Extra SAS and ‘Chooks’ sent to fight the Taliban

Another SASR Squadron off to join the fray in Afghanistan. AUSTRALIA will boost its military presence in Afghanistan to more than 500 troops to counter an increase in violence from a resurgent Taliban. Two Chinook helicopters and 110 special forces soldiers will be deployed to the troubled country, seen as a front line in the war against terror. The Chinooks, commonly called ‘Chooks’ have had a chequered history in Australa with crashes and 12 squadron disbanding and ‘rebanding’ over the 33 years they have been in the ADF inventory. In May 1989, the Defence Minister, Kim Beazley announced the withdrawal of the Tactical Transport Group Chinook fleet on cost grounds, and that Army Black Hawks would perform the essential roles of the Chinook. This is a bit like saying a Land Rover can do the job of a Mac truck and the fact that this is a false hope didn’t take long to become apparent, even to the ALP. True, the Chinook is most probably the most expensive rotary wing aircraft to maintain in any countries inventory but it is also almost indispensable to the countries infrastructure. Its heavy lift capacity makes it ideal for civilian applications as well as defence deployment. Besides ADF deployments, other tasks for the Chinooks have been lifting Wessex helicopters for the RAN, and wrecks of wartime Boston bombers from the jungles in Papua New Guinea. Also lifted was an extremely large statue of Australian aviation pioneer Sir Lawrence Hargrave onto Mt Keira at Wollongong, typical of many tasks undertaken for the civil community. The first time I flew in one was in Vietnam. The US Chook picked up us 20 odd soldiers then flew over and picked up a bulldozer. I was sitting over the hatch that had a round beam from which hung the dozer. It looked all too lightweight to me but off we flew with the dozer oscilating and me hyperventilating. Great piece of kit and it’s good to see it is supporting the new soldiers as they battle the new terrorists. UPDATE: Too date, 61% of Age readers who have participated in a poll on sending troops to Afghanistan have voted for the continuation of the Taliban regime with all it’s brutality. It could only happen at the Age.