Pair of ballistic underwear: Corporal Steven John Dias, Mentoring Task Force 5, 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment

Pair of black coloured medium sized stretchable synthetic Ballistic underwear. The waist of the underwear is elasticised and shows signs of use and wear. On the inside rear of the underwear is printed in faded white ink care instructions and size details.

Ballistic underwear is designed to protect the wearer from the effects of high explosive injuries such as those from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This pair was worn 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.

The underwear had to be worn at all times outside the wire, failure to do so would result in a charge. Dias found them to be tight and hot and uncomfortable.

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.