By KATIE DE VERTEUIL
WHILE thousands gather across Australia and indeed the world this Saturday to pay tribute to the Anzacs, the services will also honour those who are still fighting to ensure the continued freedom of our nation.
Lieutenant-Colonel Tyron de Boer will be among the soldiers marching at this year’s dawn service at Noosa’s Main Beach.
A fairly new resident of the shire, Tyron has experienced first-hand the effects of Australia’s campaign in Afghanistan, having been deployed there from August to December in 2013.
As commander of the Rotary Wing Task Group, Tyron was in charge of shutting down Australia’s helicopter commitment in Afghanistan which had been going for the last 10 years, following the cessation of flying operations.
“I took a team of contractors and army soldiers into the country and we pulled the Chinook helicopters apart, did a bunch of heavy maintenance on them and packed them up to come home,” Tyron said.
“We also had to manage all the equipment and spares that had grown over 10 years, which was in the order of 60,000 items. Some of it we couldn’t take back due to quarantine so we’d sell it, dispose of it, or service it and bring it back to Australia.”
“The two Australian Chinooks that we were sent to work on were part of a US Army Combat Aviation Brigade which had about 64 helicopters in total.”
Although Tyron had been in the army since 1993, and working with the Chinook management for three years prior, this was his first time in Afghanistan.
“We were based at Kandahar airfield – a relatively secure airbase which housed around 30,000 coalition troops,” Tyron said.
“This was also home to hundreds and hundreds of coalition aircraft, with everything from helicopters, to jet fighters and unmanned drones.
“The runway was going 24 hours a day conducting combat missions against the Taliban and supporting coalition troops on the ground.
“Everyone on the base was carrying guns and machine-guns and there were quite a lot of civilian contractors there too.”
What caught Tyron’s attention however upon arrival at the airfield were the blimps which surrounded the area.
“One of the bizarre things when you first get there were these big blimps which have cameras and surveillance equipment on the bottom of them,” Tyron said.
“As you looked across the horizon they were everywhere, high in the sky, held up by steel cables.”
While security was tight, Tyron said the greatest threat came from the surrounding mountains.
“The Taliban would get hold of old Russian rockets and mortars and every second or third day they would send them over the fence,” Tyron said.
“They’d just walk them in by hand or with their donkeys, put them up against some rocks and set them off.
“And while our security system detected them coming through, there’s not much you can do.
“The siren sounds and everyone hits the deck – you wait for the bang and hope it’s not near you.
“The worst day we had, we had 13 rocket attacks.”
Another threat which became more apparent toward the end of the campaign was the ‘insider’ threat.
“The Afghanis we were training would take leave and return to their home village where they would then sometimes be coerced to fight for the Taliban, sometimes having their families threatened, so when they’d come back from holidays they would turn on the coalition force,” Tyron said.
With great controversy surrounding Australia’s participation in Afghanistan, Tyron is clear on his stance.
“You only have to look at the news today and the stuff that goes on in the Middle East certainly is no longer confined to the Middle East, it reaches out,” he said.
“As one of the global leaders I think we have an obligation to provide some assistance and I think the stuff that we are doing is appropriate.
“We’re not sending large forces out into combat; the mission now has become more about enabling the Afghan forces to look after themselves, so it’s more a training and mentoring role.”
That said, he does not believe the 10-year campaign is likely to make a lasting difference in a country that has been at war for thousands of years.
“Fighting has almost become a way of life for the Taliban,” Tyron said.
“They weren’t there to win the war in a year – they knew that we would eventually go.
“But what we did do was certainly make a difference in the regions where we were at the time.”
When reflecting on wars of the past, Tyron sees the turmoil in Afghanistan as a completely different fight.
“In early wars it was all about numbers and having one force on the battlefield against another force,” Tyron said.
“In Afghanistan there’s no clear enemy.
“Most of the Afghani people are farmers and so walk around with guns and the Taliban will quite happily strap bombs to anyone, so you never know where the threat is coming from.”
Tyron is currently managing flight simulators for Australia’s new MRH-90 multi-role helicopters which will be replacing the Blackhawk helicopter fleet.
On Saturday he and his family will join in local Anzac commemorations.
“It’s one of those days that always has a significant meaning and I guess that grows when you’re in the army and even more so once you’ve been deployed.”
