Talisman Sabre Latest Weather Takes Wind Out Of Exercise

By Paul Gellatly

'Blowin' Bowen' has lived up to its reputation by curtailing the construction of a 300 metre temporary floating jetty by US forces presently in the town as part of the Talisman Sabre exercise.

The US vessels, MV Bob Hope and MV Fisher, were waiting offshore of Bowen on August 3 for a break in blustery conditions at sea to allow the laying of a 300-metre floating jetty to connect supply vehicles with Kings Beach, the site of the logistics supply exercise.

That exercise, however, was put in doubt last weekend when it became clear that the conditions looked set to continue indefinitely, and equipment failures dogged the exercise.

On Tuesday, Australian Defence Force Lt-Col Bernie Kronen said he still hoped the exercise could be attempted, but he said the window of opportunity was closing fast.

Last Thursday (August 3) US Joint Task Force 7 held a community briefing session at the Flagstaff Hill Cafe Conference Centre as part of the Talisman Sabre 2023 exercise.

The non-technical briefing was to help foster common understanding of the floating pier rollout, which was to be a crowning feature of the US task force's presence in Bowen

"These are the largest exercises we have ever done in Australia," Lt-Col Bernie Kronen said.

"We want to make this thing as big as we can.

"We want to impress the allies, we also want to show any potential adversaries what we are capable of."

Lt-Col Kronen said the size of Talisman Sabre would only continue to grow in future iterations, from the initial Australia-US exercise about 15 years ago, to today's exercise that drew in 13 participating nations.

He said the exercises were important ways of ensuring that different equipment and weaponry from the participating nations could be integrated.

JTF-7 staff laid out an operations table with information panels at the Flagstaff Hill Cafe and were on hand to take questions from the audience of around 60.

The audience heard how Bowen was chosen from around 14 sites in Queensland for what would informally become known as 'Operation Big Mango', which they said was one of the largest over-the-shore exercises ever attempted by the US.

However, they emphasised that they placed a heavy emphasis on minimal environmental disturbance and inconvenience to Bowen residents.

They jokingly mentioned three results of their presence: first, the town had run out of fishing line; second, all the Coca-Cola supplies were sold out; and third, locals were asking when they could have their beach back.

JTF-7 Commander Col. Samuel Miller said the Bowen visit had been greatly enjoyed by US troops, many of whom had been on their first posting overseas.

He also said he had warmed to Bowen's cafes and eateries where he had found good coffee and food, with one even piping out his favourite Country and Western music to make him feel right at home.

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Weather blow: Lt-Col Bernie Kronen undertakes his part of the community briefing while US ships lie idle awaiting better conditions.

Feeling at home: JTF-7 Commander Col. Samuel Miller addresses the audience inside the Flagstaff Hill Cafe Conference Centre.

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