Reservists Support Welcome Ceremony
for Super Hornets

Reservists have played a significant role in the arrival ceremony for Australia’s first
F/A-18F Super Hornets at RAAF Base Amberley, outside of Brisbane.

More than 800 guests listened eagerly to RAAF Specialist Reservist Squadron Leader Paul Lineham, who was selected as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.

“It was an honour to be asked to fill the role of MC,” said Squadron Leader Lineham, who joined the RAAF Reserve as a Public Affairs Officer more than 14 years ago.

“I really enjoyed the opportunity to tell the audience about the Super Hornets, or Rhinos as we now call them.

“The arrival of the Super Hornets sees a major leap in the Air Force’s air combat capability and I was pleased to be part of the day.”

Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner, joined senior RAAF Officers, industry, and State and Local Government representatives to welcome the new aircraft to their home base.

The Super Hornets’ arrival marks a new chapter for Air Force. Australia’s 24 Super Hornets will be the bridging air combat capability during the transition to the Joint Strike Fighter force and will maintain our regional air superiority as our F-111s are withdrawn,” Senator Faulkner said.

“The Super Hornet was a clear choice as the bridging capability because it is an advanced multi-role fighter, with the ability to achieve air superiority, land and maritime strike. The RAAF will be able to transition to the new Super Hornets with relative ease due to the existing classic Hornet knowledge base.”

Other long-serving Reservists were involved in the event. These included photographers Corporal Peter Borys and Leading Aircraftwoman Tricia Wiles as well as Cadet, Reserve and Employer Support Division’s Director of Communication Deanna Nott, who helped escort more than 40 media representatives at the arrival ceremony.

Leading Aircraftwoman Wiles, who joined the permanent Air Force in 1990 and moved to the Reserves in 2007, took images at the event that were published in newspapers and online.

“Photography has always been my passion and being part of the team who has recorded history on this occasion was fantastic,” said LACW Wiles, who runs a successful private firm Purrfect Pawtraits, specialising in photography of pets.

The introduction of the Super Hornet is a significant boost for the Brisbane and Ipswich regional economy.

About 100 jobs have been secured at RAAF base Amberley through the awarding of the Super Hornet Sustainment Contract to The Boeing Company and the Training Support Services Contract to Raytheon Australia.

There has also been substantial infrastructure investment at RAAF base Amberley to support the Super Hornets. Defence is spending approximately $100 million on Super Hornet-related developments, which include a new No. 1 Squadron operations building, warehouse, flight simulator, aircraft shelters and maintenance facilities.


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SA Employer Challenge

Defence Reserves Support - South Australia (DRS-SA) held an Employer Challenge in mid-March at the Cultana Training Area.

Over the two days employers got the chance to explore military vehicles like the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, ASLAV, M113 APC and a host of logistic support vehicles. They then had an introduction into weapons and ordnance including firing with the Austeyr F88 rifle.

Other activities included basic patrolling techniques and tending to a road side blast ‘victim’.

DRS-SA State Manager Major Crispin Boxhall said "Our Employer Challenge Day demonstrates how the unique professional, leadership and career development skills taught in the ADF can be transferred in the day-to-day workplace environment.

“By the end of the trip, we want them to appreciate their rights and obligations as employers and how to develop supportive leave policies within their organisations.”

Thanks to 1st Combat Service Support Battalion for hosting the event on behalf of the 1st Brigade.


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Senior Human Resources Advisor for Qantas, Jessica Brown, is what experienced sea dogs or ‘grotty yachties’ might describe as a land lubber.

Before the recent DRS-NSW VIP Sea Day she had never been aboard a vessel of any type — not a yacht, nor a speedboat or a dingy, not even a P&O cruise ship!

“I had no idea what to expect from the day,” Ms Brown said.

“HMAS Ballarat (an Anzac class frigate) is a massive and very impressive ship with an enormous crew but at the end of the day I realised that there are many similarities between the way Defence, a huge organisation, manages its personnel and the way we run Qantas, which is also a very large organisation with many different types of work levels and cultures,” she said.

DRS-NSW Navy Liaison Officer Lieutenant Commander Phillip Smith said the day’s voyage out the Heads and along the coast for exercises around Palm Beach aimed to show a small group of employers and prospective employers of Reservists the types of activities Reservists perform when they’re serving at sea.

“Meeting crew members and officers and observing exercises, including the launching of the ship’s rescue vessel and drills involving a realistically simulated ship-board fire and a man overboard, gave the employers an insight to the skills these Reserve members possess, generic and technical skills which offer a considerable benefit to employees in their civilian roles as well,” Lieutenant Commander Smith said.

The VIP Sea Day was hosted by Director General Reserves-Navy, Commodore Ranford Elsey, who is the Defence Reserves Support Council Navy representative. Chairman of DRS-NSW Mr Rodney Cavalier also attended.

“In my line of work, I’ve had quite a bit to do with commercially run vessels in the Merchant Navy,” said Ray Rice, the Director of Environmental Engineering at Cardno Lawson Treloar, a firm that provides among other things oceanographic data to both the Government and private organisations.

“I’d never been out to sea with the Navy before and my first impression when comparing the organisational systems of HMAS Ballarat to those on a commercial ship was ‘this ship is overstaffed’,” Mr Rice said.

“As I talked to the sailors and officers and watched the ship doing exercises throughout the day, I realised that the redundancies are built into the system and are actually vital to the ship’s purpose – operating 24/7 in the Defence of the country.

“When I got off the ship after a really fascinating and educational day, I had a much more informed appreciation of and considerable admiration for the capabilities of the Navy Reserves and the RAN [Royal Australian Navy] in general in their important role in maintaining Australia’s security.”

General Manager of TAFE New South Wales Customer Service, Ron Wright, agreed that his day at sea with the Navy was both a personally and professionally enriching experience.

“VIP Sea Day was incredibly interesting, in fact, it was quite inspirational to see the level of skill, teamwork and mateship displayed by the crew of HMAS Ballarat. For me, it was certainly an eye opener,” he said.

“We were made to feel incredibly welcome and we have come away with a not only a greater appreciation of how the Navy operates but a deeper respect for the individuals who play their part on a day-to-day basis.”

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Diary of Exercise Boss Lift

If there was one word that could describe Exercise Boss Lift 01/10, it was ‘rain’. And there was certainly plenty of the stuff during the trip.

From the time the Perth-based Boss Lift participants landed in Brisbane until the last day in the Solomon Islands, it rained. Sometimes there were short showers but other times it was an almost cyclonic onslaught.

Charleville in Queensland was flooded and so were many parts of Guadalcanal — the main island in the Solomon’s group.

In fact, it rained so much that one Boss Lift participant later had a leaking roof in his room — and he was on the ground floor of a three-storey building!

Despite the soaking conditions, all participants were looking forward to meeting up with their employees on Operation ANODE and undertaking the Boss Lift experience.

The majority of Reservists currently deployed under the Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands (RAMSI) under Rotation 20 are from Western Australia-based units, particularly 13th Brigade, and it was predominantly from within this pool the prospective employers were identified.

This Boss Lift group was made up of senior police officers, public servants, private sector managers, a television news producer, a Correctional Services officer and teachers.

Also accompanying the group was the recently appointed Deputy Chair of the Defence Reserves Support Council, Marcus Blackmore, and the Chief Executive Officer of Defence Health, David Lynch.

Two other guests joined the Boss Lift — Federal politicians Damian Hale (Member for Solomon, Northern Territory) and Jon Sullivan (Member for Longman, Queensland).

They were heading to the Solomon Islands under the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program, which gave them first-hand insight into the Australian Defence Force.

At Honiara Airport, the Boss Lift participants were met by Major Paul Coventry, the Officer Commanding of the three-nation rifle company that makes up the Combined Task Force under RAMSI.

That night the employers met with their Reservist employees in almost cyclonic conditions. In a country where rain is measured in metres, even the locals were concerned with the direction and ferocity of the storm.

The rain prevented the Boss Lift participants visiting a number of schools on planned visits, with bridges and roads washed away. Sadly, reports were received of some villages being badly affected by floods.

This showed many of the employers that their Reservists were not just dealing with the social, economic and political environment but were also faced with an often adversarial natural environment.

This was also a time for the employers to see their employees in a very different light — in their second lives as Reservists. For Su Goddard, principal of Rosalie Primary School in WA, her employee was none other than the “big boss” Lieutenant Colonel David Thompson, Commander CTF 635.

With Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, Su was able to deliver some old laptops to a school at Sale which perhaps made it the most advanced school in the islands. It is a project of Rosalie Primary School to now provide solar panels so the lap-tops can be used.

Cherie Snelgar also got the opportunity to catch up with her husband, David, who is attached to the Combined Task Force 635 (CTF 635) as a pay clerk. The husband and wife business team run a plumbing and gas fitting service in Collie, WA.

For WIN News producer, Chris Rickey, his employee, Signaller Julieanne Horsham, had a unique role working within in the Civil-Military Liaison Team. Having observed her work in the Solomon Islands, Chris is providing support to Julieanne as she prepares to apply for an officer’s position on her return to Australia.

As always, the range was a much enjoyed activity with the employers getting hands on experience with the 9mm pistol, Austeyr F88 rifle, Minimi light machine gun, MAG 58 General Purpose Machine Gun and smoke grenades.

Night saw tracers flicking across the sky during the live fire demonstration under night vision goggles worn by the employers. It seems that the weather gods were just waiting for the completion of the activity with the heavens opening as the trucks vacated the range

There are always many different comments from the employers after each Boss Lift. However, the comment, “life changing”, genuinely reflected the feelings of one employer, especially after witnessing a concert by disabled students from the Red Cross school in Honiara.

The school was very clean and tidy, despite the classrooms being shin deep in muddy water the day before — a huge effort had been made for the Boss Lift arrival.

“Not only has Boss Lift been a fantastic experience for me, I am impressed with what I’ve seen of our soldiers,” said Sean Sawyer, Manager Plantations Branch, Western Australian Forest Product Commission.

John Cavanagh, Assistant Superintendant Emergency Support Group, Department of Corrective Services, was equally impressed by the Boss Lift experience.

“I have seen the job the Army Reserve is doing here in helping build a nation and you can see they need a lot of help here. Our guys and girls are doing a great job.”

Boss Lift 01/10 will be remembered for many things, including the rain and bad shirts worn by the police at the farewell dinner, but at the end, no one forgot to bring the politicians home.


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Industry Leaders Tour HMAS Cairns and Receive Thanks

More than 70 members of the Cairns business community have heard of the pride and dedication with which their local Reservists serve Australia at a Defence Reserves Support function in the northern Queensland city.

Defence Reserves Support - Queensland Operations Manager Narelle Zillmann said the businessmen and women, which included many members of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, toured the recently-redeveloped HMAS Cairns and attended a cocktail function designed to thank civilian employers for supporting their Reservist staff.

“The evening was intended to have a two fold benefit - expose employers to the role of Reservists and to recognise employers who strongly support specific Reservists,” said Ms Zillmann, who attended the event with Defence Reserves Support Council Queensland Committee Chair Tony Behm.

“In addition, the evening showcased the importance of HMAS Cairns to the local economy and clearly demonstrated to the Cairns business community the dedication and passion of Defence personnel and the pride they rightly have in their facilities and the job they do.

“The one-on-one interaction with Defence personnel during the tours and functions was excellent for the employers.”

Far North Queensland Police, Cairns Reef Casino, Bellender Kerr State School, Al Porto Café, Defence Maritime Services and CASA were officially recognised at the event.

A group of outstanding Reservists were also acknowledged for their achievements. They included Sub Lieutenant Scott Derrington, Able Seaman Lloyd Mais, Petty Officer Greg Meares, Leading Seaman Samantha Court and Chief Petty Officers Kerin Smith, Mick O’Connor, Mark Lea, Bob Way and Brad Astill.

DRS-QLD plans to hold an Exercise Executive Stretch in Cairns from 14-16 May and nominations are now open. Click here for more details

Defence Teaming Centre’s Golf Day

Defence Reserves Support - South Australia State Manager Major Crispin Boxhall and Adelaide University Regiment's Major Dave Babbage have teed off together to promote the important role of Reservists to industry.

DRS-SA sponsored the Defence Teaming Centre's Golf Day at Mount Osmond and spoke to more than 50 employers about the support and services available at the local office, located at Keswick Barracks.

Major Crispin, on behalf of DRS, awarded the prize for longest drive at the 7th Tee.

Reservist Profile: Private David Yeung

If an army marches on its stomach, then Private David Yeung is doing a great job for his country in Afghanistan.

The 24-year-old Army cook from Melbourne is three quarters through an eight month deployment feeding soldiers in Oruzgan Province.

“Depending on the day and the circumstances, there are between one and 2000 troops who need three meals a day,” Private Yeung said.

“There are Australians, as well as our colleagues from The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Singapore and so on. They need a variety of food – and plenty of it!

“We serve the troops a rice and potato dish at each meal, as well as soup and curry options. They also get grills, stews, salads and a variety of desserts.”

Increasingly, the meals are prepared from scratch using fresh ingredients sourced from the region. Like most Unit members, the cooks work 12-hour shifts — always making sure there is good quality and healthy food available.

After completing a four year stint in the regular Army as a cook, David Yeung started cooking in the dining room of an apartment complex in Melbourne. He was keen to keep his employment options open and joined the Reserves as something of a back-up.

“I’d never been a civilian cook and had to adjust my style in the kitchen,” he said.

“In the Army, you cook good quality food but on a huge scale. At the apartments, I was cooking a-la-carte for individual guests for the first time and it certainly took some getting used to.

“The Army taught me really well. I was three years at Puckapunyal and then spent some time in Darwin before finishing my contract and leaving the Army.

“Then I worked to a head chef who taught me heaps about cooking for weddings and functions as well as for guests in a dining room.”

When the opportunity to deploy to Afghanistan was first raised, it only took David Yeung one day to decide that’s what he wanted to do.

“The highlight of my Army career was always going to be an overseas deployment,” he said.

“I did think about the situation and the risks but was also realistic about it.

“My family had some concerns, but were incredibly supportive. I thought the issues through, discussed it with them and decided I should do it.”

Private Yeung says he hasn’t felt homesick at all during his many months in Afghanistan.

“We have great access to telephones and the internet. I speak to my family every couple of days and send them emails all the time,” he said.

“My girlfriend lives in Japan and while I email her all the time, she loves getting real letters. So I write to her regularly and the snail mail only takes between one and three weeks to get to her. It’s pretty incredible.

“My tour has been very challenging but really worthwhile. It’s been a fantastic experience.”

The Employer Support Payment (ESP) expenditure for the month of March and the progressive expenditure for FY 09/10 are detailed in the table below.

Information on ESP is available on this website however should you require additional information or clarification on any aspect of the Employer Support Payment scheme that is not already covered by our website, you may email an enquiry to esp@defence.gov.au.


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