A/COMD 3Bde COL Damian Hill addresses 3CER troops before they move out to assist in cyclone-aff ected areas of the State
H
ELLO, I’m COL
Damian Hill and I have the
privilege of being appointed
to the position of Acting
Commander of 3rd Brigade.
The appointment of BRIG
Chris Field to the role of State
Disaster Co-ordinator is a
genuine statement about the
quality of his leadership and
ability.
The 3rd Brigade wishes him
well in his present task and
will warmly welcome him back
when that work is done.
I have a great team to work
with and am confi dent we
will achieve our mid-year
operational ready state goal.
HE adaptability of
3Bde’s soldiers is
astonishing – from being
fully immersed in exercises
at Townsville Field Training
Area, they returned to
support their family’s
cyclone preparation and
then readied to support
communities in the
cyclone aff ected areas.
A Joint Task Force, JTF661 was
raised to respond.
T
6 | APRIL 2017
From the (Acting)
Commander’s
DESK
Reconnaissance and assessment
teams were fi rst out the door to
gauge the damage.
Meanwhile liaison teams
worked closely with State, Local
Government and the community
to understand the needs of the
aff ected areas.
This enabled the planners to
prioritise tasking.
The Emergency Support
Force rolled forward and the
aff ected communities soon
benefi ted from fresh water and
engineering support.
The Navy was also there with
a real hero ship in HMAS
Melville which surveyed ports
to ensure navigational safety,
distributed water to isolated
communities and, with its small
boat, guided civilian craft in the
evacuation of Daydream Island.
HMAS Choules has now arrived
and is adding horsepower to the
eff ort.
The skies have been alive with
aviation assets from the RAAF
and the 5th Aviation Regiment.
Their eff orts have spanned a
wide spectrum of support from
reconnaissance, transport and
evacuation to critical resupply.
All involved have done a
magnifi cent job.
ARD to believe
but we have other
work going on at a great
pace at 3rd Brigade.
We have forces, being raised and
prepared throughout the year to
support operations in the Middle
East in communication, training,
protection and logistics roles.
The fi rst deployment will be
Task Group Taji based on 3RAR
which will depart in early May.
Their fi nal preparation and
training is underway and they
will be well prepared for the