‘Every day is Anzac Day’ for Aussie troops stationed in the Middle East

FOR the Australian soldiers in the Middle East, including bugler and Army Captain Frank Tamsitt, every day is Anzac Day as they write the next chapter of the Anzac narrative.

HE played his first bugle Last Post at an Anzac Day ceremony at his school in the village of Bungendore in NSW as a nervous 11-year-old in Year 5.

But 18-years on Army Captain Frank Tamsitt will today feel just as much pressure as he again leads an Anzac Day centenary as the bugler, albeit in the heart of the Middle East conflict zone that is Afghanistan capital Kabul.

While the significance of the centenary marking the end of the Great War is not lost on the 300 Australian troops on active duty in Afghanistan, they say every day is April 25 as they write the next chapter of the Anzac narrative.

Bugler Captain Frank Tamsitt from Orange NSW, is currently deployed on operations as part of Task Group Afghanistan. Picture: Gary Ramage

That sentiment hit home today as overnight a letter from the parents of Private Robert Poate, 23, who was killed in a green-on-blue attack by a rogue Afghan soldier in August 2012 was read to ADF troops in Kabul.

Battle hardened ADF members in Kabul largely from 3RAR got misty eyed as the letter from Janny and Hugh Poate was read aloud by Task Group Afghanistan commander Brigadier Peter Connor.

The Poates wrote in their letter about their home computer that was programmed to alert for developments affecting their boys in Afghanistan.

“We thank you for putting your lives on the line in Afghanistan to help in the fight against global terrorism,” Brig Connor read, his voice creaking with emotion.

Captain Frank Tamsitt will play the Bugle on ANZAC Day in Kabul, Afghanistan for those at the dawn service. Picture: WO2 Neil Ruskin/Supplied

“Watch over your shoulders and watch the backs of your mates. The sand of Afghanistan has the blood of 40 Australian soldiers killed .…”

ADF padre Captain Neil Mathieson said the letter hit home with many but not just because it was Anzac Day.

“Every day is Anzac Day, it’s who we are, for many it’s not just on the 25th of April,” the Anglican ADF chaplain from South Australia said.

“We don’t need to live up to the myth, more so because we are actually part of the story. It’s not about living up to what’s gone on in the past we are actually creating a continued narrative story so in years to come what’s been done here or in Iraq will be part of that tradition, that story.”

This Anzac Day, 100 years after the guns fell silent on the Western Front, Australian diggers continue to serve in war ravaged countries. Picture: Gary Ramage

For 29-year-old infantry officer and proficient musician Capt Tamsitt he now is part of that next narrative.

“The bugle is something I have been a part of since I was quite young but I would have never thought when I was younger going through and playing the Last Post that I’d be in the Army let alone in operations in the Middle East,” he said.

“It’s a significant thing … it is probably the most iconic symbol of an Anzac Day.

“It is a real privilege, it’s a lot of pressure standing there with everyone surrounding you all very focused on one thing.

As the sun rose over the Hindu Kush Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, soldiers from 3RAR gathered to remember former members of the battalion. Picture: Gary Ramage

“You’d think I would be used to that pressure like that given my role but it really brings it on but broadly speaking it is a positive experience.

“It ties in with what I have done in the past, my experiences of Anzac Day from when I played in Year 5 at my school through to all services I’ve been to up until now.”

ANZAC DAY THE SYMBOL OF MATESHIP

ASK Privates Sam Hagel and Bianca Henderson what Anzac Day means to them and they answer simultaneously in one word — mates.

Of course there is also sacrifice, forging identity and national honour but it’s mateship they say that brings it all together on days like today and defines what it means to be Australian.

And nowhere can that be more forged and understood that in a conflict zone.

Pte Henderson, 33, from Adelaide and 23-year-old Pte Hagel from Townsville are far from home and family on their first deployment to the Middle East but have forged a bond they say has got them through and given them an idea of how Anzacs on the frontline 100 years ago managed courage under fire.

Privates Sam Hagel, 23, from Townsville and Bianca Henderson, 33, from Adelaide, epitomising mateship in the theatre of operations. Picture: Gary Ramage

“You build friendships quickly and closely, we’ve just bonded, we are like sisters,” Pte Hagel starts with Pte Henderson finishing the sentence off.

“They wouldn’t have been able to get through what they did without the mateship, that bond with mates. We could not do what we do without the other but I couldn’t imagine being here now without her here, as funny as that sounds.”

On base they are known as “The Twins”, inseparable in their duties as Army personnel administrators.

Pte Henderson said she missed family but the sense of duty — a personal sacrifice — outweighed personal circumstance.

“They are very proud, my mum was obviously very sad to see me go but they all know it’s what I really wanted to do, it was my turn to go,” she explained.

“My husband (Lee) has deployed twice so it was my turn to go. He’s at home literally minding the kids, two boys Mason five and two-year-old Nate.

“It’s very tough but like I said for me it’s what you join to do. It’s part of the job.”

Both soldiers agreed Anzac Day was very emotional, another level being in the Middle East.