Seesink, Ben (Captain, b.1974)

Collection relating to the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) and Iraq War service of 2803295 Captain Ben Seesink, 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment, 1999, 1st Australian Army Training Team Iraq, 2004.

Collection consists of a diary, four notebooks, three language phrase books and a handbook. The notebooks include lists of personnel, brief notes from operational briefings, tasks, orders, and engineering calculations. Among Seesink's notes are details on an engineer search of a catholic church for improvised explosive devices, following reports from locals that the church may be booby trapped. The notes on the operation are brief and to the point, as Seesink occasionally acted as the regiment's liaison officer.

Wallet 1 of 4 – contains a personal diary Seesink maintained during the first six weeks of his deployment. He writes of his sadness in leaving his wife at home, the long journey to Iraq, and of the realisation that he was "going to a war zone where there was a possibility of losing my life." He also writes of visiting Kuwait City, the destruction in Baghdad, boredom, training and work at the firing range, playing sport, sickness and low morale, celebrating his 30th birthday in Iraq, on the recruit training program with the Iraqi Army, and of coming under rocket and mortar fire on 24 May and 26 June. Several entries appear to have been recollections, written some days later.

Wallet 2 of 4 – contains one field survey notebook and one message book with “Lt B Seesing 3CEA” embossed on the cover.

Wallet 3 of 4 – contains two message books with green fabric covers, one with a publication date of April 1999.

Wallet 4 of 4 – contains three language phrase books, produced by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) School of Languages, for Arabic, Indonesian and Tetum and an 'East Timor Handbook' distributed to personnel by the ADF. The handbook includes a brief history of Indonesia and East Timor, useful language phrases, details on Indonesian units, weaponry and hardware, as well as advice on health issues and cultural sensitivities.

Seesink, then a lieutenant, deployed to East Timor in September 1999 as Officer Commanding 17 Troop in the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment. The regiment was tasked with providing combat engineering and construction support to the 3rd Brigade as part of Operation Warden. Seesink's posting to the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment ended during the deployment; he returned to Australia in December 1999.

In May 2004 Seesink, now a captain, was deployed to Iraq on Operation Catalyst as a member of the 1st Australian Army Training Team Iraq (AATTI). Based at Taji, north of Baghdad, the AATTI was formed to provide advice and guidance to the officers and non-commissioned men of the Iraqi Army to enhance the training of recruits.

Seesink returned to Australia in October 2004 and transitioned out of the army in 2006.