Since January 2010, the Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) detachment have provided support to Australian and International Stabilisation Force troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Recently they suffered significant morale problems, when their automatic coffee machine suffered a catastrophic failure. Flying Officer Brendan Smith decided to investigate the possibilities of acquiring new equipment as quickly as possible to restore the troop’s caffeine intake to acceptable levels. Barista Basics and Espresso Company Australia gladly came to their rescue by supplying coffee training and machinery to ensure a quality coffee at the start of their day.
FROM: Jonathan McMullan, Commanding Officer.
TO: Charles Stephens, Espresso Company Australia,
PO Box 170, Terrey Hills NSW 2084
I would like to offer my appreciation to you and your staff for the support to the troops deployed to Operation Slipper, particularly the Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) detachment – Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Since Australian Heron operations started in January 2010, the Heron RPA have provided support to Australian and International Stabilisation Force troops on the ground, as well as providing vital information to commanders.
The RPA continues to make a positive difference to our troops on the ground by providing direct operational support in the provision of real-time Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) effects. The HERON RPA is an essential component to the modern battlefield with its capabilities and assists with saving lives, by identifying threats to soldiers on the ground and providing this information in real time.
The Heron RPA is in high demand around the Uruzghan region, as it provides the ADF with an operational day/night Full Motion Video capability and electronic warfare support, which enhances operational capability to the ground forces and commanders.
Australian personnel have been training and flying operational missions with the Canadian Defence Force since 2009 and officially took over the reins in January 2010. The current Heron Detachment comprises 25 RAAF, one Army, one Navy and one Royal New Zealand Air Force member, making it a truly tri-service operation. The Team’s four month deployment sees them working long hours, but with the realisation through direct regular feedback from their customers that they are making valuable contributions to the ADF war effort.
The previous rotation suffered significant morale problems when their automatic coffee machine suffered a catastrophic failure. Flying Officer Brendan Smith came to you while investigating a suitable option to fill the void. The advice, training and support that Barista Basics and Espresso Company Australia provided to Brendan and the team, while conducting a barista course and maintenance training to support the new high use machine is very much appreciated.
The purchase of the machine by the Heron detachment has significantly increased team morale and has gone a long way to sustaining the exhaustive day and night operations undertaken by the detachment crews.
In appreciation,
Jonathan McMullan
WGCDR – CTU 633.2.7
Kandahar, Afghanistan.
FROM: BRENDAN SMITH, Flying Officer.
TO: Charles Stephens, Espresso Company Australia,
PO Box 170, Terrey Hills NSW 2084
Hello all.
Well, I’m about half way through my deployment now, and it is going at the right pace. Not too fast, not too slow.
Life here is relatively back to normal now, with days getting hotter and dustier. The missions we are doing at the moment are quite good; we are, however, having to change over software programs, which are our major communication line to the air traffic controllers. It’s one thing to do that sort of major change during peace time, but during war it’s a whole new game.
I’m getting into a really good routine now. It usually consists of about 11-12 hours at work, 1-2 hours at the gym, 1-2 hours of TV watching and then bed. We still, to date, haven’t had a day off. We have had no fly days, but we still had other work on. I did expect that anyway.
One of the guys manning the ops desk has organised a few visits for us so far. We have seen the mighty A-10 warthogs, the American UAVs, Reaper and Predator, the OH-58 helicopters and the awesome AH-64 Apache. Very motivational to go along and see how they do business in such an environment.
I almost witnessed an aviation disaster yesterday – a 747 freighter coming in to land. It looked all normal, right up until the point of flare. The pilot looked to struggle at that point and flared really hard and slammed it onto the runway. For sure, I thought the gear wouldn’t be able to cope, and it would collapse. But to Boeing’s credit, it handled the shocking landing and taxied off the runway without further incident … very impressive – not the landing, but the aircraft’s sheer strength.
I would also like to thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes. Most people said it wouldn’t be one of my best birthdays, due to the location; but it was awesome. I got to fly around Afghanistan on my birthday, have lollies and cake from home and spend the day with some great friends. Also went out for dinner to TGI Fridays on the board walk last night to top it all off. So all in all, it was a great birthday.
You would all be pleased to know I am winning the mail war. Currently I am now 9 packages in front, thanks to Mum and Dad sending all the UHT milk and coffee supplies. UHT milk, you ask; yes, it is the best tasting milk we get here on base. The milk, UHT milk, they usually get in, is from Pakistan and tastes like …
There is no fresh milk within 500 km of where I am sitting right now. Occasionally we get some just within expiry date – fresh milk from the C-130 crews that come into resupply us from Dubai, but only once every 2 weeks or so. Therefore, the Australian UHT is amazing – something I will never take for granted again when I arrive back home.
Other things I won’t take for granted will be fresh meat, water, showers without chlorine and my bed.
The coffee machine is going really well. We have been voted the best coffee on base. As you may or may not know, there are about 9 coffee shops on base and around 30,000 people. They range from not bad to terrible on the coffee scale. The main problem is its American coffee … for the caffeine hit, mainly.
We get visitors in from all over the base to our compound. We offer them coffee, and they usually say no thanks, thinking it’s instant or similar. This is about the time our boss rolls in and introduces our Australian F/A-18 barista. Not joking; he loves it.
They then see the machine and watch me make the coffee. Also, it is a major morale boost for the team.
I usually come out of the cockpit after 2 hours and then do the ring around to all our different sections in the compound. Out of that usually comes around 10 coffee orders. You get some who love making it themselves, but most just love having a coffee made for them; and I love making good coffee.
That’s about it for me. I’m just about to get to bed. ‘til next time.
Brendan. 2 July 2011.
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