Afghanistan/Australien — Personal details of soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Pri­vate Tim Aplin, Pri­vate Ben Chuck, and Pri­vate Scott Palmer died as a result of an inci­dent involv­ing an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force (ISAF) heli­copter in South­ern Afghanistan ear­ly on Mon­day morn­ing.

The inci­dent involved Aus­tralian Com­man­dos and ISAF Per­son­nel based in Mul­ti-Nation­al Base Tarin Kowt. 

They were part of Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Group drawn from the Syd­ney-based 2nd Com­man­do Regiment. 

The fam­i­lies of Pri­vate Aplin, Pri­vate Chuck and Pri­vate Palmer are receiv­ing sup­port from 2nd Com­man­do Reg­i­ment and from the Defence Com­mu­ni­ty Organisation. 

The fam­i­lies of the sol­diers do not wish to con­duct any media inter­views. The fam­i­lies have request­ed their pri­va­cy be respect­ed dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time. 

Plan­ning for the repa­tri­a­tion of the fall­en Aus­tralian sol­diers has begun although the date for their return to Aus­tralia has not yet been confirmed. 

All sev­en Com­man­do sol­diers wound­ed in the inci­dent are en-route to the Land­stuhl Region­al Med­ical Cen­tre in Germany. 

The sev­en sol­diers will receive advanced med­ical and sur­gi­cal treat­ment at the Unit­ed States hos­pi­tal before being con­sid­ered for return to Australia. 

There has been no sub­stan­tial change to the med­ical assess­ment of the casu­al­ties with four now assessed to be in a sat­is­fac­to­ry con­di­tion, one list­ed as in a seri­ous con­di­tion and two in a very seri­ous condition. 

Six of the sev­en sol­diers under­went surgery yesterday. 

The sol­diers suf­fered frac­tures, lac­er­a­tions, crush injuries and a head injury. 

Pri­vate Tim­o­thy James Aplin

It is with deep regret the Aus­tralian Defence Force announces the death of Pri­vate (PTE) Tim­o­thy James Aplin dur­ing oper­a­tions in Afghanistan. 

PTE Aplin was serv­ing with the Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Group when he trag­i­cal­ly lost his life in a heli­copter crash, on Mon­day 21 June 2010. 

38 year old PTE Aplin was from the Syd­ney-based 2nd Com­man­do Regiment. 

PTE Aplin enlist­ed in the Aus­tralian Army Reserves on 04 Feb 1992. PTE Aplin trans­ferred to the Reg­u­lar Army on 20 Sep 1995, reach­ing the rank of Sergeant. He suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ed the Com­man­do Selec­tion and Train­ing Course in 2008 and was post­ed to the then 4th Bat­tal­ion Roy­al Aus­tralian Reg­i­ment (Com­man­do) in Jan­u­ary 2009 after com­plet­ing the Com­man­do Rein­force­ment Cycle. To achieve this goal he will­ing­ly took the required reduc­tion in rank from Sergeant to do this. 

PTE Aplin was an out­stand­ing and ded­i­cat­ed Com­man­do who was high­ly respect­ed. This was his sec­ond tour to Afghanistan and he was serv­ing with the SOTG as a team demo­li­tions specialist. 

PTE Aplin has been award­ed the Aus­tralian Active Ser­vice Medal with East Tim­or, Iraq and ICAT clasps, the Infantry Com­bat Badge, Unit­ed Nations Medal with Rib­bon UNTAET, the IRAQ Cam­paign Medal, the Aus­tralian Defence Medal, the Defence Long Ser­vice Medal and the Afghanistan Cam­paign Medal. PTE Aplin has also been award­ed the Returned from Active Ser­vice Badge from a pre­vi­ous deployment. 

Dur­ing Pri­vate Tim­o­thy James Aplin’s ser­vice in the Aus­tralian Army he deployed on the fol­low­ing Operations; 

a. OPERATION TANAGER (East Tim­or) in 2000,
b. OPERATION BASTILLE (Mid­dle East) in 2003,
c. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) in 2009, and
d. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) again in 2010. 

Pri­vate Ben­jamin Adam Chuck

It is with deep regret the Aus­tralian Defence Force announces the death of Pri­vate (PTE) Ben­jamin Chuck dur­ing oper­a­tions in Afghanistan. 

PTE Chuck was serv­ing with the Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Group when he trag­i­cal­ly lost his life in a heli­copter crash, on Mon­day 21 June 2010. 

27 year old PTE Chuck was from the Syd­ney-based 2nd Com­man­do Regiment. 

PTE Chuck leaves behind his par­ents, one broth­er, one sis­ter, and his part­ner who are cur­rent­ly receiv­ing sup­port from Defence. 

PTE Chuck was born in Ather­ton, QLD in 1983. He joined the Army on 11th May 2004 as part of the Spe­cial Forces Direct Recruit­ing Scheme. On com­ple­tion of his Com­man­do Selec­tion and Train­ing Course and Rein­force­ment Cycle he was post­ed to the then 4th Bat­tal­ion Roy­al Aus­tralian Reg­i­ment (Com­man­do) — now 2nd Com­man­do Reg­i­ment. This was his third tour to Afghanistan and was serv­ing with the SOTG. PTE Chuck was an out­stand­ing Com­man­do who was high­ly trained and excelled at all he attempt­ed. PTE Chuck was the Patrol Medic with­in his sniper team. He was suit­ed to this role as his affec­tion­ate and car­ing nature drove his pas­sion for help­ing his mates. 

PTE Chuck has been award­ed the Aus­tralian Active Ser­vice Medal with Clasp ICAT, the Afghanistan Cam­paign Medal, the NATO ISAF Medal, the Infantry Com­bat Badge and the Aus­tralian Defence Medal. PTE Chuck has also been award­ed the Returned from Active Ser­vice Badge from his first deploy­ment to Afghanistan. 

Dur­ing Pri­vate Ben­jamin Adam Chucks ser­vice in the Aus­tralian Army Ben deployed on the fol­low­ing Operations; 

a. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) — May — Aug 2007,
b. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) — Jun — Nov 2008, and
c. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) — Feb — Jun 2010. 

Pri­vate Scott Travis Palmer

It is with deep regret the Aus­tralian Defence Force announces the death of Pri­vate (PTE) Scott Travis Palmer dur­ing oper­a­tions in Afghanistan. 

PTE Palmer was serv­ing with the Spe­cial Oper­a­tions Task Group when he trag­i­cal­ly lost his life in a heli­copter crash, on Mon­day 21 June 2010. 

27 year old PTE Palmer was from the Syd­ney-based 2nd Com­man­do Regiment. 

PTE Palmer leaves behind his lov­ing par­ents and broth­er, who are cur­rent­ly receiv­ing sup­port from Defence. 

PTE Palmer enlist­ed in the Aus­tralian Army in 2001. PTE Palmer suc­cess­ful­ly under­took Com­man­do Selec­tion and Train­ing in 2006 and joined the then 4th Bat­tal­ion Roy­al Aus­tralian Reg­i­ment (Com­man­do) in Nov 2006. This was his third tour to Afghanistan and was serv­ing with the SOTG. PTE Palmer has seen Oper­a­tional ser­vice in East Tim­or, Iraq and Afghanistan. His pro­fes­sion­al­ism was of the high­est order and he excelled at every­thing he did. PTE Palmer loved his job and work­ing along­side his mates. 

PTE Palmer was award­ed the Aus­tralian Active Ser­vice Medal with clasps IRAQ, East Tim­or and Inter­na­tion­al Coali­tion Against Ter­ror­ism (ICAT), the IRAQ Cam­paign Medal, the Aus­tralian Defence Medal, the Aus­tralian Ser­vice Medal with clasp Tim­or — Leste, the Aus­tralian Defence Medal, the Afghanistan Cam­paign Medal, and the NATO ISAF Medal. PTE Palmer was also award­ed the Returned from Active Ser­vice Badge from a pre­vi­ous deployment. 

Dur­ing Pri­vate Scott Travis Palmers ser­vice in the Aus­tralian Army, Scott deployed on the fol­low­ing Operations; 

a. OPERATION CITADEL (East Tim­or) — Feb — May 2003
b. OPERATION CATALYST (Mid­dle East)- May — Nov 2005
c. OPERATION ASTUTE (East Tim­or) — Mar — Jun 2007
d. OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) — Nov 2007 — Jun 2008, Mar — Jul 2009 and Feb — Jun 2010. 

Issued by Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs, Depart­ment of Defence, Can­ber­ra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
Media Releas­es are avail­able via e‑mail if you reg­is­ter at www.defence.gov.au/media

Source:
Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence