Whose Name We Share

61 Iraq Overwatch Battle Group (West) – 3 The Battery Commander at the time and TAC group, led by MAJ James Kerr, deployed to Iraq in May 2007 as a part of Overwatch Battle Group (West)-3, meaning for the remainder of the year the Battery were under the care of the BSM, WO2 Clayton Richards and a few leftennants. Overwatch Battle Group (West) was an Australian Army battlegroup that consisted of Australia’s largest contribution to the Multinational force in Iraq. The battlegroup itself was established in July of 2006 and drew numbers from the final rotation of AMTG following the handover of Camp Smitty to Iraqi Forces. This raised the total Australian strength in southern Iraq to over 500 personnel. Overwatch Battle Group West’s main role was to provide support to the Iraqi Security Forces in a crisis if requested. The Battlegroup was never called upon, however it did conduct combat and security operations within An Nasiriyah and As Samawah, the capitals of Dhi Qar and Al Muthana. This included patrolling on MSRs utilising the equipment transferred from AMTG-3, counter IED threats, mentoring Iraqi Army and Police and construction work. The Battle Group’s training team was responsible for providing basic training to the Iraqi Army at the Basic Training Centre in Tallil. The 103 rd Battery’s contribution to Overwatch Battle Group (West) -3 included deploying its JOSCC and JFT’s in support of 5/7 battalion’s combat teams deploying to Tallil. The role of 5/7 was to conduct further security and training tasks in Al Muthana and Nasariyah. They worked closely with the Iraqi Army and Police force to ensure the quality of training they received was at an acceptable standard. Additionally, the battery supplied bushmaster drivers and signallers. At the end of the tour they were relieved by OWBG-4 in November of 2007 – the last battle group deployed to Iraq . The last rotation came as Labour Party Leader Kevin Rudd delivered on promises made in the 2007 election in which the Australian combat forces would finally come home. The Australian combat forces began withdrawing from Iraq from June 2008, after having trained over 33,000 Iraqi soldiers.