G'bye mates - it been great knowing you

General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman presenting Op Herrick Medal to Bombardier Byron Bushell

Australian soldiers from Darwin-based 8/12 Medium Regiment, the Royal Australian Artillery, have completed a six-month tour of Afghanistan manning guns alongside British soldiers from 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (1 RHA).

The 15 men formed the ‘Brumby’ troop – named after the wild Australian horse from the Snowy Mountains – and were responsible for two 105 mm Light Guns working out of Forward Operating Base Armadillo in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan. They were the fourth Australian Artillery unit to deploy with the British Army.

On Friday 16 April a special open-air breakfast, remembrance church service and a medal parade was held at 1 RHA’s base in Tidworth, Wiltshire, to bid farewell and God-speed to the Aussie soldiers who had become so much a part of the Regiment during the 14 months they served together.

They were presented with their Operation Herrick medals by General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, the Honorary Colonel of 1 RHA and the British Army’s Master Gunner. After the ceremony he told them:

“You have been part of something very big. When the pages of history are written about Afghanistan, these last six months will prove to have been the turning point of the campaign. You have seen remarkable and pioneering achievements on the ground and have taken part in a scale of operations not seen since the 2nd World War. You have done spectacularly well and I congratulate you.”

Before deploying last October they trained for six months in the United Kingdom with 1 RHA on training areas such as Otterburn and Salisbury Plain. Captain Scott Calvert, the Contingent Commander, explained:

“The training included converting from the 155 mm Medium Guns to the British digitalized Light Guns and that prepared the boys really well, reinforcing the training we had back home.”

“When we arrived we were all looking forward to an English summer so it was a bit of a shock when we got up to Otterburn and had freezing rain coming in sideways at us – but we survived.”

While Brumby Troop was working out on the ground in Afghanistan Captain Calvert was playing a key role in the planning of Operation Moshtarak in Camp Bastion, working alongside British, Estonian, French, American and Afghan commanders.

“To be at the forefront of that planning and shaping the operation with the Battle Group was definitely the high point of my career, and an amazing and professionally challenging experience,” he said.

“It was also good to get out with the boys working as a Forward Observation Officer – we took part in aviation assault operations going into compounds and clearing them of the enemy.”
Captain Scott and Megan Calvert, Scott is the Contingent Commander.

Captain Calvert, 35, was greeted by his wife Megan, when he arrived back in England after the deployment. She had flown from Darwin, leaving their two children Amelia, 5, and William, 3, in the care of their grandparents, in time to join her husband to celebrate their 7th wedding anniversary in Paris.
Bombardier Byron Bushell, 25, second-in-command of one of the gun teams, said,

“It has been the trip of a lifetime – absolutely fantastic. Our two regiments are very similar so there was no real change in the way we had to behave. We all got along fine and made some really good friends – although there was quite a bit of banter over the Ashes.”

Two of the soldiers, Lance Bombardier Brad Stapleton and Lance Bombardier Adam Ratcliffe, have played cricket for the Australian Army, and were delighted when the troop was invited to the hallowed cricket ground of Lords to watch the one day international between England and Australia just before they deployed.

Lance Bombardier Stapleton will have other priorities when he arrives back in Darwin however – his six-month-old son Jack was born whilst he was in Afghanistan.

“I managed to see him at Christmas when I went home on leave and it was the hardest thing in the world to leave him and my wife Louise at the end. But I’m very pleased I did the tour, it’s been an amazing experience.”

The Australian soldiers are due to fly back to Darwin on Sunday 18 April (but may be delayed due to the grounding of aeroplanes because of volcanic ash over the UK) and will then take a well-deserved five weeks leave.

Aussie Gunners support Brits in Helmand

British troops are working with a variety of coalition partners in Helmand province, including Australian Gunners, who over the summer have been supporting 19 Light Brigade in the Upper Gereshk Valley.

The Gunners, from the 105th Medium Battery, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, have been based at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Armadillo supporting British and Danish ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops as well as Afghan National Security Forces.

The Aussie Gunners joined up with 19 Light Brigade in early April and in the first four months of their deployment the Australian Artillery troop engaged in 42 fire support missions and laid on numerous others, totalling 1,008 rounds fired in anger in support of Danish and British infantry units.

On a regular basis multi-national patrols were conducted to resight the field defences and ground dominating patrols by day and night were also sent out to deter and observe local support for the Taliban and identify depth firing positions used by the Taliban to engage the FOB from maximum range.

During the deployment the troop have also been involved in some large scale operations as well, including Operation PANTHER'S CLAW, designed to increase the ISAF area of influence.

For the Australian Gunners one incident in the operation stood out; a high value target was identified and engaged with high explosive rounds from the troop, 500lb (227kg) bombs from F-15 aicraft and 120mm rounds from Danish Leopard 2 tanks simultaneously.

The bombardment was then topped off when the troop fired a 60-round smoke screen to allow the tank troop to disengage from the contact.

On one occasion during their deployment, the FOB was subjected to small arms fire around the gun position from five different firing points as well as co-ordinated indirect fire (IDF). This fire included rocket-propelled grenades which detonated behind and within the walls of the FOB.

During the contact the troop received a counter-battery fire mission on the IDF point of origin given by the counter-IDF detachment. The IDF was silenced after 14 high explosive proximity rounds from the troop.

Another highlight of the tour for the Australians included the involvement in an incident which required the FOB to launch a hasty multi-national Quick Reaction Force (QRF), commanded by elements of the Aussie Troop, to assist a British Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team patrol under heavy accurate and sustained fire.

The QRF consisted of all elements from within the FOB and utilised Danish vehicles for transport and fire support.

According to the Australian Department of Defence, the deployment has been an extremely rewarding and humbling experience for the 'Diggers', as the Australian Gunners are colloquially known.