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What do theyy tell us about the ADF and citizenship?

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During 2008 Ryebuck Media has led a series of Youth Challenges around Australia, looking at the role of the ADF
as a good citizen in Australian society.

About 1500 students, 150

teachers and over 100 50
Australian Defence Force
45
personnel attended these
challenges. 40
Their evaluations show 35
their enthusiasm for the
program, with 87% finding 30
it Excellent or Very Good, 25
and 99% finding it Good
or better! 20

15
During each Challenge 10
students had the chance to
ask questions of the ADF 5
personnel present. 0
One commonly asked Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor
question of these men
and women was:
why do you do what you do, when it might involve you in danger, and even cause serious harm or even death?
In this unit we provide one way of answering that question.

During 2008 the four-part television series Navy Divers showed a rarely seen glimpse
of one of the Australian Defence Force’s elite units — the Navy Clearance Divers.
By focusing on some of the ideas and themes presented in this series we can
investigate broader questions of good citizenship and the ADF.
Students do not need to view the series to complete this unit, but it will add to their
understanding if they can see some or all of the four 27-minute episodes.
Navy Divers was created by Prospero Productions and the DVD is available from
ABC shops.
This unit was developed from the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Study Guide
for Navy Divers available at www.metromagazine.com.au.
Images used in this unit are courtesy of Prospero Productions and the Department of Defence Media.

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 3

Introductory activities

The following suggested activities and background information will help you better understand and critically evaluate
the ideas and issues raised in Navy Divers.

Activity 1 Activity 2
Imagine that a friend has told you that he Look at the image below. It is taken from the Navy Careers website. It is the
has just decided to undertake a career- introductory page for the section on Navy Clearance Divers.
related course that is very dangerous and
very physically demanding. 4 Assuming that you know nothing about what Navy Clearance
Divers do, what ideas and information about the job does the
1 What questions would you ask him image suggest? Discuss such aspects as: roles, skills, technology,
or her? qualities needed.

2 What would you want to know about 5 Who do you think would want to become a Navy Clearance Diver?
his/her likely experiences of the
course? 6 What training do you think would be required?

3 What do you think it would require 7 If you could ask questions of a Navy Clearance Diver, what would
of him/her? you ask?

One occupation in the Australian Defence 8 The focus of this unit is on citizenship. What do you think being a
Force that fits both these criteria of Navy Clearance Diver has to do with citizenship?
danger and physical demand is that of
Navy Clearance Diver. You will be able
9 The film you are about to see is a documentary about a group of men
and their quest to become Navy Clearance Divers. What would you
to explore this occupation soon. You will
expect this documentary to show? List all the aspects and elements
develop a set of ideas that can apply to
you would expect to see. Use your answers to Activity 1 questions,
all dangerous and demanding jobs, and
and Activity 2 questions 1, 2 and 3 to create a list, using the table on
that will help you understand this element
the next page.
of the Australian Defence Force as a
good citizen. You will be able to see how many of these you can answer as you work
through the unit.

www.defencejobs.gov.au/navy/technology/clearanceDivers/

4 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008

QUESTION ANSWER DEVELOPED AS YOU WORK THROUGH THE UNIT

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 5

Important background information
The following background information will help you better understand the context and some of the issues raised in Navy Divers.

1 Navy career structure

Candidates for Navy Clearance Diver positions are full-time navy personnel.
They have completed their 11-week basic seaman course at HMAS Cerberus,
at Westernport Bay, Victoria.
They may then have completed other specialist area courses.
They then apply to attend the Navy Clearance Diver course. This involves:
Basic Seamanship – 4 weeks
Small Arms Training – 4 weeks (undertaken either before or after Basic Seamanship)
SCUBA Air course – 3 Weeks
Clearance Diver Acceptance Test – 2 Weeks. If applicants fail here they are required
to either change specialties or exit from the Navy.
The selection test is two weeks long and is well known to be rigorous but the attrition rate has yet to be officially stated.
The following table illustrates the expected level
of performance for potential CDT sailors. 2.4K RUN SIT UPS PUSH UPS CHIN UPS 500M SWIM

week 1 SCUBA course 12 minutes 60 30 6 14.30 min

CD acceptance test 10.12 minutes 60 30 10 13 min
Completion of CD course 9 minutes 120 50 18 9.1 min

Basic Clearance Diver Course (approximately) – 34 Weeks

Due to the investment that the Navy puts into potential recruits there is a minimum period of service for both Officers and Enlisted
RAN divers of 6 years.

2 Deep water diving, the bends, and nitrogen narcosis

Diving can be a physically dangerous activity.
At sea level the air around us has a pressure on us of 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi).
In water, this pressure increases by an additional 14.7psi every 10 metres. So at a depth of 10 metres, the water is placing double
the pressure on a person, at 20 metres it is three times the pressure, and so on for every additional 10 metres.
When high-pressure gases in the air come in contact with water, they dissolve into the water. This is how carbonated drinks are
made — water is exposed to high pressure carbon dioxide, the gas dissolves into the water, and when you release the pressure by
opening the bottle the gas dissolved at high pressure is released — as bubbles.
The same thing happens in the human body during a dive. Nitrogen in the air inside the body is released under pressure, and
dissolves into your bloodstream. If this gas is released too quickly, it is the same as releasing the bubbles in a carbonated soft
drink, except that it is happening in your blood, and is both painful and dangerous. This is the ‘bends’.
To avoid the bends, or the bubbling of nitrogen in the bloodstream, divers ascend slowly, allowing time for the pressure in the body
to equalise with that on the outside, and to stabilise slowly.
If a diver ascends too quickly, the gas bubbles, and he or she must be put in a
decompression chamber, and have the pressure lowered to the point at whichh
the diver started to ascend too quickly, and then gradually lowered to allow
the body to stabilise.
Even if a diver ascends carefully, there is still a danger from nitrogen narcosis.
s.
After a depth of about 30 metres nitrogen in the air enters the bloodstream,
and has a mental effect similar to alcohol intoxication. There is a lessening
of judgement and decision-making skills, a loss of focus, and impairment
of physical co-ordination. From about 90 metres the diver may suffer
hallucinations, and even lose consciousness. This narcosis is not itself
physically harmful, but it can lead the diver to do behave in a dangerous
way. The Guinness Book of World Records no longer includes a section on
dive depth records, as so many people have died trying to break the record.

6 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008

INVESTIGATION 1 Why have Navy Clearance Divers?

Australia is a maritime nation. It is surrounded by water. This creates a number of important realities. Look at the following evidence.

1 Discuss each of these sources and identify what it tells us about Australia’s maritime connections. Also consider how each
might involve a situation where there is a threat to Australia and its interests.
For example, Source 1 tells you about one of Australia’s economic assets, its fishing grounds. This asset may need to be
protected against illegal fishing, and against contamination or pollution.
Summarise your findings in a table like this:

Source What it tells me How this aspect of our maritime connection might be threatened
and need protection by the Australian Defence Force
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

SOURCE 1 Map of Australian fishing zone and Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ)

Australian Fisheries Management Authority www.afma.gov.au/information/maps/afz.htm

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 7

 INDONESIA has intercepted 20 Afghans and Pakistanis in a boat off western Java
who were planning to illegally enter Australia’s Christmas Island.
“A wooden fishing boat transporting 12 Afghans and eight Pakistanis was
SOURCE 2
intercepted early yesterday off Banten province in West Java. They don’t have any
Illegal immigrants wanted jobs
official papers,” police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said.
in Australia
He said the illegal immigrants were hoping to find jobs in Australia.
Police also arrested eight Indonesian deckhands and the two owners of the boat.

SOURCE 3
Map of Australian land and off-shore The Australian 3 November 2008
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24598005-12335,00.html
oil and gas wells and pipelines

Courtesy Pipeline Publications www.pipeliner.com.au/map/map.html

SOURCE 4 Australian Quarantine Service

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Australia is free from a number of other Australian Government agencies such
Service (AQIS) is part of the Australian biological threats, such as foot and mouth as Australian Customs Service, Department
Government Department of Agriculture, disease, that have had major economic of Health and Ageing, Food Standards
Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). and environmental consequences for other Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), and
AQIS manages quarantine controls at countries. state/territory governments to support their
our borders to minimise the risk of exotic As international travel has become management of post-border detections and
pests and diseases entering the country. easier, the job of keeping Australia free incursions of quarantine pests and diseases
AQIS also provides import and export of unwanted pests has become more and to support its own verification and
inspection and certification to help retain demanding. AQIS continuously looks certification activities for agriculture and
Australia’s highly favourable animal, plant to improve the effectiveness of the food products.
and human health status and wide access quarantine effort by working closely In 2008, AQIS will celebrate the Centenary
to overseas export markets. with other areas within DAFF to manage of Quarantine – 100 years since the
Australia’s biosecurity system; as well as introduction of the Quarantine Act 1908.

www.daffa.gov.au/aqis/about
8 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008
SOURCE 5 Australia’s main commercial ports

Association of Australian Ports & Marine Authorities (AAPMA) www.aapma.org.au/map.php3?size=lge

SOURCE 6 Australia and maritime pollution

Maritime pollution Anti fouling

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and
and the Arts works co-operatively with other Australian the Arts has worked towards domestic and international
Government and State agencies on domestic and bans on antifouling paints for ships that contain the toxic
international maritime pollution policy and its substance Tributlytin (TBT). It also supports a future global
implementation. This includes participation in the ban on TBT now being developed through the International
International Maritime Organisation and the domestic Maritime Organisation (IMO). Under the Natural Heritage
ANZECC Maritime Accidents and Pollution Implementation Trust, the Antifouling Program, funded projects that
Group (MAPIG). Current issues include ballast water, toxic supported research into suitable alternatives to TBT based
anti-foulants, introduced marine pests, pollution from antifoulants, monitoring of their impacts, and community
shipping operations and marine debris. education.

Ballast water and introduced marine Sea dumping

pests Australia currently regulates the deliberate loading,
Ballast water is a major source of Introduced Marine dumping and incineration of waste at sea under the
Pests. Australia’s Oceans Policy includes a commitment Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 and the
to establish a new comprehensive national management Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment Act
system for incursions of introduced marine pests (IMPs). 1986. The waters surrounding Australia’s coastline are
The establishment of the new national system will occur increasingly threatened by pollution from wastes dumped at
through the implementation of the December 1999 report of sea. To reduce this threat, there are Australian Government
the National Taskforce on the Prevention and Management laws that control dumping at sea.
of Marine Pest Incursions.

www.environment.gov.au/coasts/pollution/index.html

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 9

 SOURCE 7 International freight to and from Australia 2006–7

Europe East Asia Europe East Asia

25.55 26.03 North & 14.94 30.20 North &
Nth Asia Central Nth Asia Central
Mid East & Japan Mid East & Japan
4.01 Sth Asia America 5.76 Sth Asia America
20.67 15.38 44.35 10.30
1.25 5.89
Pacific Pacific
SE Asia & PNG SE Asia & PNG
29.56 1.56 16.05 2.34
Africa Africa
1.76 Rest of world South 3.23 Rest of world South
1.35 America 1.00 America
1.37 1.26

New Zealand New Zealand

Imports ($ billion) 4.55 Exports ($ billion) 7.07

Department of Transport and Regional Services, Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics,
Australian Sea Freight 2006–07, Information Paper 61 www.bitre.gov.au/publications/42/Files/IP_61.pdf

SOURCE 8 HAWAII
NORTHERN MARIANA (U.S.) 20° N
Map of Australia’s ISLANDS
(U.S.)
regional neighbours MARSHALL
GUAM (U.S.) ISLANDS
Date Line
Pacific Ocean

PALAU MICRONESIA
A SI A
Equa to r 0°
NAURU
PAPUA KIRIBATI
NEW GUINEA TUVALU
SOLOMON
ISLANDS
AMERICAN
SAMOA FRENCH POLYNESIA
VANUATU SAMOA (U.S.) (France)
COOK
ISLANDS
NEW CALEDONIA FIJI (N.Z.) 20° S
(France) ISLANDS TONGA
Tro pic of
Capricorn
AUSTRALIA
Date Line

OCEANIA
NEW
ZEALAND
40° S
0 1,500 mi
0 1,500 km

© 1998 National Geographic Society 160° E 180° 160° W 140° W

http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/oceania.htm

Now consider these four main roles of Navy Clearance Divers, and answer the questions that follow.

A Mine counter-measures — In this role, Clearance Divers focus 1 Decide which of these roles might be
on the location, identification, rendering safe and disposal of underwater applicable to each of the sources above.
munitions and explosives (such as buoyant and ground mines), in areas For example, you might put the letter D
where conventional mine hunting methods are not possible. This often beside the ‘maritime reality’ of off-shore
means searching entrances, anchorages and sea approaches to amphibious oil and gas rigs, because it is possible
landing sites. that a rig could be sabotaged by an
enemy or a terrorist group.
B Marine tactical operations — This element conducts Advance
Force Operations. They are responsible for a variety of tasks ahead of a 2 If Navy Clearance Divers were to be
potential landing force and, as the name suggests, tasks are conducted in involved in any of these situations,
a clandestine manner, most often in enemy territory and without backup. what support might they need?

C Underwater battle damage repair — In this role, Clearance Divers 3 How do other services contribute
to the defence of Australia? Go to
install, maintain and repair ships’ underwater fittings and Naval Harbour
www.defence2020.info/interactives.php
installations. Diving on air equipment (both self contained and surface
and play Can you protect our north?
supplied), these divers are skilled in various underwater salvage techniques.
D Explosive ordnance disposal — A core role of Navy Clearance 4 What conclusion would you draw about
one aspect of Navy Clearance Divers
Divers is to perform the role of EOD and IEDD in or around coastal areas. and citizenship from an awareness of
This highly specialised area uses many dedicated techniques and tools to Australia as a maritime nation?
render safe both military munitions and improvised (home made) bombs.

10 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008

INVESTIGATION 2 What does Navy Divers tell us about the ADF and citizenship?

Investigation 1 showed that part of citizenship for the ADF is up to 60m, each day presents a new and increasingly difficult
national citizenship — being a protector of Australia’s interests. test of skill, strength and endurance.
There are other aspects of citizenship that could also be Monitored by doctors and psychologists, candidates must
considered, including individual, corporate, environmental and cope with constant pressure and stress while operating in
global citizenship. an environment where one mistake can mean the difference
Navy Divers (Steve Westh, 2008) is a four-part observational between life and death.
documentary following 27 men as they attempt to join the ranks Continual and ruthless assessment means that every day is a
of the navy’s elite Navy Clearance Diver unit. This force demands battle for survival. With one of the highest drop-out rates in the
complete physical and mental strength, rock solid stamina Navy only the fittest and the strongest will succeed.
and bravery. If you want to join this unit, you must conquer the For every candidate the stakes are incredibly high. Only 13
Navy’s toughest and most extreme training program. will make it. For those 13 it will be the crowning glory of their
For more than nine months the male-only group of sailors are career and the ultimate reward for years of hard work and
pushed to their absolute limits on a gruelling regime that’s determination. For those who do not make it, it could mean the
designed to match the relentless demands and dangers of real end of their navy career.
life operations. Look at these extracts from the series, and answer the questions
From exhausting six kilometre swims across shark-infested about each extract.
waters to nerve-shredding bomb disposals at depths of

EXTRACT 1 EXTRACT 2
Three course attendees discuss their motivation for Comments made by instructors to trainees:
wanting to become becoming Navy Clearance Divers:

Matthew Phil
I was pretty keen to have another go, ‘cause like being pulled Do you really need it this bad? You don’t want to be here. This is
off the last one, I wanted to prove them wrong. not for you, mate. Jump on the bus. It’s not worth the pain.
Never really wanted a normal 9 to 5 job. When someone Officer
comes up and asks you, you know, what do you do for a What are you doing? Don’t just stand
living? I say, I’m a plumber and it’s like, you know, like there there in everyone’s way! Put it in!
are heaps of plumbers out there. So if someone comes up
Phil
and asks you what do you do? Oh yeah, I’m a clearance diver.
And I’ll guarantee there’ll be
Say oh, what’s that? So it’s something a little bit different,
some bloke who puts his
little bit more exciting. Yeah.
hand up and goes, you’re
Brodie right. I don’t want to be here.
It’s pretty much the only thing I’m really doing it for, so to This is not for me.
make my mother proud, and my family. I didn’t even think my Your hand’s up.
brothers really looked up to me. Like yeah, now they . . . My
Officer
little brother wants to be like me, he reckons, when he grows
Does that mean you’re handing
up, yeah. That’s pretty good.
your vest in?
Gareth
When I was young, I looked at joining the clearance diving Andrew
branch and I had a partner who I’d just recently moved in You’re embarrassing. I can’t believe half you people showed up.
with, and she didn’t really want me to go at the time, and Phil
as time went on, and water goes under the bridge, it was Our job here isn’t really to get as many vests on here as we can
something that she felt I had to endeavour to succeed at [as trainees fail, their vests are hung up in a public place]. The
and just throw my hat in the ring and see if you can come idea is to get the right vests hanging up.
up trumps.

1 Summarise the motivations for becoming Navy

4 What are the attitudes of the staff that emerge here?
Clearance Divers shown in these interviews. 5 Why do you think the staff are so harsh?
2 Suggest other possible motivations that might exist
among the group. 6 What benefits might such attitudes have? What problems
might they cause?
3 None of them mentions ‘serving their country’
or ‘patriotism’. Suggest why they may not have 7 Do you think this harshness is justified and responsible?
mentioned these as motivations.
© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 11
 EXTRACT 3 EXTRACT 5
Comments made by instructors about the purpose Several candidates were excluded from the course
of the harsh training: because of fears that their health would suffer from the
effects of deep diving. An instructor gives an explanation
of one of the dangers of diving:
Nick
They have to be able to work under stress. As you say,
there is ... All of a sudden they’ll be tired, fatigued. These Narrator
blokes might work in bomb disposal somewhere and say In deep water diving, small errors can quickly turn into life
to them, which wire are you going to cut, red one, blue threatening disasters. The men must know their equipment,
one? Oh, I can’t think, um, ah, you know? People’s lives their procedures. At this depth, to avoid the bends, a diver’s
are in these people’s hands and they need to know what worst nightmare, the men must make a series of stops on
they’re on about. their ascent. If they don’t, nitrogen will form in their blood, a
Narrator potentially lethal condition. If this happens, they are placed
Sleep deprived and ground down by the mind numbing in the on-board recompression chamber and redived to dispel
repetition, the men are reaching the limits of their the nitrogen. This is simulated as part of the training.
strength and patience.
Phil
That can really bring a lot out in a bloke. You know, he’s 10 Navy Clearance Diving is dangerous. Is it responsible
dragged out of bed at 2 o’clock in the morning, and the corporate citizenship for the ADF to place the men in danger?
day prior he’s been flogged. Obviously it’s there to remove 11 What would you consider to be reasonable measures that
them from their comfort zone. So anyone can be at their should be taken to supervise dangerous training?
best with 9 or 10 hours sleep. Absolutely, we’d all be
bloody athletes. But there’s a reason for that, not only so
we can really bring out the guts of their character. EXTRACT 6
One of the main features of the course is the
development of teamwork:

8 Does this extract change any of your answers above?

A trainee, Gareth, the oldest of the group, urging the
group to complete a gruelling set of 2000 punishment
EXTRACT 4 push-ups — the whole group must complete the set, or
Comments made by instructors assessing whether
start all over again:
a candidate has passed part of the course:
Gareth
It’s the one and only thing we do here boys, we do it for each
Andrew other. That’s it.
A few days ago I thought you’d actually dropped the ball. Don’t worry about anything else. We look for each other so
You had difficulty organising caring for your equipment, we do ‘em properly.
on various occasions losing your cap, your torch, your We’re your mates. We’re your mates.
rope toggle, your water bottle and demonstrating failure Down boys, all together.
to attend to briefing details.
Right, let’s go.
Phil
You seemed to take a bit of a hit when you struggled Gareth interviewed later after the group has helped the
with that first bowline, but you still dug deep. You were weakest of the team to complete the push-ups:
very good at teamwork, came up with a lot of good ideas, You’re there with another bunch of 12 other guys that are
which is unusual for someone as young as yourself, going through exactly the same thing as you and you look at
compared to some of the older blokes we’ve got here. the bloke next to you, and he’s got the same grimace on his
I think you started to shine a bit when a few of the face as what you have, or he’s showing what you’re feeling,
other blokes started dropping back. When everyone was you know, and it draws on everyone to pull in and bond
starting to get to their lowest, you kept pushing through. together, because you are going through the same things
Managed to keep your sense of humour and when you at the same time and you have got that common
finally did pass the bowline test, yeah, you were a neww bond together.
man all of a sudden. Throwing jellyfish and smiling
and high fives all round.
Officer
Okay Lymbery, you’ve been awarded an A class pass.

9 The trainees are under constant observation and

judgement. Why might this be important?

12 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008

 A trainee talks about his views:
Michael
The environments that we could potentially end up
in, you know, whether it be over in Iraq or Timor or
wherever they do send us, you can’t have ... to do
this type of work, I don’t think you can have mentallyy
weak people. You have one cog in that chain that’s
not doing his job properly, then he can potentially
entangle everybody up.
Really all this is about teamwork and getting in as
smoothly and out as smoothly as possible.
Two trainees reflect on their success:
Tom And when the chips are down, and you really, you know,
Ah, relief. It’s been six weeks. It’s been pretty hard. It’s just you keep going that extra yard and you seem to gain that
something we have to go through, I guess. It’s just part and intestinal fortitude.
parcel of what we do. From now looking outwards in at what I’ve done, yeah,
Gareth it’s been such a large learning curve and something that
Anything that’s hard is also vastly rewarding, so yeah, just I’m very proud to say I’ve been a part of with the rest of
whatever you put in to something, I think you can get out of. these guys.

12 Why is there such emphasis on teamwork? EXTRACT 8

An instructor and a trainee on graduation from
13 What are the advantages, and what might be the the course:
disadvantages, of developing such strong teamwork?

14 What individual qualities are needed of each member Ashley

of the team? The men you see before you have undergone an intensive
period of training, culminating in the graduation today.
They were placed under physical and mental duress
EXTRACT 7 through the conduct of both individual and team
One of the roles of a Navy Clearance Diver may be to
activities. This allowed them to demonstrate that they
confront the enemy:
had the aptitude and the physical and mental toughness
to commence training on one of the most demanding
Narrator courses in the Australian Defence Force.
It’s important to consider the consequences of coming face to Gareth
face with an enemy. It’s the camaraderie and friendship that you gain, and
Tim that’d have to be the highlight for me. They’re not only
Are you prepared to kill someone? And we’d all want to think friends through the course, they’re blokes that I respect,
we could do it, and I’d hope every one of the boys would be blokeses that I admire and guys that II’llll call friends for life.
able to do it in that situation, and be able to cope with it after.
Todd
I don’t think I’m ready. I can’t really see myself being a killer
or anything like that, going out there and actually killing
someone. Yeah, I s’pose it’s a little bit freaky.
Gareth
I don’t want to go to war with anyone, but obviously if
push came to shove, you’d like to know that you’ve got the
best training under your belt to put you in a position where
whatever you need to do is going to be a success and you’re
going to minimise the potential of endangering yourself and
endangering your fellow operators.

16 Is the Navy Clearance Diver course likely to produce

good soldiers?
15 Is it responsible citizenship for the ADF to train people to
kill others? 17 Is it likely to produce good citizens?

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 13

 INVESTIGATION 3 How have Navy Clearance Divers behaved as citizens?

Here are some examples of the role of Navy Clearance Divers in recent times. Read each, and discuss how
it shows the qualities and citizenship attributes of the people involved. Look in particular to identify different
types of citizenship involving individuals or the ADF, including individual, national, global, corporate and
environmental. You may also identify other types of citizenship in these extracts.

1 The First Gulf War

A Clearance Diving Team (CDT) After clearing Mina Ash Shuibah the team went on to clear the
CITIZENSHIP CHECKLIST
consisting of 23 personnel left Australia Naval base and then Kuwait City’s port.
This document shows these on 27th January 1991, and arrived in By this time, atmospheric conditions had improved and the sun
aspects of citizenship: Muscat, Oman, on 31st January. had made its first clear appearance for two weeks.
Individual While in Bahrain the team laid a Some team members worked at Mina Ahmadi, the oil terminal,
National portable degaussing range in the ship where atmospheric pollution was worse than in Kuwait city. The
repair yard [a process used to make atmosphere was so bad that operations had to be cancelled on
Global
a ship less likely to attract magnetic 16th March.
Corporate mines].
Environmental Members of the team were also involved in various shore-based
A reconnaissance party from the CDT tasks, including recovery of missiles and small arms from
Other arrived in Kuwait on 5th March via Saudi “Death Valley”.
Arabia. Because of the sabotage of the
Kuwaiti oil wells by the Iraqis, the team worked in a thick oil The team found bodies of four Iraqi swimmers off shore, human
slick at Mina Ash Shuibah, the deep water port south of the city. remains were also found in ships that were surveyed.
This resulted in difficulty with visibility and required extensive The team rendered 30 demolition charges safe, dealt with 60 sea
cleaning of equipment after use. Approximately 400 miles of the mines, cleared over 230,000 pieces of ordnance including Silkworm
Gulf shoreline was oiled but Kuwait city (Ras al Shuwaik) was missiles and cleared seven ships and many buildings.
reported to be relatively free of oil.
By 19th April the team had completed the task of clearing the
The team lived and worked against a background of black Kuwaiti coastline.
smoke from the burning oil wells. They also operated under time
The team returned to Australia on 10th May.
pressure to open the harbour for humanitarian relief supplies
and to land heavy equipment. www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat/2003/gulfwarhs/html/ch2.htm

2 Removing Second World War Explosives in Kiribati

Who do you call if you’re the Littered throughout the island group and its coral reefs are dozens
CITIZENSHIP CHECKLIST
government of the tiny Pacific nation of decaying and unstable unexploded artillery shells, anti-aircraft
This document shows these of Kiribati and you have an unexploded shells, hand grenades, sea mines and mortars.
aspects of citizenship: World War II ordnance problem? In this The ordnance is regularly unearthed during construction work or by
Individual case they called the Royal Australian divers, snorkellers or people fishing. With no explosives expertise
Navy clearance divers. on the islands, local police either move it to their compound or
National
Global In early 2005, five members of cordon off the area.
Australian Clearance Diving team One That’s where the Navy’s clearance divers come in. Specialists in
Corporate
(AUSCDT ONE) flew to Betio island, explosives, the five-man team from AUSCDT ONE safely moved the
Environmental the most populous island in the Tarawa commercial explosives and World War II ordnance to a sandbar
Other Group, 4000km northeast of Brisbane, and, with most of the island group’s 84,000 population looking on,
to dispose of unstable commercial the ordnance was expertly detonated.
explosives and unexploded World War II ordnance stored in the
police station, just metres away from civilian housing. “I think we were a bit of a hit,” said LEUT Chris White, RAN,
Executive Officer of AUSCDT ONE. “It’s great to be able to use our
In World War II, Betio Island was the site of a Japanese airstrip training to lend a hand to the people of Kiribati.”
protected by a garrison of 4800 soldiers. On 20 November 1943,
the United States Marines launched a massive assault on the The Royal Australian Navy has two operational clearance diving
island – the first major amphibious landing of the war. One teams: AUSCDT ONE, based at HMAS Waterhen in Sydney, NSW,
thousand Marines were killed and 2000 were wounded in four and AUSCDT FOUR based at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, WA.
days of fighting. Only 143 of the Japanese forces survived. Clearance divers from both teams have served in Vietnam,
East Timor and both Gulf Wars.
Today, the legacy of that battle could still claim more lives.

www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Navy_Annual_2005/Navy_Clearance_Divers_Lend_Hand

14 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008

3 Navy Clearance Divers in Operation Falconer in Iraq
Farewelled Australia: Key Contributions:
CITIZENSHIP CHECKLIST
14 February 2003 Mine clearance operations in Port of UMM QASR, KAA and in
This document shows these Arrived Middle East: support British forces in KHAWR AZ ZUBAYR (KAZ) waterway.
aspects of citizenship: 21 February 2003 Explosive Ordnance Disposal of discarded munitions in the
Individual Returned Australia: Port of UMM QASR including the discovery of a sunken Iraqi
National 30 May 2003 vessel with mines on board.
Global Number of Personnel: 32 Integral to mine clearing operations in the Umm Qasr Port
Corporate Drawn From: and connecting waterways.
Environmental HMAS Stirling, WA and The rapid clearance of mines in the Umm Qasr Port allowed
Other HMAS Waterhen, NSW humanitarian shipping to berth at the port at the earliest
Role: Shallow-water Mine opportunity.
Counter Measures and Explosive After the mine clearance operations were completed, the
Ordnance Disposal. Clearance Diving Team was employed in the location and
disposal of ordnance in and around the port area.
www.defence.gov.au/opfalconer/factsheets/clearance%20divers.htm

4 A personal story from Operation Falconer

Anyone laying down his weapon, removing his bullet proof vest “I declared a two kilometre ‘no go’ CITIZENSHIP CHECKLIST
then walking barefoot and naked except for his camouflage zone and collected some tools and
shirt, across an Iraqi desert in wartime, would, under normal went forward. “I got to within 25 This document shows these
circumstances, find himself up on a charge. metres of the mine and saw that it aspects of citizenship:

Not so for Petty Officer Clearance Diver Gavin Stevens. was reasonably new but had been Individual
damaged.” National
It was his bare feet, half-nakedness and skills that kept him
alive and possibly prevented the downing of helicopters operating “Again using the binoculars I realised Global
from HMAS Kanimbla (CMDR Stephen Woodall) in the northern there was a problem. Corporate
Persian Gulf. This mine was special. Environmental
A few days ago, Gavin’s actions saw the Governor of NSW, It carried a seismic, [could be triggered Other
Professor Marie Bashir, pin the red Commendation for by heavy footsteps] magnetic [could be
Distinguished Service ribbon to his chest in an award ceremony triggered by close proximity to metal]
at Government House. and acoustic [could be triggered by
He was one of 30 Australian Defence Force personnel to receive loud noise] detonator.
awards on the day. Gavin retreated and made contact with his superiors in HMAS
Gavin, promoted to chief petty officer on March 1 and named the Kanimbla advising of the danger particularly to the helicopters
chief instructor of Maritime Tactical Operations, centred at HMAS operating from the ship and flying over the area in support of
Penguin, was one of 32 RAN clearance divers sent to the Middle Coalition forces.
East in early 2003 for Operation Falconer. That fear was that a noisy metallic aircraft might detonate the
When Coalition forces moved into Iraq in early March, Gavin and mine sending shrapnel skywards and potentially bringing it down.
his colleagues went with them. The decision was made to destroy the device. He knew he had to
“The Royal Marines asked us to clear any unexploded ordnance remove all metal objects from his person.
along the Al Faw Peninsula, the area in which they were “I took my boots off because of the metal eyelets. I took my
operating,” Gavin told Navy News. trousers and underpants off because of metal fastenings, even
“On the first day we were driving down the road a few hundred removed my wedding ring.
metres in from the water looking for stuff. “There were eight of us All I wore was my tee shirt and camo shirt”.
in two Landrovers. I was in charge. There was a tap on the roof of Gavin returned to the danger area getting a large thorn in his foot
the vehicle from AB John Jarvis. on the way. Walking gingerly and softly, he went to the mine and
He is from the bush and has a sharp eye. He had seen something in laid two packs of explosives beside it.
the distance. “Then I walked away running out 30 metres of red cord [explosive
“We stopped and using binoculars I saw a sea mine about 1.5 cord].
metres long. It was lying in the open on a claypan. How it got there “I walked the way I had come in. I didn’t want to risk walking
remains a mystery. through a mine field.”

© Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008 15

 At the end of the 30 metres of detonation cord, Gavin “There was a very large explosion, flash of flame, grey and black
attached a detonator that would be activated by a radio smoke, the lot,” he said.
transmitter when he was back at the vehicles. Over the three months the divers did scores of ordnance
With the area still well cordoned off, he activated the destruction jobs. Their work saw AUSCDTTHREE receive the
detonator, which ignited the cord and finally the packs of Meritorious Unit Citation from Governor Bashir.
explosive.
Graham Davis www.defence.gov.au/news/NAVYNEWS/EDITIONS/4704/topstories/STORY05.HTM

5 A modern training exercise

NAVY SEARCHES JERVIS BAY
CITIZENSHIP CHECKLIST
The Royal Australian Navy’s The principal role of mine hunters is to keep Australia’s trade
This document shows these (RAN) Clearance Diving and Mine ports and waterways free from the threat of mines. The Task
aspects of citizenship: Countermeasure Task Group has today Group will use high frequency sonar to search for, detect and
Individual descended on Jervis Bay, New South classify mine-like objects. Once detected, clearance divers or
National Wales, to conduct the Fleet Training a remote controlled mine disposal vehicle will identify and if
Activity Dugong 08. necessary, neutralise mines.
Global
Corporate HMA Ships Gascoyne and Diamantina, As part of the exercise, Royal New Zealand Navy REMUS
along with Clearance Diving Teams One Autonomous Underwater Vehicles that are fitted with side-
Environmental
and Four are taking part in the annual scan SONAR, will identify obstacles in very shallow water.
Other training activity aimed at refining the Clearance Divers will then conduct searches of these areas in
RAN’s mine hunting procedures and order to re-acquire and identify mines. They will also conduct
techniques. As an integrated force, they will be tasked to search more traditional harbour search and clearance operations in a
the local waters for simulated mine-like objects and implement combined mission with divers from the USN.
measures to dispose of them safely and efficiently. A comprehensive environmental plan had been prepared and
Training in activities such as Dugong is essential for our people implemented for Dugong 08. No mines will be detonated in the
to maintain proficiency, standards and safety in all core mine water during the exercise.
warfare and clearance diving operations, said Commander of Department of Defence Press Release, Monday, 20 October 2008
the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Task Group, Commander
Dean Schopen, RAN.

CONCLUSIONS

Look back at your responses to the introductory

activities in this Study Guide.

1 To what extent did Navy Divers answer

your initial questions?

2 Are there any new questions that you

would now like to ask of:
one of the successful course
members
one of the unsuccessful course
members
one of the training staff?
3 Why do you now think people become
Navy Clearance Divers?

4 What does the role of Navy Clearance

Diver tell you about the ADF and:
personal citizenship
national citizenship
corporate citizenship
global citizenship
environmental citizenship?

16 © Australian Defence Force and Ryebuck Media 2008