Afghanistan/Australien — The return of 2nd Commando Regiment fallen

Pri­vate Tim Aplin, Pri­vate Ben Chuck, and Pri­vate Scott Palmer of the 2nd Com­man­do Reg­i­ment returned home today, met by their fam­i­lies and mem­bers of their unit, in a solemn and dig­ni­fied cer­e­mo­ny at RAAF Base Rich­mond.

Com­man­dos from 2nd Com­man­do Reg­i­ment formed an hon­our guard and bear­er par­ty to receive and car­ry the three cas­kets from the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force C‑17 Globe­mas­ter aircraft. 

Min­is­ter for Defence, Sen­a­tor John Faulkn­er; Mrs Louise Markus, Shad­ow Min­is­ter for Vet­er­ans’ Affairs and local mem­ber for Green­way rep­re­sent­ing the Shad­ow Min­is­ter for Defence, Sen­a­tor David John­ston; The Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Mar­shal Angus Hous­ton; The Chief of Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ken Gille­spie and Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Com­man­der Aus­tralia, Major Gen­er­al Tim McOw­an attend­ed the Ramp Ceremony. 

Chief of Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ken Gille­spie spoke of the sig­nif­i­cance of the Ramp Cer­e­mo­ny in wel­com­ing Pri­vate Aplin, Pri­vate Chuck and Pri­vate Palmer home to their families. 

“The Ramp Cer­e­mo­ny is a mil­i­tary tra­di­tion, where the fam­i­lies of the fall­en and the Army fam­i­ly gath­er to wel­come home those who have made the supreme sac­ri­fice in the ser­vice of our nation,” said Gen­er­al Gillespie. 

Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Com­man­der, Major Gen­er­al Tim McOw­an described the loss felt by the 2nd Com­man­do Regiment. 

“They are in mourn­ing and they are suf­fer­ing great­ly from a sig­nif­i­cant loss for the Reg­i­ment and we should not for­get that we have sev­en oth­er sol­diers who are wound­ed in action. 

“It is a trau­mat­ic event for a Reg­i­ment that is as close as the 2nd Com­man­do Reg­i­ment. They are a resilient organ­i­sa­tion, thor­ough­ly pro­fes­sion­al and they will con­tin­ue to sol­dier on behalf of the nation. 

“Our imme­di­ate thoughts are with their fam­i­lies. These three young men were pro­fes­sion­al sol­diers and they knew the risks inher­ent in their job. The fam­i­lies should not have to suf­fer the tragedies that they do and we will all car­ry this sor­row for the rest of our lives,” said Gen­er­al McOwan. 

Media con­tact: Defence Media Liai­son: (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia