSHL Sir Richard Williams and AIRMSHL Stanley Goble.

The Air Board was the controlling organisation of Air Force until 1976, when it was succeeded by CASAC.

Ahead of Air Force 2021, the Director General History and Heritage – Air Force, AIRCDRE John Meier, says the digitisation project represents a gift to Defence staff and the broader community.

“Making these documents avail-able to historians, researchers, even school children via the NAA, means our Air Force history can be explored and understood more thor-oughly,” AIRCDRE Meier said.

He said the age and fragility of the documents has meant access

had been heavily restricted, until now.

“Some of the documents are quite fragile, being on thin paper that has worn away or been torn over the years,” AIRCDRE Meier said.

“Unfortunately, there is always great concern over providing too wide access to the documents as each time they are accessed the risk increases of their damage and potential loss. But this project will ensure they remain safeguarded, while being readily available to the interested public.”

Select volumes of these docu-ments have been digitised previ-ously and are held by the NAA. The first volume of Air Board Agendas under the current digitisation project will soon be available via the NAA website.

The Duke of York, centre, inspecting

RAAF Station Point Cook in April 1927. To the Duke’s right

is Chief of the Air Staff Group CAPT

Richard Williams and to his left

WGCDR Rolf Brown (background) and

WGCDR Adrian Cole. Photo: Australian

War Memorial

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RCE 19May 14, 2020AIR F Sport

CPL Veronica O’Hara

INSPIRED by family, friends and colleagues affected by can-cer, WOFF Mark McIntyre found himself walking more than ever before, with an unexpected side effect.

WOFF McIntyre spent 48 hours walking 229km during March as he raised $1504 for Cancer Council’s March Charge.

Knowing little about the event, he set a goal of $1500 and 155km but after three weeks increased it to 200km. In the remaining few days, he pushed an extra 29km.

“I wanted to end exactly on 229 – I stopped the app recording halfway up my street to be sure I didn’t go over,” WOFF McIntyre said. “It was in memory of a member I’d supported dur-ing 2019 who lost his battle in December, he was only 29 years old and a father.”

Holidaying in the Whitsundays, he strode about 50km on the hilly island despite the bad weather caused by a tropical low.

“Even though each day was pouring with rain and windy – the coconuts falling around me – I had some views and lapped it up with a big smile on my face,” WOFF McIntyre said.

“I had a great time while my wife Julie was stuck in the hotel room, except for short walks. It wasn’t the holiday we had imagined, but she gave me the freedom to get soaked.”

Besides losing 11kg, the long walks helped with his grief and resilience before becoming part of his regular mindfulness routine.

“I walked further because I noticed I was processing what had been a big year.

“I could see the benefits and it made me try even harder – it was my fuel,” WOFF McIntyre said.

“Caring for myself in this way has been a positive thing and I will do it again next year.

“Even now, a month later, I still do a walk every day.”

A member support coordina-tor at RAAF Base Richmond, WOFF McIntyre said exercising

alone gave time to reflect and look after his own wellbeing.

“Walking to the top of the highest mountain on Hamilton Island and along its hilly paths was hard work, but enjoyable because I was telling cancer where to go,” he said.

Living near Penrith where he was born and raised, is where WOFF McIntyre clocked up the most distance.

“I’ve discovered a lot of my local area that I had no idea existed, like the steps up to a lookout in a nearby reserve that really got my heart rate up,” he said. “Before starting I’d planned to go into Sydney for some of the spectacular paths and national parks for motivation.

“When social-distancing restrictions came into force I had to find other ways, but the real encouragement came from how it made me feel.”

WOFF McIntyre was deter-mined to only count dedicated walks as part of his charge.

“Starting out I had some aches and pains but did stretches and with regular walking gradu-

ally built up distance to 8km; my biggest day was 16km,” he said.

“But I didn’t want to give it up so did all the right things – stretched, warm shower and rubbed the hip. The next day felt less sore and I was off again.

“There was no lapping the block either. I set my mind on an out and in-path so to return home was the same distance as what I’d just walked.”

On March 25, WOFF McIntyre reached 40 years of service. The “blue” runs in the blood – his father did 27 years and his son 12 years in the same uniform.

He placed in the March Charge’s top 80 single fundrais-ers, which he sees as a “feather in the caps” of those who donated.

“Another reason to keep going was exceeding my expec-tations, thanks to the help of my supporters – we raised it togeth-er,” WOFF McIntyre said.

“It was my way of helping research for a cure and care to cancer patients. Hopefully, even-tually cancer will be wiped from this Earth.”

FLTLT Katrina Trimble

PHYSICAL distancing doesn’t mean you can’t stay phys-ically fit and the Men’s Air Force Rugby Union team are finding ways to use technology to maintain their fitness and teamwork.

Players came together in early March, before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced, to undertake a training camp at Borneo Barracks with the goal to develop their core skills and match fitness. The team’s motto is ‘One Team, One Dream’ and has 35 members which includes players and coaches from all ranks and many locations across Australia.

This camp established field positions, fitness levels and was the first time the players learnt to run together as a squad. The team even had the opportunity to conduct opposed train-ing with one of the local com-munity teams, the Toowoomba Rangers.

The i r goa l was to become a fighting force t h a t w o u l d take home the Australian, New Zealand, United States (ANZUS) shield trophy. Despi te these g a m e s b e i n g cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions the team continues to find innova-tive ways to train together.

The team’s h e a d c o a c h , FSGT Michael G o d f r e y , i s extremely proud of how the team continue to train despite the cir-cumstances.

“Rugby Union is a great way to connect with others and after training so hard we didn’t want the boys to lose that motivation once we all returned to our home loca-tions,” FSGT Godfrey said.

Once they returned home the team members main-tained their tight-knit group Whatsapp chat and what started with daily check-ins morphed into fitness chal-lenges and training routines.

“The team have been doing a great job to work togeth-er but remotely,” FSGT Godfrey said.

“Both the forwards and the backs have been setting individual running and fitness challenges to keep them working hard. The team is pushing each other to limits they have never experienced before, and not only is their fitness improving but it’s also a good mental health check and morale boost.

“We always tell the team do not fear failure but be ter-rified of regret, they are definitely making the most of the current environment.

“I think for me this is so impressive. The squad con-tinue to maintain their commitment and drive considering the circumstances around Australia.”

The team isn’t just keeping their fitness levels up for fun, they are hoping to dominate the Navy and Army teams during the next inter-service rugby competition.

Any members with an interest in joining the Air Force Rugby Union team should contact FSGT Godfrey at michael.godfrey@defence.gov.au

Team keeps up training in isolation

A player from the Men’s Air Force Rugby Union team prepares for a remote training session.

Going the distancefor a friend

CPL Julia Whitwell

ADF rowers have gone the distance for the 2020 Anzac Day Indoor Rowing Challenge, clocking up a staggering amount of kilometres to raise money for soldiers past and present.

Rowers were invited to row 2504m on indoor machines as many times as possible between dawn and dusk.

More than 1500 rowers from across Australia and New Zealand took part to see which nation could get the biggest total.

ADF members recorded

Oarsome effort as rowers raise funds some mind-boggling distances for Rowing Australia.

ADF King’s Cup crew member MAJ Carl Bleimschein rowed more than 75km.

“I was aiming for 100km but decided to call it a day at 75km and 120m as I was starting to get quite tired,” MAJ Bleimschein said.

King’s Cup crew coxswains FLTLT Ruby Brady-Welsh and FLGOFF Jessica Winnall strapped in and slogged it out with the rowers.

“I did over five hours and I felt the challenge,” FLTLT Brady-Welsh said

FLGOFF Winnall said

reuniting with the King’s Cup squad inspired her to keep rowing.

“The entire squad got involved and it really felt like we were all pulling together again,” FLGOFF Winnall said.

Despite registering fewer metres than rowers in New Zealand, ADF rowers recorded marathon distances for the event.

King’s Cup crew member SGT Damien Richardson and wife CPL Marissa Richardson clocked up 120km between them. Other notable efforts were CAPT Mitch Lindsay on deployment in Papua New

Guinea, who recorded 42km, and reservist MAJ Tom Cregan who completed more than 50km.

The Anzac Day rowing challenge was a chance for Defence members to con-nect with their community and reflect despite being stuck indoors.

Australian and New Zealand rowers recorded 19,398km collectively, almost half the Earth’s circumference.

All money raised was donated to the RSL Australia Anzac Appeal and the Royal New Zealand Returned Services League.

WOFF Mark McIntyre walked

229km and raised $1504. Photo: CPL David

Said

SPSP RTRTMay 14, 2020

BIGSTEPS

Going the distance to help beat cancer

WOFF Mark McIntyre walked

229km over 31 days for the Cancer

Council’s March Charge.

Photo: CPL David Said

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