Operation Kiribati Assist is the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) contribution to a request from the Government of Kiribati to assist in the disposal of World War II unexploded ordnance (UXO) from locations throughout Kiribati.
The Kiribati islands were occupied by the Japanese during World War II. Most of the UXO encountered in Kiribati are remnants from this conflict. They include military ordnance such as artillery projectiles, aerial bombs, rockets, mortars and mines.
An ADF Joint Task Force (JTF) was raised known as JTF 637, and was deployed to Kiribati over the period 7–26 August 2008. JTF 637 comprises approximately 22 personnel, including a Command Group, a Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Team to handle underwater UXO, Army and RAAF Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams who will handle land-based UXO, including air-delivered items and a Medical Team.
Read more about Operation Kiribati Assist: Role
Famous quotes containing the words operation and/or assist:
“You may read any quantity of books, and you may almost as ignorant as you were at starting, if you don’t have, at the back of your minds, the change for words in definite images which can only be acquired through the operation of your observing faculties on the phenomena of nature.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)