Australia — Farewell parade for personnel deploying to the Middle East

Fam­i­ly and friends of around 160 Aus­tralian Army, Air Force and Navy per­son­nel watched with pride today as their loved ones marched in a farewell parade pri­or to their over­seas deploy­ment.
Mem­bers of Force Sup­port Unit — Four (FSU4) will deploy to the Mid­dle East Area of Oper­a­tions as part of Oper­a­tion Slip­per for a peri­od of eight months.

The Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of FSU4, Lieu­tenant Colonel Ron Arm­strong, said his troops were keen for their mis­sion to get underway. 

“There is a pride we share when we step ashore in anoth­er coun­try wear­ing the uni­form of the Aus­tralian Defence Force,” LTCOL Arm­strong said fol­low­ing the farewell parade. 

“We know that we are part of a rich and proud tra­di­tion and it is up to every man and woman in our unit to hon­our this legacy. 

“We are going to the Mid­dle East to make an impor­tant con­tri­bu­tion to main­tain­ing sta­bil­i­ty in that region and in doing so, enhanc­ing the secu­ri­ty of Australia.” 

LTCOL Arm­strong said friends and fam­i­ly who will be await­ing their safe return of the unit can take com­fort in the pro­fes­sion­al capa­bil­i­ties of Aus­tralian mil­i­tary personnel. 

“Aus­tralian sol­diers, sailors and Air­men and Air­women are among the best trained in the world,” LTCOL Arm­strong said. 

“Prepa­ra­tion for this deploy­ment has been long and intensive. 

“While we know the risks asso­ci­at­ed with mil­i­tary oper­a­tions, we also know how to do our jobs and we look for­ward to embrac­ing our fam­i­lies when we return home.” 

The Chief of the Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ken Gille­spie AO, DSC, CSM, was the Review­ing Offi­cer for the Parade at Vung Tau Lines, which is the home of the Army Unit the 9th Force Sup­port Bat­tal­ion at Amber­ley Air Force Base. 

The parade marked one of the final for­mal activ­i­ties for the per­son­nel before they depart Australia. 

The Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence, Sen­a­tor David Feeney, rep­re­sent­ed the Gov­ern­ment at the Parade. 

FSU4 is tasked with the pro­vi­sion of force induc­tion train­ing and logis­ti­cal ser­vices sup­port to Aus­tralian Oper­a­tions in the Mid­dle East Area of Operation. 

This sup­port cov­ers the pro­vi­sion of most resources required by Aus­tralian oper­a­tions includ­ing fuel, vehi­cles, food, ammu­ni­tion and postal services. 

Drawn pri­mar­i­ly from the 9th Force Sup­port Bat­tal­ion based at Amber­ley, FSU4 includes spe­cial­ist per­son­nel from the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy and the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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