US Marines join ADF in Mt Bundey for disaster relief training mission

MRF-D is back in the Territory, with several training missions on the agenda between now and October. See the photos from their first exercise.

Exercise Crocodile Response commenced at Robertson Barracks on May 14, 2023. It followed a week of academic courses in Bogor, Indonesia. The mission concludes on May 26. Picture: Scott Smolinski

A contingent of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin waits in the Top End heat for an overhead drop of lifesaving cargo.

Tracking the package’s parachute-assisted descent in the dry bushland of the Mt Bundey Military Training Area, the team will later load the package – containing the key to clean drinking water – onto a truck to be pieced together beside the nearest available water source.

The Marine Rotational Force-Darwin has a lightweight water purification system that filters up to 1500L of freshwater per hour. Picture: Sierra Haigh

The lightweight water purification system can filter up to 1500L of water per hour – enough for 900 people affected by disaster.

It takes just 45 minutes to set up the lifesaving machinery, “from flash to bang”.

The exercise is one of many that troops from the US, Indonesia, and Australia will take part in as part of humanitarian aid and disaster relief training for Exercise Crocodile Response 2023.

MRF-D Commanding Officer Colonel Brendan Sullivan said Exercise Crocodile Response 2023 was a critical partnership between the Australian Defence Force, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, and the Indonesian military. Picture: Sierra Haigh

MRF-D Commanding Officer Colonel Brendan Sullivan said the three-week training program was an incredibly important part of humanitarian aid preparation.

He said Exercise Crocodile Response was one of up to eight named exercises the contingent would practise during its deployment.

“The reality is the most likely mission we’ll confront – if history is any indicator – is disaster relief,” Colonel Sullivan said.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to do it alongside our ADF partners, and to start with a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, I think sends a strong message that it’s something very, very important to us.”

Northern Headquarters Commander Captain Mitchell Livingstone said Exercise Crocodile Response 2023 was a critical partnership between the Australian Defence Force, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, and the Indonesian military. Picture: Sierra Haigh

Northern Headquarters Commander Captain Mitchell Livingstone said the ADF’s partnership with the Indonesian military would be critical when supporting “our regional neighbours” in the future.

In 2022, Indonesia was affected by more than 6000 disasters.

He said the first week of the exercise was an academic phase hosted in Bogor, Indonesia, followed by a command post exercise in the second week to simulate a collective response to a natural disaster.

“This week, we’ll break that down further into some neat vignettes, where they’ll be setting up a camp for the displaced people,” Colonel Livingstone said.

“They’ll be looking at water purification and then a mass casualty exercise.”

The training mission wraps up on May 26.

Surgeon Justin Beck said the surgical tent could support four patients a time, with surgeries taking up to two hours.

He said the operating room was usually used for “penetrating injuries” to the chest or abdomen such as gunshot wounds.

“When we know we’re going into a humanitarian mission, we kind of change our equipment a little bit,” he said.

“We move toward a more blunt injury, so things would be crush injuries, motor vehicle crashes from safety vehicles or helicopter crashes.

“We kind of move toward that focus, bringing blood products for resuscitation.”

Originally published as US Marines join ADF in Mt Bundey for disaster relief training mission