The work never stops for Private Nicholas Stainer.
Just days after flying in and out of Africa with People’s Army of Vietnam peacekeepers deploying on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the Joint Movements Unit operations mover was back in the office in Australia supporting the whole-of-government effort to repatriate Australians from Lebanon.
Movers like Private Stainer work behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly and personnel get to and from their operations on time and safely.
Operation Beech is Defence’s contribution to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-led effort to facilitate the departure of Australians seeking to leave the Middle East.
“We had a couple hundred bookings; the workload was exploding so it was back to 12-hour shifts,” Private Stainer said.
It’s a far cry from a couple of days earlier, when Private Stainer was crammed in the back of a RAAF 36 Squadron C-17A with about 50 Vietnamese peacekeepers and dozens of Australian personnel, including security forces, loadmasters and media.
Since 2018, Defence has transported Vietnamese cargo and personnel to South Sudan to support the rotation of their Level 2 Field Hospital.
This year, more than 60 peacekeepers made the trip from Vietnam to South Sudan, with the outgoing contingent being transported back to Vietnam at the completion of its deployment.
Private Stainer said movers generally saw only part of their puzzle, but his experience in Vietnam was unique because he was involved the entire way.
As well as booking transport and accommodation for the Australians in Vietnam and Seychelles, Private Stainer was responsible for managing bookings for the Vietnamese contingent.
“I was using Google Translate to communicate but it went pretty smoothly,” he said.
“You have to stay flexible – adapting is part of our job – and our partners seemed happy with the way everything turned out.”
