East Timor Videos

Prep for the CO and his Arrival

Sun, 11 Nov 2001 13:00:58 +1300

When the advance party for NZ Batt 5 over-nighted in Darwin on our way to East Timor we struck on a plan to shock our Commanding Officer (CO) on his arrival a few weeks later. It’s amazing what can seem a good idea over a few beers.....

Suai FOB (Forward Operating Base)

Mon, 11 Mar 2002 15:20:29 +1300

The “White Tiles” was the HQ for the NZ Battalion in East Timor. The HQ was based in a old hospital where the floor was white tiles. Those in the company locations tended to look down on us “White Tile Warriors”. This was just a continuation of the age old tradition where those in the front lines lo

Xmas in Suai

Mon, 17 Dec 2001 22:30:44 +1300

Christmas is a special time when you are away on operations. Thoughts of home and loved ones are never far away. For us, Xmas started with a concert party of New Zealand musicians and a comedian, Mike King. It was great to see one of my favourite NZ musicians, Greg Johnson. The trip certainly had a

Bn Haka

Thu, 7 Mar 2002 18:45:23 +1300

The Bn Haka was something we took a great deal of pride in. It was not something we did for any one but for special guests such as the Manning family. After four months we were really nailing it. In fact we would have guests backing up from us!

Firing .50 cals

Fri, 15 Feb 2002 15:45:18 +1300

Every month we had to carry out live firing of weapons. One month myself and the XO, Layne Sefton, got to join the armoured guys firing their APC .50 cals down at the beach. Fun!

Refugees and Rain

Thu, 29 Nov 2001 14:50:38 +1300

Layne Sefton (XO) and I took a trip down to Junction Point Foxtrot (JPF) where one on the NZ platoons was based. On the way we stopped off at the UNHCR refugee transit camp. The trip involved crossing one of the major rivers in Cova Lima. It was a quiet little river when we crossed it on the way out

My Room

Mon, 11 Mar 2002 15:30:05 +1300

See the 5 Star accommodation you can expect while away serving your country! This was my space for 6 months. It makes it easy to take a more minimalist view on life - at least I had a iPod (one of the original 5GB) with me at this point!

AO Tour

Thu, 8 Nov 2001 10:00:09 +1300

A week into arriving in East Timor we took a trip by helicopter around the AO (Area of Operations). Filming in the slipstream of a helicopter is not always easy! At the end of this clip you can see our “introduction” to the Mil Mi-26 helicopter.

Mil Mi-26

Thu, 21 Feb 2002 10:00:23 +1300

This is the biggest helicopter in the world. Even US Marines I met were impressed by this beast. It carries the same load as a C130! The down blast is so strong that at the Suai Airfield it had to taxi to the end of the run way before taking off - it has a tendency to blow things over. While we were