Fragment of DPCU shirt with uniform patch : Lance Corporal T Loch, 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment (3CER)

Torn fragment of cotton Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU) shirt with right sleeve. A rectangular shaped pocket forms part of the right sleeve, a pair of hidden plastic buttons secures the pocket flap. On the folding flap is a 50mm x 70mm embroidered cotton Velcro backed Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform (DPDU) patch featuring an embroidered black inverted 'E' over the roman numerals 'XV'. The cuff of the sleeve features an olive green adjustable Velcro tab. Over the right breast is a pocket secured by a vertically aligned olive drab coloured metal zipper. The bottom right corner of this pocket and accompanying zipper has been ripped, exposing the empty pocket. Above the pocket is a DPCU name tape with 'LOCH' embroidered in black.

This torn fragment of a Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU) shirt relates to the service of Lance Corporal Tim Loch of the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment (3CER) in Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper.

Loch joined the Australian Regular Army in May 2004 and he became a sapper with the Royal Australian Engineers. He deployed to East Timor (Timor Leste) with the Australian Army between May and August 2006. In 2008 he completed a United States Marine specialist combat engineer course in North Carolina along with several other selected Royal Australian Engineers.

Loch deployed to Afghanistan with the Townsville based 3CER, serving with the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force 2 (MRTF2) in Oruzgan Province. 3CER was heavily involved in a diverse range of engineering and counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) operations. His sub-unit, while in Afghanistan, was 15 Troop.

On 7 July 2009 Loch was part of a convoy of a combined arms team consisting of Australian combat engineers, infantry and armoured forces escorting another formation along Route 62 towards Combat Outpost (COP) Mashal. He was manning a MAG 58 machine gun in the cupola of an Australian designed and made Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV). On board the vehicle were other members of 3 CER, 15 Troop, 3 Section including an Explosive Detection Dog (EDD) named Bolt. Other members of the team were ahead of the Bushmaster on foot searching for IEDs, but no ground sign or metallic signatures were discovered.

At approximately 10 am an IED detonated underneath the Bushmaster, directly below the part of the vehicle where Loch was standing. The explosion and resultant massive shockwave broke his right femur and ankle and shattered his heel. The MAG 58 he was manning flew off the vehicle, stiking him in the head and knocking him out as well as causing facial injuries which later required 13 stitches.

Sapper Ivan Pavlovic was also wounded in the explosion and Sapper William Barry, who was standing in one of the rear hatches, was thrown from the vehicle, landing over 5 metres away. The MAG 58 that Loch had been manning also almost hit Barry.

The sappers who had been searching the road started to search back towards and around the crippled Bushmaster, as movement could result in initiating any potential secondary IEDs. The water, swags and packs that had been stored on the outside of the Bushmaster were scattered around the vehicle.

After the explosion Corporals Andrew Sichter and Blake Pascoe were about to aid Loch when Sappers Rohan Conlon and William Barry entered the vehicle, and as they were Combat First Aid trained, Sichter and Pacoe left them to aid Loch. Sichter took Bolt with some Combat Engineers to search and clear a suitable Landing Zone for the medical helicopter.

After getting Loch to hold Sichter’s first aid dressing to his head, Barry cut off Loch’s boots and right leg of his pants to inspect Loch’s leg wounds. Loch’s femur was fractured and they could see his leg was badly deformed. They worried that the force of the explosion could have caused his broken femur to sever his femoral artery.

Sapper John Ryan initially treated Pavlovic and with assistance from Sapper Terry Voss and other members, helped him out of the Bushmaster and tried to make him as comfortable as possible on the ground, including using a toilet roll as a pillow. At the same time some Infantry who were first aid trained and the signaller from 1 Platoon came to the back of the Bushmaster. Conlon advised the signaller that Loch and Pavlovic were Priority 1 for medical evacuation due to possible head injuries and Loch’s fractured femur. After Conlon finished bandaging Loch’s head they placed him on a stretcher and removed him from the Bushmaster.

Once out of the Bushmaster, Conlon cannulated Loch to give him pain relief medication. By the time he was cannulated and receiving methoxyflurane, the medic Corporal Malcolm Roberts had made his way from further down the convoy and took over treating Loch. Soon after, both wounded soldiers were evacuated. This was within an hour of the incident. They were treated at Tarin Kot by the Dutch military hospital. Shortly afterwards, they were transferred to Kandahar and Loch was later evacuated to Germany where he was treated at a US military hospital in Ramstein. Loch returned to Australia on 26 July 2009.

For his swift actions during this incident and for his exceptional conduct in Afghanistan Sapper Barry was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service on Australia Day 2011 by the Governor of Queensland.

This shirt was cut off Loch to facilitate quick and effective treatment by Coalition medical staff. The inverted 'E' on the embroidered patch is a traditional emblem of the Engineers. The Roman 'XV' under this motif represents his sub-unit, 15 Troop.