RubiconNZ
The Wanderer
Our deadly games — taking on the Taliban
October 8, 2006
Reporter : Ross Coulthart
Ross Coulthart presents an exclusive insight into how Australian soldiers are being prepared for the risks and judgments they will have to make in fighting an insurgent war.
The Australian troops are going to extraordinary lengths to take on the Taliban and al-Qaeda, creating a fake Afghan village where our soldiers are forced to react to deadly scenarios. The stakes are incredibly high and about to get even higher.
This latest assignment is expected to be the most dangerous our troops have faced since Vietnam — and the political fallout, if things do go wrong, will be massive.
In Britain, Canada and the US, the escalating dangers faced by troops in Afghanistan have become front-page news. British combat troops are six times more likely to die in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
Now Australia has committed a total of 400 troops to Afghanistan's Oruzgan province. So dangerous is this commitment that it includes an extra 120 infantry soldiers who are being sent to provide "security protection" for Australian engineers, rebuilding key infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Before they go soldiers from the 5th/7th Battalion have been put through gruelling rehearsals for the mission. The training includes a notional Afghan village, with soldiers dressed and posing as tribesmen and women. In challenging and often quite confronting scenarios, the Diggers are trained to tell friend from foe — and how to respond to the nightmare probability of a roadside bomb attack.
It's almost exactly five years since the so-called "War on Terror" began in Afghanistan. Routed by Coalition forces, including Australian SAS troops, the Taliban mainly fled into Pakistan. Convinced the war in Afghanistan was largely won; America withdrew most of its combat troops and turned its attention to Iraq. In May this year a new operation was mounted in Afghanistan. Australia's top soldiers admit that the ferocity of the fighting is worse than anything since Vietnam.
The risk of Australian casualties in Afghanistan is about to become far greater. This report is an exclusive insight into the extraordinary dangers Australian Diggers will be facing in just a few weeks.
TRANSCRIPT
ROSS COULTHART: It's a perfect day for spending hours with the kids in the park. But for these army dads, this time with their children is more precious than ever. Each knows they'll soon be thousands of kilometres away in Afghanistan… facing a formidable foe.
PRIVATE MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I'm ready. I'm ready mentally. I'm ready physically. I'm sure about that.
LANCE CORPORAL SCOTT BARRY: My Dad's not real keen on me going away again. He's not real keen on where we're going. But I try to say it's going to be fine and alright and comfort him, make him feel better — same as Desley.
ROSS COULTHART: I bet you never get used to it?
DESLEY SCHMIDT: I am happy he's going to help other people but I am a bit scared because he's got a little one and I don't know how I am going to cope on my own.
ROSS COULTHART: Today, an insight into how Australia is preparing troops for what is probably this country's most dangerous military deployment in decades. For these men from the 5th/7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment the vital lessons they learn here in the Northern Territory may well save their lives in Afghanistan. Not only is it a high risk military deployment, their commanders know there's also a political dimension
Do you think it's overstating the issue to say that if a young officer like that makes a wrong decision on the ground, the decision he makes could potentially decide a future Australian Election?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME, COMMANDER ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT: The actions that our soldiers are taking on the ground have strategic implications for Australia whether that be an election, whether that be a decision to commit further forces. What that outcome is doesn't matter but the impact can be strategic.
ROSS COULTHART: A week ago the Chief of Australia's Defence Force acknowledged that Australian Special Forces troops now returning from Afghanistan saw savage and sustained fighting.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL ANGUS HOUSTON, MEDIA BRIEFING 27/9/06: I also have a great deal of empathy for the soldiers themselves who have been through an experience which in terms of prolonged battlefield stress and combat intensity is unlike any encountered since Vietnam in the 1970s.
ROSS COULTHART: Where the SAS and Commandoes were in combat is just where these Diggers are heading — to help protect the Australian reconstruction task-force in Oruzgan province.
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: You get to test yourself on the things that you have learned. And to not do that would be disappointing. By the same token you feel guilty because you're saying I'm off and there's a cost at the other end of it.
ROSS COULTHART: It's also a very dangerous deployment isn't it?
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: Potentially… Potentially.
SHERYL DENHERT: The whole lead-up to the tour can be quite hard actually. I know I start distancing myself from Paul even when he's not gone so it can be quite … We have a few little moments.
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: Stress levels are up a bit.
DESLEY SCHMIDT: We watch the news. It tells you everything you need to know about how dangerous it's going to be.
ROSS COULTHART: The British are fighting in Afghanistan too — and losing an increasing number of men. Simply re-supplying this British base in Helmand province means dicing with death. In the last five months British forces there fought 426 gun battles.
BRITISH SOLDIER: It's unlike anything we could have imagined or experienced before we left the UK.
ROSS COULTHART: At the highest levels in Britain, there is a growing realisation that things are far more dangerous in Afghanistan than anyone predicted.
UK DEFENCE SECRETARY DES BROWNE: The Taliban's tenacity in the face of massive losses has been a surprise
ROSS COULTHART: The Diggers will be based in Tirin Kowt in Oruzgan province — a hot-bed of insurgent Taliban attacks close to where British troops are getting hammered.
LT COL PETER SHORT, COMMANDER 5TH/7TH BATTALION RAR: I am telling them that they should expect to face combat — that it is very likely and they need to be prepared and ready.
ROSS COULTHART: Lt-Col Peter Short, the Commander of the 5th/7th Battalion is doing final checks on what's called a mission rehearsal exercise — designed to test the readiness of his departing troops.
ROSS COULTHART: It's pretty sobering though, what you're doing here. You're planning for the possibility; some would say the probability of Australian casualties?
LT COL PETER SHORT: It's very sobering. Absolutely. But what we do know is that the effort we put in now to our training will result in less lives at risk at the end of the day.
ROSS COULTHART: Many of these soldiers have only been in the Army for less than a year and some of these officers, going through last minute checks, are recent graduates of the Royal Military College at Duntroon. For the next 48 hours of the Mission Rehearsal, every decision Major Justin Elwin makes in the field will be scrutinised. Just 32-years-old he is the commanding officer who will lead the additional company of about 120 men to Afghanistan. Five generations of his family have served in the military, including his grandfather who fought on the Kokoda track.
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN: He's extremely proud but like most Australian families and certainly families of the soldiers that I'll command, he's ah apprehensive and keen to know that I am going to be well and going to be safe and going to do the mission and do it well.
ROSS COULTHART: We drive in early the next morning towards a fictional Afghan village, where the Australian troops are guarding engineers rebuilding a road. We've been asked to pose as international media for this exercise. Can we get through this checkpoint?
Clearly not! In this fictional scenario, the Australian soldiers have discovered a body on the road on their way in but how will Major Justin Elwin handle the allegation his men shot a villager.
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN TALKING TO INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: As the media you have freedom of movement in the area. We're not stopping you from doing so in any way shape or form. So if you wish to move on you may.
ROSS COULTHART: Now out of our role-playing we move on to the Afghan village. Where two villagers are getting a tad close to the Australian security cordon around these engineering works.
This is a typical dilemma that the Australians will have to face in Afghanistan. This is — for the sake of this exercise — a village, a local village somewhere in Afghanistan. And it's just a couple of hundred metres from an Australian site where the engineers will be rebuilding. Now the Australians of course have put up a security cordon and the issue they have to confront here is that as the villagers inevitably come closer, when to recognise them as a threat.
SOLDIER TALKING TO 'VILLAGERS': Have to ask you not to get too close to the worksite.
ROSS COULTHART: Many of the soldiers posing as villagers here today have served in the Middle East. They know well how at a meeting like this with a village chief, an unintentional cultural impoliteness can have potentially drastic consequences. Every word and nuance is monitored by Lt Col Short and the First Brigade Commander Brigadier Craig Orme.
SOLDIER TALKING TO VILLAGE 'CHIEF': I must leave.
CHIEF: So soon? It's not the way of here. Things don't happen overnight.
ROSS COULTHART: The 'villagers' now spring their next surprise on the Australians. A funeral procession, with the body strapped to the roof of this four wheel drive. How will Justin Elwin and his soldiers react?
In Iraq and Afghanistan innocent civilians have been killed by Coalition troops because of misunderstandings.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. Train hard, fight easy. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to put these blokes into the situations before they go into the country so they've been there emotionally. They've been there mentally. They know what that fear is. They know how to conquer and how to deal with it.
ROSS COULTHART: Next this village boy is arrested because he walked towards the Australian soldiers with an unexploded bomb. It's a common problem in Afghanistan, which is littered with unexploded bombs — but the Australians have to treat the boy and the bomb as a potential threat. But things turn ugly…
CHIEF: Do not turn your back on me.
SOLDIER: Back off. F..ing move, out of the f..ing way.
CHIEF: Do not point your weapons at me.
SOLDIER TO VILLAGERS: For now we've got that bomb over there. We need to move away from the area. As soon as that's dealt with my boss will come and speak to you about your son. Is that OK?
CHIEF: That's not OK. I need to speak to your boss.
ROSS COULTHART: This is just an exercise but it's clearly very authentic for the Diggers being tested.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: About as realistic as we can get.
ROSS COULTHART: Does it get the pulse up when you're the officer having to make those decisions?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: Absolutely. This is war as she really is, short of people actually shooting at you. You see the young blokes, the tension in their faces. The pupils are broad like dinner plates. They're challenged. They're stressed and they're learning.
ROSS COULTHART: With the bomb defused … and the village boy returned with the help of Afghan Highway Police… Major Elwin and his soldiers could be forgiven for thinking their horror day is nearly over.
VILLAGERS INVITING SOLDIERS' CO TO FEAST: Big feast with our chief
SOLDIER: Sounds pretty good.
CHIEF TO MAJOR ELWIN: I and my village are offended. You have taken my cousin and locked him up. He will be flogged. You have forced me to flog my cousin. For this I am not happy. Myself and my village do not want you here. This is our country. I would like to know what Australia wants in this area in my country. What right do you have to come to my country and operate in my village.
ROSS COULTHART: It's been a long day — and you can hear the strain in Justin Elwin's voice.
MAJOR ELWIN TALKING TO VILLAGE 'CHIEF': We are new here in Afghanistan. … Because we are new in this country we did not know if his intention was good or honourable or otherwise. We are here at the behest of the Afghanistani Government and we are here to do reconstruction and that's what we were doing out here this morning. …I come to see you to say that there has been a misunderstanding….We're here to make things better for you for no other reason.
VILLAGE 'CHIEF' TO MAJOR ELWIN: I would like you have to a meal with me so we can bond as men.
ROSS COULTHART: The curry has been made insanely hot to test the Major but you wouldn't know it. But just as the Australians seem to have befriended the locals, they still have to be on their guard. The Diggers have got used all day to waving this notional Afghan Police vehicle through their checkpoints. But this time, it's a suicide bomber. If they don't shoot when he breaches their checkpoint, they will die. In just a few weeks there's every chance the bomb will be real.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: I have got to say that I expect that our soldiers will probably see some combat and ah need to respond accordingly. It's a dangerous mission and a dangerous place.
ROSS COULTHART: Do you believe in that mission. There's been a lot of scepticism as you know about Iraq. How do you and how do you think your men feel about Afghanistan as a mission?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: They all support it to a T. It's the sort of thing where if we don't go and fight this battle today and it's been said many times before then our children will have to fight it or someone else will have to fight it.
ROSS COULTHART: Early next morning, the troops load their weapons with live ammunition. Today is to be the most realistic — and dangerous — part of the exercise. As in Afghanistan, they'll be travelling in either these light armoured vehicles — the ASLAV — or the Bushmasters. Both will protect soldiers against machine gun bullets but there's still the threat of Rocket Propelled Grenades and roadside bombs. And unlike our Special Forces troops, the nature of their job in Afghanistan means these soldiers will often have to travel to the same engineering project along the same road each day…increasing the risk of ambush.
Now the mission rehearsal today is intended to practice for that scenario. And just at this very moment, a few minutes down the road, there's a convoy of ASLAVs and Bushmaster vehicles rumbling towards us. And they'll be coming through this gully. They don't know it but they're going to be hit with an almighty explosion just here by the side of the road and what happens next is going to test their response to that dreadful scenario.
Justin Elwin is trying to outflank the insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades from the hillside after the bomb went off. It's the nightmare scenario…the armoured vehicle is out of action…two soldiers are seriously injured. Speed and clear decisions are critical. Another grim lesson from what the British and Canadian troops have endured in recent months is that Commanders like Justin Elwin may not always be able to rely on close air support to bomb an enemy position.
They can't always guarantee getting close air support. They can't always guarantee that they'll be the first priority if there's artillery needed?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: For artillery, absolutely, we can guarantee that. That's the way we design the missions. The air support, I am very confident that we will have the air support we need. And part of our mission planning is that we're not going outside that wire unless we're sure we have the support our soldiers need to respond to any threat that arises.
ROSS COULTHART: It's been a gruelling 48 hours for Major Justin Elwin. It is a huge responsibility you face isn't it?
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN: Yes it is. I am conscious of that daily. And certainly the exercises, the activities we have been doing over the last 48 hours in particular have brought that home to me. I'm conscious of it but I feel really privileged that I am surrounded by a large number of individuals who are as equally committed as I am. And ah who are extremely professional and extremely good at what they do.
LT COL PETER SHORT SPEAKING TO OFFICERS AT DE-BRIEF: This is not a witch-hunt. This is not a session where we look to criticise people for the decisions they make or took.
ROSS COULTHART: But there's little time for rest. Late into the night, Peter Short takes them through every key command decision of the day.
LT COL PETER SHORT SPEAKING TO OFFICERS AT DE-BRIEF: No man in this room is free of making mistakes…
ROSS COULTHART: For these last few precious weeks before her husband Sergeant Paul Denhert departs for Afghanistan, the last thing Sheryl wants to think about is the dangers he'll be facing there.
SHERYL DENHERT: I tell him I don't want to know about it
ROSS COULTHART: What do you say to Molly?
PAUL DENHERT: At the moment she knows that Daddy's going to the desert. And as far as she's concerned, Daddy runs around and shoots guns.
PRIVATE MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I have a lot of confidence in the way I was trained…
ROSS COULTHART: Michael Bottalico is a former New Yorker who used to be in the American military and rejoined the Australian Army after 9-11.
MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I'd have to say September 11th had a lot to do with me getting back in. All my family's from NY and being an American, at that time, it really affected me.
ROSS COULTHART: His son Mitch is too young to understand where Dad's going but Michael Bottalico is very confident he'll be safely returning in just over six months time.
MICHAEL BOTTALICO: Having him is one big reason to remember everything we've trained. And the way we're trained is all for coming home.
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/article_2081.asp
I found this interesting article so I thought i would share it with all, obviously some of the writing is a little dramatic with typical journalistic flair but the Interview section seemed quite good even honest maybe. I disagree with the political fallout being massive for any trouble Afghanistan, granted I haven't been home in 11 months but I expect that the must surely still be bi partisan support for Afghanstan operations surely?
October 8, 2006
Reporter : Ross Coulthart
Ross Coulthart presents an exclusive insight into how Australian soldiers are being prepared for the risks and judgments they will have to make in fighting an insurgent war.
The Australian troops are going to extraordinary lengths to take on the Taliban and al-Qaeda, creating a fake Afghan village where our soldiers are forced to react to deadly scenarios. The stakes are incredibly high and about to get even higher.
This latest assignment is expected to be the most dangerous our troops have faced since Vietnam — and the political fallout, if things do go wrong, will be massive.
In Britain, Canada and the US, the escalating dangers faced by troops in Afghanistan have become front-page news. British combat troops are six times more likely to die in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
Now Australia has committed a total of 400 troops to Afghanistan's Oruzgan province. So dangerous is this commitment that it includes an extra 120 infantry soldiers who are being sent to provide "security protection" for Australian engineers, rebuilding key infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Before they go soldiers from the 5th/7th Battalion have been put through gruelling rehearsals for the mission. The training includes a notional Afghan village, with soldiers dressed and posing as tribesmen and women. In challenging and often quite confronting scenarios, the Diggers are trained to tell friend from foe — and how to respond to the nightmare probability of a roadside bomb attack.
It's almost exactly five years since the so-called "War on Terror" began in Afghanistan. Routed by Coalition forces, including Australian SAS troops, the Taliban mainly fled into Pakistan. Convinced the war in Afghanistan was largely won; America withdrew most of its combat troops and turned its attention to Iraq. In May this year a new operation was mounted in Afghanistan. Australia's top soldiers admit that the ferocity of the fighting is worse than anything since Vietnam.
The risk of Australian casualties in Afghanistan is about to become far greater. This report is an exclusive insight into the extraordinary dangers Australian Diggers will be facing in just a few weeks.
TRANSCRIPT
ROSS COULTHART: It's a perfect day for spending hours with the kids in the park. But for these army dads, this time with their children is more precious than ever. Each knows they'll soon be thousands of kilometres away in Afghanistan… facing a formidable foe.
PRIVATE MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I'm ready. I'm ready mentally. I'm ready physically. I'm sure about that.
LANCE CORPORAL SCOTT BARRY: My Dad's not real keen on me going away again. He's not real keen on where we're going. But I try to say it's going to be fine and alright and comfort him, make him feel better — same as Desley.
ROSS COULTHART: I bet you never get used to it?
DESLEY SCHMIDT: I am happy he's going to help other people but I am a bit scared because he's got a little one and I don't know how I am going to cope on my own.
ROSS COULTHART: Today, an insight into how Australia is preparing troops for what is probably this country's most dangerous military deployment in decades. For these men from the 5th/7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment the vital lessons they learn here in the Northern Territory may well save their lives in Afghanistan. Not only is it a high risk military deployment, their commanders know there's also a political dimension
Do you think it's overstating the issue to say that if a young officer like that makes a wrong decision on the ground, the decision he makes could potentially decide a future Australian Election?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME, COMMANDER ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT: The actions that our soldiers are taking on the ground have strategic implications for Australia whether that be an election, whether that be a decision to commit further forces. What that outcome is doesn't matter but the impact can be strategic.
ROSS COULTHART: A week ago the Chief of Australia's Defence Force acknowledged that Australian Special Forces troops now returning from Afghanistan saw savage and sustained fighting.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL ANGUS HOUSTON, MEDIA BRIEFING 27/9/06: I also have a great deal of empathy for the soldiers themselves who have been through an experience which in terms of prolonged battlefield stress and combat intensity is unlike any encountered since Vietnam in the 1970s.
ROSS COULTHART: Where the SAS and Commandoes were in combat is just where these Diggers are heading — to help protect the Australian reconstruction task-force in Oruzgan province.
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: You get to test yourself on the things that you have learned. And to not do that would be disappointing. By the same token you feel guilty because you're saying I'm off and there's a cost at the other end of it.
ROSS COULTHART: It's also a very dangerous deployment isn't it?
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: Potentially… Potentially.
SHERYL DENHERT: The whole lead-up to the tour can be quite hard actually. I know I start distancing myself from Paul even when he's not gone so it can be quite … We have a few little moments.
SERGEANT PAUL DENHERT: Stress levels are up a bit.
DESLEY SCHMIDT: We watch the news. It tells you everything you need to know about how dangerous it's going to be.
ROSS COULTHART: The British are fighting in Afghanistan too — and losing an increasing number of men. Simply re-supplying this British base in Helmand province means dicing with death. In the last five months British forces there fought 426 gun battles.
BRITISH SOLDIER: It's unlike anything we could have imagined or experienced before we left the UK.
ROSS COULTHART: At the highest levels in Britain, there is a growing realisation that things are far more dangerous in Afghanistan than anyone predicted.
UK DEFENCE SECRETARY DES BROWNE: The Taliban's tenacity in the face of massive losses has been a surprise
ROSS COULTHART: The Diggers will be based in Tirin Kowt in Oruzgan province — a hot-bed of insurgent Taliban attacks close to where British troops are getting hammered.
LT COL PETER SHORT, COMMANDER 5TH/7TH BATTALION RAR: I am telling them that they should expect to face combat — that it is very likely and they need to be prepared and ready.
ROSS COULTHART: Lt-Col Peter Short, the Commander of the 5th/7th Battalion is doing final checks on what's called a mission rehearsal exercise — designed to test the readiness of his departing troops.
ROSS COULTHART: It's pretty sobering though, what you're doing here. You're planning for the possibility; some would say the probability of Australian casualties?
LT COL PETER SHORT: It's very sobering. Absolutely. But what we do know is that the effort we put in now to our training will result in less lives at risk at the end of the day.
ROSS COULTHART: Many of these soldiers have only been in the Army for less than a year and some of these officers, going through last minute checks, are recent graduates of the Royal Military College at Duntroon. For the next 48 hours of the Mission Rehearsal, every decision Major Justin Elwin makes in the field will be scrutinised. Just 32-years-old he is the commanding officer who will lead the additional company of about 120 men to Afghanistan. Five generations of his family have served in the military, including his grandfather who fought on the Kokoda track.
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN: He's extremely proud but like most Australian families and certainly families of the soldiers that I'll command, he's ah apprehensive and keen to know that I am going to be well and going to be safe and going to do the mission and do it well.
ROSS COULTHART: We drive in early the next morning towards a fictional Afghan village, where the Australian troops are guarding engineers rebuilding a road. We've been asked to pose as international media for this exercise. Can we get through this checkpoint?
Clearly not! In this fictional scenario, the Australian soldiers have discovered a body on the road on their way in but how will Major Justin Elwin handle the allegation his men shot a villager.
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN TALKING TO INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: As the media you have freedom of movement in the area. We're not stopping you from doing so in any way shape or form. So if you wish to move on you may.
ROSS COULTHART: Now out of our role-playing we move on to the Afghan village. Where two villagers are getting a tad close to the Australian security cordon around these engineering works.
This is a typical dilemma that the Australians will have to face in Afghanistan. This is — for the sake of this exercise — a village, a local village somewhere in Afghanistan. And it's just a couple of hundred metres from an Australian site where the engineers will be rebuilding. Now the Australians of course have put up a security cordon and the issue they have to confront here is that as the villagers inevitably come closer, when to recognise them as a threat.
SOLDIER TALKING TO 'VILLAGERS': Have to ask you not to get too close to the worksite.
ROSS COULTHART: Many of the soldiers posing as villagers here today have served in the Middle East. They know well how at a meeting like this with a village chief, an unintentional cultural impoliteness can have potentially drastic consequences. Every word and nuance is monitored by Lt Col Short and the First Brigade Commander Brigadier Craig Orme.
SOLDIER TALKING TO VILLAGE 'CHIEF': I must leave.
CHIEF: So soon? It's not the way of here. Things don't happen overnight.
ROSS COULTHART: The 'villagers' now spring their next surprise on the Australians. A funeral procession, with the body strapped to the roof of this four wheel drive. How will Justin Elwin and his soldiers react?
In Iraq and Afghanistan innocent civilians have been killed by Coalition troops because of misunderstandings.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. Train hard, fight easy. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to put these blokes into the situations before they go into the country so they've been there emotionally. They've been there mentally. They know what that fear is. They know how to conquer and how to deal with it.
ROSS COULTHART: Next this village boy is arrested because he walked towards the Australian soldiers with an unexploded bomb. It's a common problem in Afghanistan, which is littered with unexploded bombs — but the Australians have to treat the boy and the bomb as a potential threat. But things turn ugly…
CHIEF: Do not turn your back on me.
SOLDIER: Back off. F..ing move, out of the f..ing way.
CHIEF: Do not point your weapons at me.
SOLDIER TO VILLAGERS: For now we've got that bomb over there. We need to move away from the area. As soon as that's dealt with my boss will come and speak to you about your son. Is that OK?
CHIEF: That's not OK. I need to speak to your boss.
ROSS COULTHART: This is just an exercise but it's clearly very authentic for the Diggers being tested.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: About as realistic as we can get.
ROSS COULTHART: Does it get the pulse up when you're the officer having to make those decisions?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: Absolutely. This is war as she really is, short of people actually shooting at you. You see the young blokes, the tension in their faces. The pupils are broad like dinner plates. They're challenged. They're stressed and they're learning.
ROSS COULTHART: With the bomb defused … and the village boy returned with the help of Afghan Highway Police… Major Elwin and his soldiers could be forgiven for thinking their horror day is nearly over.
VILLAGERS INVITING SOLDIERS' CO TO FEAST: Big feast with our chief
SOLDIER: Sounds pretty good.
CHIEF TO MAJOR ELWIN: I and my village are offended. You have taken my cousin and locked him up. He will be flogged. You have forced me to flog my cousin. For this I am not happy. Myself and my village do not want you here. This is our country. I would like to know what Australia wants in this area in my country. What right do you have to come to my country and operate in my village.
ROSS COULTHART: It's been a long day — and you can hear the strain in Justin Elwin's voice.
MAJOR ELWIN TALKING TO VILLAGE 'CHIEF': We are new here in Afghanistan. … Because we are new in this country we did not know if his intention was good or honourable or otherwise. We are here at the behest of the Afghanistani Government and we are here to do reconstruction and that's what we were doing out here this morning. …I come to see you to say that there has been a misunderstanding….We're here to make things better for you for no other reason.
VILLAGE 'CHIEF' TO MAJOR ELWIN: I would like you have to a meal with me so we can bond as men.
ROSS COULTHART: The curry has been made insanely hot to test the Major but you wouldn't know it. But just as the Australians seem to have befriended the locals, they still have to be on their guard. The Diggers have got used all day to waving this notional Afghan Police vehicle through their checkpoints. But this time, it's a suicide bomber. If they don't shoot when he breaches their checkpoint, they will die. In just a few weeks there's every chance the bomb will be real.
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: I have got to say that I expect that our soldiers will probably see some combat and ah need to respond accordingly. It's a dangerous mission and a dangerous place.
ROSS COULTHART: Do you believe in that mission. There's been a lot of scepticism as you know about Iraq. How do you and how do you think your men feel about Afghanistan as a mission?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: They all support it to a T. It's the sort of thing where if we don't go and fight this battle today and it's been said many times before then our children will have to fight it or someone else will have to fight it.
ROSS COULTHART: Early next morning, the troops load their weapons with live ammunition. Today is to be the most realistic — and dangerous — part of the exercise. As in Afghanistan, they'll be travelling in either these light armoured vehicles — the ASLAV — or the Bushmasters. Both will protect soldiers against machine gun bullets but there's still the threat of Rocket Propelled Grenades and roadside bombs. And unlike our Special Forces troops, the nature of their job in Afghanistan means these soldiers will often have to travel to the same engineering project along the same road each day…increasing the risk of ambush.
Now the mission rehearsal today is intended to practice for that scenario. And just at this very moment, a few minutes down the road, there's a convoy of ASLAVs and Bushmaster vehicles rumbling towards us. And they'll be coming through this gully. They don't know it but they're going to be hit with an almighty explosion just here by the side of the road and what happens next is going to test their response to that dreadful scenario.
Justin Elwin is trying to outflank the insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades from the hillside after the bomb went off. It's the nightmare scenario…the armoured vehicle is out of action…two soldiers are seriously injured. Speed and clear decisions are critical. Another grim lesson from what the British and Canadian troops have endured in recent months is that Commanders like Justin Elwin may not always be able to rely on close air support to bomb an enemy position.
They can't always guarantee getting close air support. They can't always guarantee that they'll be the first priority if there's artillery needed?
BRIGADIER CRAIG ORME: For artillery, absolutely, we can guarantee that. That's the way we design the missions. The air support, I am very confident that we will have the air support we need. And part of our mission planning is that we're not going outside that wire unless we're sure we have the support our soldiers need to respond to any threat that arises.
ROSS COULTHART: It's been a gruelling 48 hours for Major Justin Elwin. It is a huge responsibility you face isn't it?
MAJOR JUSTIN ELWIN: Yes it is. I am conscious of that daily. And certainly the exercises, the activities we have been doing over the last 48 hours in particular have brought that home to me. I'm conscious of it but I feel really privileged that I am surrounded by a large number of individuals who are as equally committed as I am. And ah who are extremely professional and extremely good at what they do.
LT COL PETER SHORT SPEAKING TO OFFICERS AT DE-BRIEF: This is not a witch-hunt. This is not a session where we look to criticise people for the decisions they make or took.
ROSS COULTHART: But there's little time for rest. Late into the night, Peter Short takes them through every key command decision of the day.
LT COL PETER SHORT SPEAKING TO OFFICERS AT DE-BRIEF: No man in this room is free of making mistakes…
ROSS COULTHART: For these last few precious weeks before her husband Sergeant Paul Denhert departs for Afghanistan, the last thing Sheryl wants to think about is the dangers he'll be facing there.
SHERYL DENHERT: I tell him I don't want to know about it
ROSS COULTHART: What do you say to Molly?
PAUL DENHERT: At the moment she knows that Daddy's going to the desert. And as far as she's concerned, Daddy runs around and shoots guns.
PRIVATE MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I have a lot of confidence in the way I was trained…
ROSS COULTHART: Michael Bottalico is a former New Yorker who used to be in the American military and rejoined the Australian Army after 9-11.
MICHAEL BOTTALICO: I'd have to say September 11th had a lot to do with me getting back in. All my family's from NY and being an American, at that time, it really affected me.
ROSS COULTHART: His son Mitch is too young to understand where Dad's going but Michael Bottalico is very confident he'll be safely returning in just over six months time.
MICHAEL BOTTALICO: Having him is one big reason to remember everything we've trained. And the way we're trained is all for coming home.
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/article_2081.asp
I found this interesting article so I thought i would share it with all, obviously some of the writing is a little dramatic with typical journalistic flair but the Interview section seemed quite good even honest maybe. I disagree with the political fallout being massive for any trouble Afghanistan, granted I haven't been home in 11 months but I expect that the must surely still be bi partisan support for Afghanstan operations surely?