Talisman Saber Exercise Picks Up Pace in Australia

Exercise Talisman Saber in Australia gets underway in earnest July 13. Over the past week, participating units from all branches of service of the U.S. military and Australian Defence Force have been conducting training and familiarization in preparation for joint and combined drills focused on contingency response operations and crisis action planning.

The field training portion of the exercise will be concentrated in the Shoalwater Bay Training area near Rockhampton, as well as the Townsville Field Training Area in Queensland.

Air operations are also taking place in and off the Northern Territory of Australia, as highlighted in a recent article in the Sunday Territorian.

Australia is a strong U.S. ally in the Pacific, and Talisman Saber, which is jointly sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and the Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command, is an opportunity to further develop the high level of interoperability that already exists between U.S. and Australian forces. More than 20,000 U.S. and 10,000 Australian personnel are to take part.

You can follow the exercise via the Australian Defence Force Talisman Saber website, as well as the U.S. exercise website. Both sites have and will continue to capture the varied events that take place leading up to, and throughout the large scale exercise. Also, become a friend of Talisman Saber on Facebook for updates, and check out the video stories on the exercise’s YouTube page.

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Combined and Joint Exercise Talisman Saber Ramping Up in Australia

More than 20,000 U.S. and 10,000 Australian personnel are gearing up for the military training exercise Talisman Saber, primarily in and off the coast of the state of Queensland, Australia, during much of the month of July.

Participating forces have assembled in Australia and through July 12 are conducting workups and force integration training. Extensive combined and joint field training that includes land, sea and air assets as part of a Combined Task Force (CTF) begins July 13. The exercise concludes on July 26.

The exercise is focused on crisis action planning and execution of contingency response operations, and is designed to bring the different branches of the U.S. and Australian militaries together to test interoperability and refine military procedures and doctrine. The U.S. Marine Corps III Marine Expeditionary Force staff and the Australian Deployable Joint Force Headquarters staff will also train as a designated CTF headquarters.

Towns such as Rockhampton, Cairns and Townsville welcomed U.S. service members over the past week as they arrived in Australia for the exercise.

Talisman Saber is jointly sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and the Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command, and demonstrates U.S. and Australian commitment to the two nations’ military alliance.

Exercise news and photos are available on both the U.S. and Australia Talisman Saber websites.

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Mustin Sailors Extend Partnership to Sydney Children’s Home

(Written by Maj. Brad Gordon, USMC, who is in Sydney, Australia supporting the U.S. Consulate in preparation for exercise Talisman Saber 2009)

More than 20 Sailors from the USS Mustin had the opportunity to visit patients of the Sydney Children’s Hospital on June 29.

The Sailors were in Sydney as part of their port visit in advance of the combined U.S. Military/Australian Defense Force exercise Talisman Saber.

Community service events such as the visit to the Children’s Hospital are a very real opportunity for U.S. service members to build relationships in the communities where they visit.

As the Sailors went from ward to ward, seeing children battling cancer, recovering from severe injuries, waiting on organ transplants, they couldn’t help but be moved and then reflect on the gifts they had been given in life.

Each time a Sailor gave one of the children a little toy or stopped to play a video game with them or even color a picture, the children would light up and you could see in their eyes, they didn’t want their new friends to leave.

In one instance, the Sailors had a fantastic reality hit them as they were visiting two boys, both in the hospital after receiving athletic injuries. One boy was awake and talkative while the other had been in a coma. As the Sailors were there visiting, the boy in a coma opened his eyes and took a breath on his own, coming out of the coma.

Instances like this not only benefit the children, they benefit the Sailors as well. Numerous times during the visit, Sailors would walk up to their escort and talk about how moving it was to see the determination on the young kids' faces.

No one was more determined than young, 5-year-old, Oscar. This young boy doesn’t know the meaning of the word STOP. The nurses say he is just a fireplug from the time he wakes up until he finally passes out asleep in the evening. When the Sailors arrived he was running around the ward, hanging onto his I/V trolley, with a huge smile. When the Sailors walked through the door, Oscar’s eyes widen even further and he couldn’t get to them fast enough. He had 20 new friends. When they finally left, Oscar couldn’t wave his hand hard enough. He just kept waving until the last Sailor was out of sight.

The Sailors of the USS Mustin brought the Pacific Command message of friendship and cooperation to Sydney. It wasn’t with great fanfare, but they carried the message nonetheless.
These children will remember their partnership with the Sailors of the USS Mustin for years to come.

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