Exercise Grass Parrot DPR/TV/779

At first sight, just a peaceful South East Asian village...villagers at prayers in the temple, a group gossiping outside...but the army boots give the scene away. So do the faces...faces like that of Private Doug McQuiggan of Temora, Vic; Private Geoff Smith of Lidcombe, Sydney, NSW; Lance Corporal Bill Young of Launceston, Tas; Private Graeme Johnson of Bendigo, Vic; Private Bob Flanagan of Monto, Qld and Private Graham Martin of Mitcham, Melbourne, Vic. For these villagers, digging and weeding gardens and going about their daily routine are members of the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment taking the part of the enemy in Exercise Grass Parrot in the Armys Shoalwater Bay training area. While the routine of the village is going on, engineers of the 21st Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers are planting booby traps and laying tripwires, for a cordon and search operation by 1 RAR is expected. Well concealed hides are checked ready for a man to be concealed in them and everything is ready. Just after first light the searching troops enter the village. The Battalions Bravo Company get the job while other companies form the cordon. The troops are preceeded by engineers checking the paths and tracks for mines and booby traps while machine gunner Private Gary Pope of Ferrydean Park, Adelaide, SA, and his mate Private Ewan Blair of Mildura, Vic provide cover. But over at one of the huts, an unwary footstep has detonated a mine in the doorway. The engineers are rushed to check the hut for more booby traps as they duck from the simulated blast. The umpire with the group has ruled that a soldier has received shrapnel wounds, and attaches a tag to him denoting this. He is quickly attended to by a company medic as villagers distract the attention of other searchers. Near a garden, one of the searchers suspects a hide. Carefully and painstakingly he scrapes away the soil from the area under suspicion and only yards away, a rice cache is checked for booby traps, bag by bag, heavy rain does not deter the searchers from carrying out the job to the full. Villagers are questioned through an interpreter and gathered into groups for further processing. Meanwhile the hide cover has been unearthed and a grappling hook is attached to it in case it is booby trapped. The lid is removed and the hide is covered by Private Allan Nielsen of Parkhome, Adelaide, Sa, and machine gunner Pte Tom Loughbridge of Lock, Vic. A careful crawl to check the hide and sure enough, there is a suspect hiding in it. He is covered by Corporal Ken Hughes of Hurstville, NSW, as the water filled hole is searched for weapons or maybe even a tunnel entrance. The suspect is questioned by an interpreter and led off to be added to the compound holding an increasing number of suspects. The companys success is relayed back to Battalion Headquarters by gunner Peter Daff of Scarborough, WA, as armoured personnel carriers supporting the 1st Battalion patrol the perimeter. (also identified: Sapper Ian Clarke of Alstonville, NSW).