Saint Christopher medallion with Madonna and child religious icon card: Corporal Steven John Dias, Mentoring Task Force 5, 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment

A small die-cast aluminium Saint Christopher medallion with 'ST CHRISTOPHER embossed onto one side and 'PRAY FOR US' on the reverse. The medallion is attached via a small metal loop and ring to an elastised bright yellow coloured synthetic thread.

A folded cardboard accompanies the medallion. The front of the card depicts a full-colour rendition of the painting Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino) painted circa 1470-1475 by Nerocccio de' Landi. On the reverse is printed 'RENAISSANCE / Raphael - Botticelli - Bellini - Titian / 15th & 16th century Italian painting from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo'. Along the bottom edge is a logo and 'NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA'.

This Saint Christopher medallion and folded cardboard icon were carried by Corporal Steven John Dias while he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 by Mentoring Task Force 5 (MTF-5) Headquarters (HQ). Dias was serving as a Corporal with the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) as an Intelligence Analyst with MTF-5. All the Army Intelligence personnel on MTF-5 received one.

Dias joined the Australian Army in January 2003 as an infantry reservist with the Sydney University Regiment (SUR). In January 2008 he was selected to attend the Royal Military College - Duntroon (RMC-D) for officer training but was unfortunately badly injured in a training accident. He then joined the Australian Army Intelligence Corps (AUSTINT) and was posted at the rank of corporal to the 7th Signal Regiment as an Electronic Warfare Intelligence Analyst.

In 2012, Dias deployed to Afghanistan in a combat intelligence role with 3RAR who were the main body of MTF-5 as part of Operation SLIPPER. Supporting Charlie Company 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), he was based at Patrol Base (PB) Wali in the Mirabad Valley region where the operational tempo was extremely high, with often little sleep afforded to him and his colleagues. While at PB Wali he was a mentor for Afghan intelligence soldiers from 3 Kandak Afghanistan National Army (ANA) who shared the base.

Dias was moved from Mirabad to Khas Uruzgan at Forward Operating Base (FOB) ANACONDA for six weeks working alongside United States Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) Special Forces. At the conclusion of Operation KALAK HODE V he returned to the Mirabad Valley. His contingent were the first Australians to fully hand over their base to the ANA forces. Dias then returned to Multinational Base Tarin Kot before his return to Brisbane, Australia on 30 November 2012.