US DBDU boonie hat : Chief Petty Officer Signals Yeoman D J Perryman, HMAS Tobruk (II)

US Desert Battle Dress Uniform (DBDU) 'chocolate chip' camouflage boonie hat. Size 7 1/8. The hat has a wide circular brim reinforced around its edge and with rows of reinforcing stitching. It has an oval shaped crown, worn fore and aft, with two small vent screen on one side. Inside the crown are sewn a maker's label and a cleaning and care label. The hat has a nylon chin strap with a small leather tightener.

Hat obtained by Chief Petty Officer Signals Yeoman (CPOSY) Duncan John Perryman, on board HMAS Tobruk during his service in Somalia. UNOSOM II (United Nations Operation in Somalia) was the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia. It ran from March 1993 until March 1995. UNOSOM II carried on from the US-controlled (but UN sanctioned) UNITAF, which had in turn taken over from the UNOSOM I mission. All three of these interventions were aimed at creating a secure enough environment for humanitarian operations to be carried out in the increasingly lawless and famine-struck country.

The RAN played an important part in the UNOSOM deployment, transporting the battalion group equipment, vehicles, and some troops, to Somalia on board the training ship HMAS Jervis Bay and the heavy landing ship HMAS Tobruk. Tobruk subsequently remained in the area providing logistic support to the Australians and UNITAF, and conducted surveillance off the Somali coast. Its helicopter was used in ship-to-shore transport of personnel. Tobruk was also used by land forces for rest and recreation.