SAS in PNG DPR/TV/1454, 1462, 1467 & 1464 combined

Soldiers of the 3rd Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment, based in Perth, WA, have been taking part in a major service in northern New Guinea. Flown from Pearce RAAF Base, WA, in three RAAF Hercules aircraft, the SAS men put down at Wewak, home of 2nd Battalion, The Pacific Islands Regiment. The day after their arrival they began a rigorous acclimatisation programme, practising the roles they were to play in the exercise proper. Members of 3 Squadron's Pathfinder Troop are specialists in free-falling, for parachute patrol insertions into jungle clearings. For their first jump in Papua New Guinea, the bulkiness of normal military equipment was dispensed with. The jump was to test their accuracy in the conditions and was part of the essential acclimatisation. After checking gear, rechecking it and checking once more, the soldiers climbed aboard the RAAF Caribou aircraft for the flight to the drop zone. At 10,000 ft over the Sepik Plains, the Caribou's doors gaped open and the paratroopers lined up. On the word of command from the despatcher, they leaped into the void. Seven-thousand feet below they pulled the ripcords and, with a rush and a crack, the nylon canopies opened. A wind velocity meter kept a check on wind speeds on the ground at the drop zone. The SAS men all touched the grass within 10 yards of their target mark. Another troop of the SAS squadron worked with a fast patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy during the exercise. A final briefing on procedures was given on the deck of the vessel, before the tricky task of launching the troop's two-man canoes was undertaken. Once in the water, the canoes bob gently as the crews scramble down cargo nets to board them - another tricky operation, for the canoes are delicately balanced. These boats can be launched from submarines, as well as from surface vessels, and are used to insert small parties of soldiers, silently, on enemy beaches. Undeterred by a capsize in the surf of the Bismark Sea, the raiders dragged their canoes up the beach, concealed them and headed out on patrol. Part of the PNG exercise involved extensive, long-range patrolling in the area south of Wewak. RAAF helicopters were used to extract soldiers in a hurry, when their training programme called for it, and to insert them in other jungle locations with even greater speed. Before meeting the helicopters, the soldiers walked warily through the thick jungle, crossing creeks and cutting through vines hanging down from the treetops far above them. When the rendezvous with the helicopter is made, lines are lowered and the men winched up, perhaps 100 ft, to safety. Later, at a new insertion point, the soldiers whizz down the dangling ropes to continue their patrol. The exercise began on October 24 and ended on November 20. Also identified: Private (Pte) Jim O'Brien of Armadale, Vic; Corporal Adrian Jones of Fairfield, NSW; Pte Paul Saxton of East Perth, WA.