By Flight Lieutenant Allan Weller

With long hours on duty in hot, energy-sapping conditions, you’d expect RAAF members in the Middle East to take every chance to put their feet up.

Maybe they sometimes will, but not when there’s a worthy cause in need.

On 30/31 May, RAAF personnel in the Middle East, along with their Army and Navy colleagues, set out to raise funds for the annual Relay for Life cancer fundraiser.

Many of these members normally contribute to this worthy cause back home so they grabbed the chance to contribute whilst so far away.

The event was initiated as an opportunity to not only raise funds for this cause but for the morale benefit it would bring to the ADF deployed community. Fundraising was achieved through generous donations, not only by Australian personnel, but also Coalition partners we serve alongside; cancer is an international enemy regardless of your home. 

Moustaches were lost, heads were shaved and the donations didn’t stop. The days leading up to the relay event saw volunteers at the Mess collecting whatever money could be spared, whether Australian dollars, US dollars, Canadian dollars, English pound or the Euro. All donations were welcome!

A challenge was thrown out to other units who work with our RAAF people, and two parallel competitions were conducted to find who completed the most kilometres and who raised the most funds.

The four participating units were the Australian Task Force Headquarters, the Combat Support Unit, the Maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft detachment, and the Force Communications Unit. To beat the sun, the captains of the four teams started the event at 0400 in the morning on 30 May. 

The principal organiser of the event was Wing Commander Peter Davis who was supported by Physical Training Instructor Corporal Kurt Sayed and Flying Officer Nikki Adams who is more accustomed to giving instructions to aircrew at Air Movements than changeovers on running machines.

The event continued for a solid, hot and sweaty 24 hour period. Every hour was filled by runners and walkers of all abilities, ages and fitness levels with the single goal of raising funds.

In fact, although the main focus was raising money, it wasn’t long before the competitive spirit kicked in — Task Unit against Task Unit, Task Unit against Headquarters, there could only be one winner. But in the end there were two winners. In the Middle East the Combat Support Unit just edged out Task Force Headquarters in both challenges, but the real winner was Relay For Life which gained $14,000.  The Combat Support Unit had raised almost $9500.

A Skype interface allowed the event to be linked both with other MEAO locations and the Relay For Life event being held in the Hawkesbury region back home. It is events such as this that really show the true spirit of Australian servicemen and women, whether performing their normal duties or on being asked to give for their fellow Australians. They always step up.

But there’s more. Planning is already begun for another Relay For Life fundraiser later in the year, with Wing Commander Davis throwing out the challenge to other units to participate on 7/8 November and link up with the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie event.
All the participants were part of the Operation SLIPPER, Australia's military contribution to maritime security, coalition efforts against international terrorism, and. countering piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
Australian forces contribute to the efforts of the United States-led International Coalition Against Terrorism and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, aimed at preventing Afghanistan again becoming a safe haven for international terrorists.
About 1550 Australian Defence Force personnel are based within Afghanistan and around 830 additional personnel deployed across the broader Middle East in support.
 

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