Afghanistan/Australien — Ramp ceremony for Sapper Jacob Moerland and Sapper Darren Smith

Sap­per Jacob Moer­land and Sap­per Dar­ren Smith of Bris­bane-based 2nd Com­bat Engi­neer Reg­i­ment (2 CER) will com­plete their long jour­ney home on Sun­day morn­ing. They will be wel­comed home by their fam­i­lies and their Unit, 2CER. Both sol­diers lost their lives fol­low­ing an impro­vised explo­sive device blast ear­li­er this week. 

Min­is­ter for Defence, Sen­a­tor John Faulkn­er MP; Shad­ow Min­is­ter for Defence, Per­son­nel and Sci­ence Bob Bald­win rep­re­sent­ing the Shad­ow Min­is­ter for Defence Sen­a­tor David John­ston; Mr. Shayne Neu­mann MP, Mem­ber for Blair; The Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Mar­shal Angus Hous­ton; The Chief of Army, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ken Gille­spie, Com­man­der 7th Brigade, Brigadier Paul McLach­lan; Com­mand­ing Offi­cer 2CER, Lieu­tenant Colonel John Carey will be in atten­dance at the Ramp Ceremony. 

MEDIA NOTE:
Media who wish to attend the Ramp Cer­e­mo­ny for Jacob and Dar­ren are asked to meet at the Pass Office at the main entrance to RAAF Amber­ley, on South­ern Amber­ley Road, no lat­er than 9am on Sun­day morn­ing for access to the Base. 

Pho­to iden­ti­fi­ca­tion will be required.

Note: The fam­i­lies of Jacob and Dar­ren have agreed to media access to the Ramp Cer­e­mo­ny. We ask that their pri­va­cy con­tin­ues to be respect­ed. They will not be con­duct­ing media interviews. 

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion:
Paul Line­ham, Defence Pub­lic Affairs — 0408 972 329
Defence Media Liai­son – 02 6127 1999 

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