Land force operations in East Timor and Solomon Islands

The year 1999 marked a turning point for the Australian Army and the ADF. For the first time since the Vietnam War Australia deployed a brigade-sized force of more than five thousand troops. But Australia's contribution in Vietnam had been in support of the United States’ efforts there. Australia deployed larger forces at the height of the two world wars, but it did not lead a multinational intervention force with contingents from 22 countries. The experience challenged the Army from the lowliest private soldier tasked with avoiding unduly escalating tensions on the streets of Dili; to those at the highest level, managing the competing priorities and expectations of international contingents; and ensuring that the force was sustained in a place bereft of infrastructure.

Australia remained engaged to varying degrees in East Timor to a level unmatched elsewhere for more than a decade. For this reason, and to best encapsulate the significance of and the lessons drawn from these operations, the Australian Army’s experience in East Timor and Solomon Islands is given its own part in this book.