As a contrast to the usual submarine matters, here is an Australian Report partly about Australia’s “SEALs” officially known as the “Clearance
Diving Team”.
“Key points:
The report, obtained by the
ABC and marked "for Australian eyes only", revealed how frontline troops were often without crucial
supplies for battle and military commanders struggled to get the personnel
required.
Also mentioned is that Australians were quietly training in the
Middle East in 2002 for the invasion of Iraq - a year before the actual
invasion.
A problem identified by the Report is that the poor treatment of the divers "SEALs" "is blamed on an international private contractor that "prioritised its clients by profit potential"."
A problem identified by the Report is that the poor treatment of the divers "SEALs" "is blamed on an international private contractor that "prioritised its clients by profit potential"."
The news article (below) is by Australia’s government owned ABC News dated November 26, 2018 and
its link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-26/iraq-war-secrets-revealed-in-newly-declassified-report/10553150
PHOTO: A member of
the Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Team 3 [aka: “SEALs”] in Iraq in 2003.
(Photo courtesy the Australian War Memorial via ABC News.)
---
"Australian Defence Force's Iraq war secrets revealed
in newly declassified report
By ABC defence
reporter Andrew Greene November 26, 2018
A
secret Army study has detailed the widespread logistical problems faced by
Australian forces in Iraq 15 years ago.
“Key points:
·
An elite Navy diving team
had three sets of clothes and no laundry for three months
·
A combat support squadron
was deployed "without … combat body
armour and camouflage clothing"
·
Professor says the secrecy of the planning around
Australia's involvement in Iraq led to
issues”
According to the 156-page document there were
also deep concerns about a vaccination
program for soldiers that was described as "poorly thought out".
The
research, to be declassified today, was compiled by Albert Palazzo of the
Australian Army's Land Warfare Studies Centre.
Dr
Palazzo's report, completed in 2008, concludes the Navy's elite Clearance
Diving Team 3 endured the worst logistical support, and its members were treated like "second-class
citizens".
University
of New South Wales Professor Clinton Fernandes, who first secured the secret
study, said it detailed how ADF
personnel were quietly dispatched to US CENTCOM headquarters in Florida in 2002
to begin planning the Iraq war, a year before [Australian Prime Minister] John Howard announced Australia's
involvement.
"What
the document shows is that the Howard Government had decided early in 2002 that
it was going to join the United States in any operation in Iraq whatever it
might be, but it couldn't admit this to the public or even to the Australian
Defence Force (ADF) at large," he said.
"So
only a few people within a very tight planning compartment were told about it.
"They
had to plan in seclusion from the rest of the defence force — as a result there
were lots of logistical problems."
No
camouflage gear for combat support squadron.
Getting
Australian personnel and equipment to the Middle East proved difficult,
according to the report, because of the RAAF's "complete lack of strategic transport capability"
[Pete Comment: Australia did not acquire C-17A Strategic transport aircraft until 2006. The Hercules available in 2002 lacked sufficient range/speed/carrying capacity.]
and the government's "inability to provide the ADF with a clear indication of its intentions and a timetable for the commitment of forces".
[Pete Comment: Australia did not acquire C-17A Strategic transport aircraft until 2006. The Hercules available in 2002 lacked sufficient range/speed/carrying capacity.]
and the government's "inability to provide the ADF with a clear indication of its intentions and a timetable for the commitment of forces".
"By failing to make a timely
announcement on the nation's participation, the Howard government succeeded in
boxing itself into a corner, while at the same time abdicating one of its few
strategic decision opportunities to the United States," Dr Palazzo wrote
in his report.
The
report describes how "commanders also encountered problems in getting the
staff they wanted", often because the people with the "optimum
skills" did not have valid [often diplomatic] passports and visas .
[Pete Comment: similar visa/exemption
problems which required diplomatic passports for Australian Defence Force
personnel recurred as a controversial
issue as
late as 2014].
Dr
Palazzo describes force preparation as "inconsistent" and notes that
units were deployed with "different levels of equipment".
"The
Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron deployed without key personnel items including individual protection equipment,
combat body armour and camouflage clothing," the report reads.
No
laundry or fresh clothes for 'second-class' divers
According
to Dr Palazzo, "the unit with the most poorly thought-out logistic plan,
and the recipient of the worst support
during the deployment" was the
Royal Australian Navy's elite Clearance Diving Team 3.
His
report said it did not take the divers long to get the "impression that
they were second-class citizens as far as logistics were concerned".
Much of the poor treatment of the
divers is blamed on an international private contractor that "prioritised
its clients by profit potential".
[Pete comment: For that important information see page 100 of the Report - unfortunately Totally Redacted I'm afraid :-) As revealing this information would breach Section 33(a)(iii) of “FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 -
SECT 33 [being]
[Pete comment: For that important information see page 100 of the Report - unfortunately Totally Redacted I'm afraid :-) As revealing this information would breach Section 33(a)(iii) of “FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 -
SECT 33 [being]
A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:
(ii) the defence of the Commonwealth;
or
(iii) the international relations of the Commonwealth [of Australia];”]
"During
their three months in Iraq, the divers did not receive a change of cloths
(sic)," the report reads.
"They
deployed with three sets of camouflage and lived in them for the duration.
There were no laundry facilities at any of their locations in Iraq."
The
"controversial and poorly
thought-out" vaccination program to protect Australian personnel from
biological weapon attacks is also heavily scrutinised in the document.
"News
of the inoculation program came as a surprise to most of the troops awaiting
deployment or already in the Gulf," the report reads.
"For
some it caused considerable angst." [Article
Text Ends]
See the actual declassified 156 page Report at Document Reader (at the bottom of the ABC News article)
on which the ABC News article is based. Report is [Freedom of Information] FOI 027/18/19 declassified from SECRET AUSTEO report by
Albert Palazzo “DEPLOY, SUSTAIN, RETURN AUSTRALIAN LOGISTICS AND THE WAR IN IRAQ” [Australian Army]
Land Warfare Studies Centre, January
2008, at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-26/iraq-war-secrets-revealed-in-newly-declassified-report/10553150
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