Australia — Timor helicopter troops rotate

After a suc­cess­ful six months serv­ing with the Inter­na­tion­al Sta­bil­i­sa­tion Force (ISF), the men and women of Tim­or Leste Avi­a­tion Group – rota­tion 14 (TLAG 14) have returned home to Aus­tralia.
The troops and their Black Hawk heli­copters have been replaced by TLAG 15.

Whilst assigned to the ISF, the S‑70A‑9 Black Hawk heli­copters made a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to secu­ri­ty in East Tim­or by pro­vid­ing troop lift and aero-med­ical evac­u­a­tion (AME) capabilities.

TLAG 14 Offi­cer Com­mand­ing, Major Tony Den­nis, said he will look back with pride over the group’s two-month build-up and six-month tour-of-duty.

“As a detach­ment, TLAG 14 has per­formed excep­tion­al­ly well,” Major Den­nis said.

“Five AMEs were con­duct­ed in sup­port of ISF sol­diers on patrol in Tim­or Leste, the Tour de Tim­or, OP TOWER (the ADF’s con­tri­bu­tion to the Unit­ed Nations Inte­grat­ed Mis­sion in Tim­or-Leste) and local nationals.”

Ahead of their return home, TLAG 14 per­son­nel along with oth­er ISF mem­bers were pre­sent­ed with the East Tim­or Sol­i­dar­i­ty Medal dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ny attend­ed by the Pres­i­dent of Tim­or-Leste José Ramos-Horta. 

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

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