Whose Name We Share

49 independence and the transition was set to begin. The Indonesian militias, supported by Indonesian security forces, who terrorised the local population preceding the vote suddenly respond with more brutal attacks. They detain and kill thousands over the three weeks following the vote. The violence following the referendum finally made it clear to the 103 rd Battery as to why everybody had been sensing something on the horizon, however it still wasn’t clear what kind of role they would be required to play. The violence suggested the need for an infantry style role, but the UN’s jurisdiction spoke to the need for peacekeepers. 3 RAR and 2/4 are the first to deploy alongside elements of A Battery to assist with local security and establish a presence. According to 103 rd Battery Commander Major Graeme Finney, the push required to fill spots was enormous and required a daily effort to check availability and sell the need for gun numbers. Commanding Officer of 5/7 RAR LT COL Simon Gould had a great personal interest in artillery and wanted to involve the battery as much as possible. The offer from Major Finney was too good to turn down as it released pressure from the LT COL Gould to fill numbers. Instead of assigning roles for the sake of it, he could enjoy the flexibility of using the 103 rd Battery’s numbers so he could freely assign his best members to where they needed to be. The effort required to fill the vacancies was in no small way massive. The lead up training focussed heavily on peacekeeping operations, information about Timor and the political situation as it became clearer a deployment was in fact happening. FO teams were selected to be re-rolled as a Civil Military Liaison (CML) and a large amount of learning had to be done in a short time to prepare members to fill their new out of corps roles. Flexibility is a large emphasis on the battery of today, who have served the community in every crisis of the 2010s and early 2020s, but in the late 90s it was highly unusual.