Posted by Mike Hughes, Author at CONTACT magazine

HMAS Choules in Sydney Harbour for the 2024 Australia Day celebrations. Story by Sub-Lieutenant Tahlia Merigan. Photo by Leading Seaman David Cox.

ADF thrills Sydney’s Australia Day crowds

01/02/202401/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1464 Views 0 Comments 9th Regiment Royal Australian Artillery, ADF Red Berets, Australia Day, HMAS Choules, MH-60R Seahawk, Roulettes

With the sun shining bright for Australia Day, the ADF provided a spectacular display on and around Sydney Harbour. CAPTION: HMAS

Members of the Australian Army Cadets prepare to race tiny drones during the Army Cadet Drone Racing camp at Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, Queensland. Story by Major Carolyn Barnett. Photo by Cadet Sergeant Joshua Parcell.

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Cadets put drone skills to the test

01/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 3258 Views 0 Comments 20th Regiment, Army Cadets, Army Drone Racing Team, Gallipoli Barracks

Cadets from across the country learnt how to pilot small drones reaching speeds of up to 200km/h at the Australian

Australian Army Medic, then Sergeant Joanne Cook, examines a little girl with malaria in February 1993. Story by Corporal Luke Bellman. Photo by Corporal Gary Ramage.

Australian Army Health and Wellbeing History News Overseas

Citation for troops who risked their safety to help Somalis

01/02/202402/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 2101 Views 0 Comments 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, HMAS Tobruk, Meritorious Unit Citation, Operation Solace, Somalia

Meritorious Unit Citations (MUC) have been awarded to ADF units that served in Somalia between 1992 and 1995. CAPTION: Australian Army

Senior enlisted adviser to the Chief of the Defence Force Warrant Officer Ken Robertson. Story by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton. Photo by Lauren Larking.

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Senior Enlisted Advisor to CDF

01/02/202403/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1591 Views 0 Comments Chief of Defence Force, Senior Enlisted Advisor to Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) (SEAC)

Continuous support to domestic operations without much respite was one issue raised with the Senior Enlisted Advisor to Chief of

Chief Petty Officer Gillian Bryant has been awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross. Story by Corporal Michael Rogers.

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Stepping up and talking the talk

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1779 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours, Guardian-class Patrol Boat, Sea Training Group

When Chief Petty Officer Gillian Bryant stepped up to act in a lieutenant commander’s role, she could walk the walk,

Australia Defence Force Personnel have been recognised for their continued efforts in this year’s Australia Day Honours list. Photo by Sergeant Tristan Kennedy.

Australian Army News Royal Australian Air Force Royal Australian Navy

Australia Day honours announced

26/01/202427/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 2144 Views 1 Comment Australia Day Honours

Australia Defence Force personnel have been recognised for devotion to duty during natural disasters, strategic innovation and professional mastery in

Bombardier Adam Davies-Moore, from 16 Regiment, The Royal Australian Artillery has been awarded a Conspicuous Service Medal this Australia Day. Story by Corporal Michael Rogers.

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Award a surprise for bombardier

26/01/202426/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1548 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours

When Bombardier Adam Davies-Moore was given a counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS) role at 16 Regiment, he recognised development was needed

Royal Australian Air Force officer, Wing Commander Chaplin Lindsay Carey at Fort Queenscliff in Victoria. Story by Corporal Luke Bellman. Photo by Warrant Officer Don Kenny.

ADF People Royal Australian Air Force

Aiding healing from moral injury

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1343 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours, Chaplains, effects of PTSD

After Defence-approved research found about 62 per cent of air force veterans may have some type of moral injury, Chaplain

Royal Australian Air Force Warrant Officer Melinda Skinner from 13 Squadron at the Air Movements section in RAAF Base Darwin. Story by Corporal Michael Rogers. Photo by Corporal Madhur Chitnis.

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Ready to help with open arms

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1566 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours, HADR, No. 13 Squadron

When overseas travellers returned to Australia because of COVID-19 in 2020, movements Warrant Officer Melinda Skinner was on the frontline

Lieutenant Colonel Meng Wang has been recognised in the Australia Day awards with a Conspicuous Service Medal. Story and photo by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton.

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Army officer recognised the need for speed

26/01/202428/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1453 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours, Aviation Command, RAEME, UH-60M Black Hawk

Approval of the UH-60M Black Hawk acquisition for Army, a process typically spanning three to four years, was completed in

Corporal Thomas Grayham received a Conspicuous Service Medal in the 2024 Australia Day Honours. Story by Corporal Jacob Joseph. Photo by Leading Seaman Abdus Chowdhury.

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‘Pretty chuffed’ with medal for work during floods

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1180 Views 0 Comments 145 Signal Squadron, Australia Day Honours, Mobile Cloud Operations Network (MCON), Randwick Barracks

Just days after life-saving surgery, as flood waters inundated Sydney, Corporal Thomas Grayham was back at work. CAPTION: Corporal Thomas Grayham

Engineering Officer Lieutenant Parritt in front of HMAS Hobart, Sydney, NSW. Story by Corporal Jacob Joseph. Photo by Able Seaman Lucinda Allanson.

ADF People Royal Australian Navy

Stoked to set an example

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1220 Views 0 Comments Australia Day Honours, HMAS Brisbane, HMAS Hobart

Work to make a guided missile destroyer more capable and reliable were just some of more than 100 improvements overseen

Australia Day Award recipient Sergeant Justin Kurban, an aviation technician with 37 Squadron, RAAF Base Richmond. Story by Corporal Jacob Joseph.

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Decade of aviation innovation honoured

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 875 Views 0 Comments 35 Squadron, Air Mobility Group’s (AMG), Australia Day Honours, No. 37 Squadron, RAAF Richmond

An avionics technician who developed bespoke secure communications for C-27J Spartan aircraft and rapidly assembled a Hercules maintenance crew for

Squadron Leader Catherine Humphries with the "It's Home It's Mawson" sign at the research station. Story by Corporal Veronica O’Hara.

ADF People

Breaking ground in Antarctica

26/01/202409/02/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 937 Views 0 Comments Antarctica

Before the Antarctic ice breaker arrived at nearby Davis research station, Mawson’s winter expeditioners anticipated the “tantalising promise” of fresh

Commander Rose Apikotoa addresses family, Defence members and guests at the handover takeover ceremony conducted at HMAS Moreton, Queensland. Story by Lieutenant Rebecca Williamson. Photo by Corporal Brett Sherriff.

ADF People Royal Australian Navy

When one achieves, we all achieve

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1017 Views 0 Comments HMAS Moreton

Commander Rose Apikotoa recently became the first Australian of Tongan heritage to take a Navy command role, as the Commanding

Air Force airborne electronics analyst Aircraftman Mujtaba "Mitch" Hakimi from 292 SQN at RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Australia. Story by Flight Lieutenant Nick O’Connor.

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From war-torn Afghanistan to the RAAF

26/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1032 Views 0 Comments

Growing up in an ethnic minority family in Afghanistan, Aircraftman Mujtaba Hakimi (Mitch) lived in constant fear of violence at

Deployed soldiers from 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, on parade during their Operation Kudu farewell ceremony at Edinburgh Defence Precinct, Adelaide. Story and photos by Captain Peter March.

Australian Army News Overseas UK

Ukraine community farewells SA-based soldiers

19/01/202419/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 2202 Views 0 Comments 2nd Health Brigade, 7th Battalion RAR, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Edinburgh Defence Precinct, Land Combat College, Operation Kudu

Soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), 2nd Health Brigade and Land Combat College were farewelled in a

Soldiers assigned to Joint Task Group 629.3 deliver supplies in Wujal Wujal, Queensland. Story by Captain Diana Jennings. Photos by Leading Seaman Jarrod Mulvihill.

Australian Army News

Diggers muck in to help community

17/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1115 Views 0 Comments Joint Task Group 629.3, Queensland Flood Assist

The rural towns of Ayton, Bloomfield and Wujal Wujal were among some of the hardest hit communities devastated by floodwaters

Australian Army News

Lockheed Martin contracted to begin guided-missile manufacturing in Sydney

17/01/202418/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 2173 Views 0 Comments HIMARS, Lockheed Martin, Orchard Hills

Defence has signed a $37.4 million contract with Lockheed Martin Australia to start manufacturing guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS)

An Army landing craft mechanised Mk8 (LCM8) from 10th Force Support Battalion delivers plant equipment to the community of Ayton, Queensland as part of the ADF support to the region following the devastation of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper. Story by Captain Diana Jennings. Photo by Leading Seaman Jarrod Mulvhill

Australian Army News

ADF equipment aids flood recovery

16/01/202416/01/2024 Posted by Mike Hughes 1702 Views 0 Comments 10th Force Support Battalion, 5th Aviation Regiment, CH-47F Chinook, Queensland Flood Assist

ADF personnel continue to assist regional communities across Queensland’s far north devastated by severe floods following Ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper in