22nd June 2012 7:42 AM
Tags: 1st
brigade, exercise
hamel, rockhampton, shoalwater
bay, yeppoon
The mess hall is kept busy feeding up to 12,000 troops.
IT'S GAME on for the men and women of the 1st Brigade, who will
come up against an "enemy" force to prove their deployment
readiness.
The clash is part of Exercise Hamel which involves units from
Adelaide and Darwin, but also elite elements of the United States
military and New Zealand armed forces.
To support the exercise, conducted in the Shoalwater Bay
training area north of Yeppoon, a mini town has been created in
Rockhampton - with its own cooks, medical staff, mechanics,
administration staff, and even a postman.
A spokeswoman for the base said the service
men and women came from as far as Tasmania and swelled
Rockhampton's population by more than 12,000 last week.
She said although most of the personnel had now moved on to
Shoalwater Bay and the base residency had shrunk to 4500, the
deployment would again grow next week when the exercise was in full
swing.
Co-ordinator of the temporary base acting deputy director Lt/Col
Geoff Young said the exercise was designed to test commanders and
soldiers to ensure they were combat-ready to deploy on operations
overseas.
"We're getting the Brigade Commander of One Brigade to test his
soldiers on the basic skills they require going off on operations
in the future," he said.
FAST FACTS
Feeding an army for six weeks:
Meat 27,509 kg
Bread 23,717 loaves
Milk 32,041 litres
Fruit, Veg 74,744 kg
Eggs 26,432 dozen
Ice 15,250 kg
sounds like shit from 12,000 large people at shoalwater bay
training area dumped daily there.no more toilets left.