CONTACT magazine issue #37

...

....

Issue 37
March 2013

In Newsagents Australia wide from 1 March until
31 May 2013.

Or, buy the hard copy version of this issue now and have it mailed directly to your home or office

Click on the images below to read the first 2 pages of each story

	On my recent visit to Afghanistan, one of the most powerful and emotional interviews I did was with Sergeant Dave Harrison, a scenes-of-crime officer with WIT – the Weapons Intelligence Team. WIT is a small team of just four Aussie servicemen, backed up by a handful of expert contractors, whose primary role is to forensically exploit incidents involving weapons, including – or rather, especially, IEDs – to build a picture of threat trends, with a view to defeating the threat. They also gather evidence to be used in targeting and prosecuting perpetrators, which, in the case of Uruzgan, means insurgents and bomb makers. In Uruzgan, the Australian WIT is the only entity of its type and thus investigates all weapons-related incidents in the province involving any coalition nationality. Anyway, why don’t I just step back and let you hear what Sergeant Harrison had to say about his job... Words and pics Brian Hartigan, Sergeant Dave Harrison and WIT

	AUSSIE SUPERPOWER - Part 3. Last issue I discussed in some depth the suite of defensive weapons/systems HMAS Melbourne can deploy – SM2, ESSM, 76mm (3 inch) rapid-fi re naval artillery gun, CIWS, chaf and flares, and Nulka – and said I’d get around to offensive weapons this time. But that’s a short list. And, while any weapon (even those above) could, strictly speaking, be deployed in an offensive capacity, it’s highly unlikely they would... Words and pics Brian Hartigan

	This year marks the 10th year of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). It will also see the drawdown of its military component in the second half of 2013 as announced by RAMSI Special Co-Coordinator Nicholas Coppel in December last year. The current rotation – the 29th – is planned to be the second last to serve in the Solomon Islands and, as has been the case with the previous 13 rotations, is a mainly reserve-based Combined Task Force (CTF) with more than 100 Army reservists, this time primarily drawn from the NSW 8th Brigade. Words and pics Private Alex Ormerod

	Twenty Army snipers from SOCOMD [Special Operations Command] and FORCOMD [Forces Command] met in Perth from 12 to 23 November last year for the inaugural SASR sniper concentration, to test sniper pairs in all areas of sniper skill sets, with an emphasis on tactical sniper and field-craft skills. The competition tested snipers in all skills required of a modern operational sniper pair with a total of 19 different scored events over two weeks. Words and pics SASR

	Long have I wanted to visit the many famous battlefields of World War I and to see what is left as time has moved on since those turbulent years. I also had a grandfather who served over there during the ‘war to end all wars’ and, although I never knew him – and, more regrettably, never got to talk to him about his experiences – when a work opportunity in France came up, I grabbed it. It was no ordinary work opportunity, though. As a member of the 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit (1JPAU), this job would see me in uniform, on duty, on Anzac Day, on Flanders fields – and just maybe, walking in my grandfather’s footsteps. Words and pics William Guthrie

	There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane – intense, maybe, even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. Words Brian Shul Pics USAF and supplied by Brian Shul

	WEAPONS OF THE ADF: Part 4- 'A vehicles'. Pics Brian Hartigan and ADF

Plus our regular columns; The Big Picture - Operation Queensland Flood Assist 2 Heads up - latest snippets from Australia, New Zealand and around the World Military Fitness by Don Stevenson Military Self Defence by Maj Iain Robertson Just Soldiers by WO1 Darryl Kelly Frontline Africa by Damien Mander Cadet Corner Q Store Gear Insider

COMBAT Camera is now published as an electronic on-line-only magazine COMBAT Camera is our new photo-essay-based magazine published exclusively as an on-line, page-flip, electronic magazine - and offered completely FREE by electronic subscription. COMBAT is a stable-mate of and designed to complement CONTACT Air Land & Sea. As of february 2013, more than 3750 subscribers have signed up. COMBAT Camera sources official photos from the Defence forces of Australia, the USA, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and others - and invites soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from any country to submit unofficial materiel. Photos and brief stories for inclusion in COMBAT Camera can be sent to editor@militarycontact.com for consideration. COMBAT Camera will be published four times per year and released on the same day as CONTACT is released in newsagents. Issue #3 will be published on 1 March 2013.
Currently, all advertising bought in CONTACT is carried FREE in COMBAT Camera too. See the Advertising page on this web site for full details.

HOME