Not A Real War

NOT A REAL WAR

A Sailor’s Experiences in a

Soldier’s War

Paul Longley

Not a Real War

Copyright © 2015 Paul Longley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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A copy of this publication can be found in the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-1-742845-19-7 (pbk. )

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‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’

Charles Dickens, a Tale of Two Cities, 1859

Contents

Foreword

Disclaimer

Some Background To The United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM)

You’re going where?

So, does anyone know where Somalia actually is?

Say Goodbye to Daddy Now

Transit via Harare and Nairobi

Into Somalia

Operation REPO – How we saved our own original Geor ge Gittoes, AM Work of Art

Wear your Bloody Helmets and Flak Jackets!

Rockets and Red Flares

Food and other basic Considerations

The Orphan Boy

1 Killed, 2 Wounded in 3 Minutes

Moishna! Stoi! Spasiba!

Contingency Plans and a Polish Tugboat

The Floating Bomb

Not Running Away - Just Redeploying

I think I’m Being Shot At!

Heia Safari! Rommel’s Ghost

The Savagery of War

Ishtaria

The Officers are In Conference, Sir

Hooray! The Aussies are Here!

The Beer is Here!

The Land Commander is coming

Some Logistics Problems and Solutions

Helping Love To Find A Way

Lieutenant Who? From Where?

Gigiriland

Rest and Recreation in Kenya

Surrounded In Fort Alpha

Blackhawk Down© - On the Inside Looking Out

This is CNN

Stand To!

‘O’ Groups and a Tribute to the Australian Intelligence Corps and Our Commando Troopers

The Second Battle of Mog

India Comes In To Bat

Another Aeromedical Evacuation

Flight to Djibouti or Money for Nothing©

The Orange Boy

Welcome Aboard

The Shark Net

Road Reconnaissance

Kai Lincoln

Pizzas to go

We’re leaving on that?

The Flying Kangaroo™

Epilogue

We Meet the Secretary-General, United Nations

Some Dedications and Acknowledgements

Foreword

The scenario then was this: a UN mandated mission, a coalition of US and allied military forces, including Australians, operating in a foreign and hostile natural desert environment, in Africa, near the Middle East, engaged in high intensity urban guerrilla warfare, with many civilian and UN casualties, all under intense media scrutiny, and swirling amidst the combat action, were allegations of misconduct by soldiers, the torture of captives, indiscriminate air strikes and Islamic fundamentalist insurgents using remote improvised explosive devices to attack vehicle convoys.

Then the UN and their allies withdrew, for the country only to be overrun by insurgents and descend into chaos. Sounds all too familiar doesn’t it?.

It was 1993, the place was north east Africa, the African ‘Horn’, the country Somalia, the city Mogadishu.

The title of this book comes from a petty little comment made to me one Anzac Day, Australia’s national Day of Commemoration of our military tradition of sacrifice and service. At the end of a long day after the Dawn Service, the march, the lunch and few beers in a packed clubroom, myself and a mate were loudly informed, in words that remain forever etched in my memory that, ‘you blokes are getting about with all these gongs, but you weren’t in a real war, not a real war like us, you bloody UN tossers’. Akin somewhat to comments made to me by one of my former Navy colleagues shortly after my return to my unit, ‘you’re all just wankers, you lot with medals’.

Simply though, there is no hierarchy of death nor is there a ‘rating’ of suffering for wars. All people, military or civilian are equally just as dead, crippled or maimed whether it be from World War 1 or a humanitarian aid mission, shot by a bullet is shot by a bullet, shot by a . 303 Lee Enfield rifle or an STEYR F88 5. 56mm or an AK47 7.62mm or a ‘near miss’ from a 60mm mortar round!

The most important thing to my mind is to remember that there are so many great things which have been done, and which continue to be done, by so many individuals, under such incredibly trying conditions.

This is happening every day by the wonderful people who make up our Australian Defence Force, and the Government agencies, non-Government agencies and institutions of all nations globally who continue to put their lives on the line for the sake of others.

The efforts and results achieved by the entire team was a tribute to the fundamental resilience and strength of the Australian service person and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) training and leadership programs. The other great strengths and characteristics of Australians, are drawn, in part, from our (multi) cultural heritage, being able to improvise, adapt and overcome¹

so many situations that were far outside of our normal sphere of experience.

That we all managed to work and complete the mission regardless, proves once again the validity of the concept of an all-volunteer professional standing military force.

There was always a very strong sense of the ANZAC spirit and at different times, that spirit clearly came to the fore. It was that legacy which provided an underpinning motivation which helped keep us going, alongside our Kiwi and Yank mates.

Regardless of some of the perceptions held by some members of the public, we did make a difference to the people that we tried to help. Above all, we kept the faith and on balance, when all is said and done, you might well conclude that we did ‘all right’ by our colleagues in the ADF and Australia.

This is for those who have gone before and for those who are yet to go forth into harm’s way.

Disclaimer

This book is my recollection and description of my experiences, based on my memories of sights, sounds and events. My experience may have been different to that of others, and memories can change over the passage of time.

Any errors, omissions, overstatements or understatements are mine.

This book is not intended to cause any harm, upset or distress, nor to hurt, vilify, denigrate any individual, or any group of people or organizations.

There were a number of Australian Service Contingent (ASC) rotations through Somalia, all of whom deserve our nation’s highest praise, respect and recognition for their service.

For a number of good reasons, there are no lists of personnel included in this book. Names have also been changed to maintain the privacy of those who were there.

Some Background To The United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM)

With Full Acknowledgement to the Australian War Memorial (AWM):

Arriving in the Country from the end of October, 1992, UNOSOM was primarily a monitoring group and did not have the resources to establish stability in the country or even protect food distribution.

Most of the supplies the aid agencies had flown into Somalia could not be distributed and few ships were able or willing to enter Mogadishu harbour. The food shortage became a famine in which about 300,000 people died.

In November the US government announced it would lead a force to Somalia to enable aid agencies to distribute humanitarian relief. The UN Security Council gave the force, the Unified Task Force - Somalia (UNITAF), the mandate to use All necessary means to carry out this task. At its peak UNITAF consisted of 37,000 personnel, 21,000 of whom were American and the rest from twenty other countries. The first American troops arrived in Mogadishu on 9 December.

Australia contributed an infantry battalion group to UNITAF. The group totalled 990 personnel and was based around 1st Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David Hurley. In addition to troops from 1RAR, the group included the Armoured Personnel Carriers of B Squadron, 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment; a civil and military Operations team based on 107th Field Battery and engineers from the 17th Field Troop of the 3rd Combat Engineering Regiment, signallers from the 103rd Signals Squadron; Intelligence personnel; the 7th Electronic Warfare Squadron; and a support unit based on the 3rd Brigade Administrative Support Battalion.

There was also an Australian headquarters, with public relations and support staff. Colonel William Mellor, Commander Australian Force Somalia, was located in Mogadishu. He was responsible for the safety of the Australian force and dealt directly with the task force’s American Commander.

The Australians were based in Baidoa Humanitarian Relief Sector, west of Mogadishu. The Australian contingent in Baidoa had four main roles: maintain a secure environment in Baidoa; maintain a presence in the surrounding countryside; protect aid convoys; and assist in the equitable distribution of aid. Tasks were rotated between the four rifle companies every nine days. The troops also gathered intelligence by talking to the local’s and used this knowledge to disarm aggressive groups. There were a number of skirmishes with bandits.

The RAN played an important part in the deployment, transporting the battalion group equipment, vehicles and some troops to Somalia on board the training ship HMA JERVIS BAY and the heavy landing ship HMAS TOBRUK. TOBRUK subsequently remained in the area in support, providing logistic support to the Australians and UNITAF, and conducted surveillance off the Somali Coast.

Its helicopter was used in ship-to-shore transport of personnel. TOBRUK was also used by the land forces for rest and recreation. With UNITAF’s strong military presence, humanitarian relief organisations were able to distribute food in safety, bringing an end to the Somali famine.

Conditions had stabilised to such an extent that attention shifted to ending the conflict which had exacerbated the famine. On 4 May 1993, UNITAF was replaced by an expanded UNOSOM II, which had an extensive mandate to rebuild the Somali state.

With the hand-over, the 1RAR battalion group was transferred to UNOSOM II until 13 May when it was withdrawn from Baidoa and returned to Australia the following week.

The Movement Control Unit (MCU) remained in Somali with UNOSOM II and was joined by a group of Air Traffic Controllers.

UNOSOM IIs nation building mandate brought it into conflict with the militia leader Mohamed Farah Aidid.

In October, the situation further deteriorated after a team of US Army Rangers and Delta Force unsuccessfully tried to remove Aidid from power.

This was a well-publicised and embarrassing defeat and many countries subsequently began to withdraw their national Contingents from UNOSOM II.

The Australians, however, stayed.

In April 1994 a ten-man patrol from the SASR was flown to Mogadishu to protect the Contingent, which by then was down to 67 people. The Australian Contingent remained in Somalia for another seven months, finally withdrawing in November.

After suffering significant casualties and unable to restore order or peace, the last UN troops were withdrawn from Somalia in March 1995.

Australian Casualties

1 killed (Corporal Shannon McAliney)

3 wounded

1 injured

UNOSOMII Casualties (I have added these figures into this background paper):

149 Military Personnel

3 International Staff

2 Local UN Staff

Countless Somali’s, possibly in the thousands…

US Military Casualties

19 Killed in Action

80 Wounded in Action

For more information please see the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour database.

AWM Collection Items

References:

Breen, Bob, A little bit of hope: Australian Force- Somalia, (St Leonards, N. S. W. : Allen & Unwin, 1998)

Horner, David Murray, the Australian centenary history of defence. Vol. 4, The Making of the Australian defence, (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Curing, Ian; Australian Army History Unit, Red Coats to Cams: a history of Australian Infantry 1788 to 2001, (Loftus N. S. W. : Australian Military History

Publications in association with the Australian Army History Unit, 2004)

Lundy, Peter, Other people′s wars: a history of Australian peacekeeping, (2003)

Parry, Bill (Winston Oliver), we were there in the R. A. R. / Bill Parry. We Were there in the Royal Australian Regiment, (Mango Hill, Qld. Winston Oliver Parry, 2005)

Ramage, Gary; Breen, Bob, Through Aussie eyes, (Canberra: Dept. of Defence, 1994

You’re going where?

The phone rang. It’s funny how your life can turn on a phone call. I was talking to my wife, in the kitchen as she prepared dinner for myself and our three young boys. I had just completed another particularly busy day as a recently promoted Lieutenant. Albeit with probably the greatest job in the world, being the officer in charge of security for the Fleet Base, situated in the middle of the glorious Sydney Harbour at Garden Island. This was effectively a mini city, located at the bottom end of Sydney’s notorious and colourful Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo districts.

I picked up the phone. The conversation was something like this:

Paul, it’s the Boss here, how are you?

Ok I said, fearing I was about to be called back to base, a commute of nearly an hour and a half in Sydney’s peak hour traffic but no, it wasn’t that.

How would you like to go to Cambodia and help to solve nearly a million murders?

Well, it’s a short notice ask, but I said yeah, sure, knowing that it would be a big job and a great challenge.

Ok then, I’ll call Navy Office in Canberra, now and let you know.

Why the rush?

Well, the Army’s got the dibs on the upcoming United Nations deployment there, but it is a tri-service mission

Mmmmm…makes sense Boss, I’ll standby.

We hung up.

I told my wife,

"I’ve