RACMP in Cambodia – The UNTAC Military Police Company

Reference: MP Magazine 'Pointsman' 1990s

Researched by Antony Buckingham, MP History Website

The Australian detachment of Military Police have been

involved in a wide range of activities during their time with

UNTAC. These activities have included, amongst other things,

traffic accident investigations, security work for errant contingents

returning home, training of Cambodian MP and independent

MP operations in remote locations.

The performance of Australian MP in these tasks has been

outstanding. The behaviour of individuals has been

exemplary and has maintained the high standards which

have come to be expected of Australian MP. There is no

doubt that the efforts of your soldiers has increased

the work rate, level of professionalism and effectiveness

of the UNTAC MP Coy. You and your men should

be very proud of your efforts.

I know that the high standards demanded by the Australians

and the diligent and even handed way that they administer

the rules have been the cause of considerable rancour

and complaint by some of the UNTAC staff who are

less professional than your people. Rest assured that I

have nothing but respect and admiration for your

performance. I am confident in saying that the

Force Commander supports my laudatory comments.

Excerpt: Memorandum from Lieutenant Colonel M.C. Studdert, Commander Australian Service Contingent – Cambodia to Captain M.S. Foxe, Officer-In-Charge Australian Military Police Contingent – Cambodia, dated 31 August 1993.

Origin

Early 1993 saw the realisation that additional MP personnel were required to be posted to the UNTAC MP Coy in an attempt to counter the growing number of traffic accidents and notifiable incidents requiring investigation. UN HQ in New York were approached by HQ UNTAC for an additional 50 MP which resulted in a request for Australian MP support in March 1993.

Approval of the UN request came from the Minister of Defence and HQ ADF, with ten MP to be identified for deployment to Cambodia at short notice. The determination was made by HQ ADF that the request for MP support would be met utilising a service police contingent. Planning for the deployment was expedited with the necessary service personnel identified for deployment. By late March 1993, a further ten MP were placed on stand-by for deployment, making the Australian commitment top the UN request a total of twenty personnel.

On 5 April 1993, the first group of Australian MP, made up of eight RACMP and two RAAF personnel departed Australia. On 24 May 1993, the second group of Australian MP deployed to Cambodia. This group was made up of three RACMP, three RAN personnel and four RAAF personnel.

Both groups were required to undergo an indoctrination course held at FCU in the first days after arrival in Cambodia. During this time briefings on topics such as health allowances, postal, FCU information and the like were conducted. All members had to undergo the rigours of the UN driving test, which proved to be challenging due to the conditions of the roads, the non-existence of road law, and left-hand drive vehicles. Further inoculations were administered during this time, much to the displeasure of all.

The UNTAC MP Coy

The UNTAC MP Coy was formed on 12 May 1992, with the staff of four Offr and 20 OR. The MP Coy formed an element of the Personnel Branch of the military component of HQ UNTAC. The organisation was linked into HQ UNTAC through the existence of the Provost Marshal Cell in Personnel Branch. The manning of this cell was undertaken by the HQ element of the MP Coy.

Progressively the strength of the MP Coy was built up to a maximum strength of 217 personnel including the Australian contingent in May 1993. This increase in personnel numbers in notifiable incidents requiring investigation as well as the very large numbers of traffic accidents involving UN vehicles and personnel.

Australian MP Contingent Mission

Additional MP resources were requested by HQ UNTAC as it became apparent that the number of MP in Cambodia was insufficient to deal with the growing number of investigations coupled with the amount of investigations not finalised. The Australian MP Contingent were informed that their mission was to assist in the clear-up and finalisation of approximately 500 outstanding traffic accident cases. The Australian mission should have been more accurately quoted as finalising 1450 outstanding traffic accident cases.

By the completion of the mission in November 1993 the Australian MP contingent had undertaken the following roles:

a. provided assistance in the clearance of 1450 outstanding traffic accident cases;

b. provided investigative coverage of UNTAC;

c. pro-actively policed the Force;

d. provided Close Personal Protection (CPP) to the FC;

e. provided CPP and CDF and Comd 1^st Div;

f. established the Cambodian National Armed Forces (CNAF) MP Training Centre;

g. assisted in the formation of the CNAF MP Corps;

h. provided training and technical advice to the CNAF MP; and

i. escorted an errant Bulgarian Bn to its homeland.

Employment

The Australian MP Contingent were employed predominantly in the area of investigating and reporting upon the numerous traffic accidents that resulted from the UN presence in Cambodia. The Traffic Accident Squad (TAS) contained the majority of the Australians with the remaining personnel employed within the HQ, the Special Investigation Section (SIS), OPS and at the detachments located at Poipet and Battambang. Personnel were also required for the miscellaneous tasks undertaken such as the CPP teams and the Cambodian National Armed Forces MP training.

RACMP personnel were employed in the following positions within the UNTAC MP Coy; Headquarters:

CAPT Mark Foxe (Provost/Investigations Officer);

TAS:

CAPT Craig Moran (OIC);

SSGT Russ Jacob (2IC);

SGT Graeme Sutton (Team Leader);

CPL Chip Collins (FIT);

CPL Chris Fry (TAS Clerk);

CPL Brad Kirkwood (Team Leader);

CPL Steve Styles (Team Leader) SIS;

SIS:

SSGT Russ Jacob (Team Leader); and

CPL Steve Styles (Invst). Both later seconded to TAS.

MP Det Battambang:

CPL Dave Voss (TAS).

TAS

The TAS had the greatest complement of Australian personnel within the MP Coy. The reason for this was apparent after observing the standard of personnel and traffic investigations which was present upon the arrival of the Australian contingent…The TAS had the unenviable role of investigating all TA that occurred involving a UN member or vehicle. Due to the standard of UN drivers, the standard of Cambodian roads, the non-existence of any real road law, and the negligent attitude of many drivers; the number of accidents was astounding. The TAS also conducted a proactive policing campaign designed to lower the incidents on the roads by utilising RBT and speed checks. This resulted in a marked decrease in accidents but a commensurate increase in the amount of offence reports, which were required to be compiled. The proactive police campaign, though sanctioned by the UN Force Commander and the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN, was not well received by the personnel of UNTAC. The reason for this was that for almost eighteen months they had been able to drive vehicles un-checked and not efficiently policed and therefore a degree of lawlessness pervaded the driving of UN personnel.

The AS NCO in the TAS soon discovered the hard way that their multi-national patrol partners were, in the main, inefficient and unreliable. They quickly set about reorganising the basic procedures and tackling the Tas that were occurring at an ever-increasing rate. All of the TAS teams soon had AS MP as the Team IC, despite some teams having a SNCO from another country. It was evident in a short period of time that the other nationalities were quite prepared to allow the AS MP to take charge and do the work. As a consequence, the standard of TA reports, both initial and final as well as occurrence reports, improved dramatically with the reports being finalised within the time frame set by the ‘new’ TAS SOP.

SIS

The Special Investigation Section (SIS) were responsible for the investigation of all notifiable incidents in Cambodia involving UN personnel. The majority of the SIS personnel were Ghanaian with the remaining personnel being made up of Malaysian and AS MP. PONPC Ted Birtles (RAN) and CPL Steve West (RAAF) were employed in the section as were SSGT Russ Jacob and CPL Steve Styles until transferred to the TAS. CPL Steve Pugsley (RAAF) undertook the SIS role in the MP Det at Battambang. The full plethora of investigations were covered during the mission, and included:

a. death – murder, suicide, KIA;

b. injury or wounding of UN personnel;

c. mine incidents;

d. loss/damage of UN and personal property;

e. assault, including rape; and

f. other service and related offences.

The Operations Section of the MP Coy was somewhat mistitled; it should have been known as non-Operations Section. OPS had the largest personnel concentration on the establishment of the MP Coy, and for good reason. OPS was filled with those personnel who were unsuitable for employment anywhere else in the organisation. The personnel concerned were in the main unable to effectively communicate in the Mission languages of either English or French, unable to drive a motor vehicle and simply functionally inept as MP.

The exception to the rule concerning OPS personnel were the Duty Room Shift Commanders. These four personnel were responsible for running the MP Coy duty room on a twenty four hour basis which ran on an eight hours on, 24 hours off shift system. Two of the four shift commanders were fortunately Australians, being PO Lou Luvisi and SGT Tom Devine. Both members found their respective positions very frustrating but nonetheless understood the importance (particularly to the other Aussies) of having somebody competent in the duty room who could organise the support requirements needed or requested by the TAS teams on the road. Many an AS TAS team member breathed a sign of relief when he heard an Aussie accent on the Duty Room radio, knowing that his message would be received, understood and actioned.

MP Det Poipet

Poipet is a small town, which lies on the border of Thailand and northwest Cambodia. It is also the main border crossing point into Cambodia from the west so accordingly played an important role for the movement of personnel and vehicles into and out of Cambodia. The MP Det in Poipet was small, being manned by only eight personnel in total. The det was commanded by a RAN CPO, Alan Ward. Apart from one other Aussie (CPL Matt Humphries of the RAAF) no other Australians were in the town of Poipet. The remaining members of the det were made up of Bangladeshi CPLs and two Indonesian NCOs. The det was responsible for the border-crossing checkpoint between Thailand and Cambodia. The main duties of the det were to log in and out all vehicular movement between Cambodia and Thailand, and to conduct patrols of both the township of Poipet and the Thai town of Aranyaprathet.

MP Det Battambang

Battambang is one of the largest of the provincial towns in Cambodia. It was the base of operation for a Sig Sqn from the FCU as well as an MP det from the MP Coy. The MP det was commanded by an Indonesian Officer who had at his disposal two Australians, CPL Dave Voss of the RACMP and CPL Steve Pugsley of the RAAF, along with NCO from Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The det was responsible for the provision of MP support at Battambang and surrounding provinces and accordingly had within its structure a TAS and a SIS element, both commanded by the Aussie NCO. The Australian MP presence in the MP det began in May 1993 when the two NCO were dispatched to increase the workload capacity and efficiency of the det. This proved to be a success and was plainly apparent from the quality and quantity of investigations, which soon came from the det.

MP Det Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville provides the best port facility in Cambodia and was therefore important for the movement of equipment and stores in and out of Cambodia. The MP det provided the necessary MP support to the UN commitment in the town (which was mainly French). Accordingly, the MP personnel were made up of all French NCO with the exception of the det Comd who was a Bangladeshi officer.

Repatriation

All AS MP were repatriated out of Cambodia on 12 November 1993. The rearward movement to Australia was conducted in a single day and despite being tiresome was well received by all. The repatriation movement commenced at 0445 hrs by way of a chartered UN flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. From thee all personnel transferred to a Qantas flight at 0830 hrs, arriving in Sydney after a direct flight at 2100 hrs.

On arrival in Sydney the contingent was mobbed by media, family and friends, and then all personnel departed for their homes in Sydney or for Randwick Barracks. On 13 November 1993, the UNTAC Mission effectively ceased for the contingent when awarded the Australian Service Medal with Cambodia clasped, and then released to return to our homes.

Lessons Learnt

The following is a list of lessons learned by RACMP personnel in Cambodia:

· Level of Training: AS MP displayed levels of professionalism, policing skills, initiative, leadership and over all military training which were far superior to the other nations contributing MP to UNTAC. The RACMP level of training, coupled with many years of practical experience proved to be extremely beneficial to the overall success of the ASC in Cambodia. All ranks of the RACMP personnel proved to be competent and efficient in their tasks, with the benefits of a balanced grasp of the essentials of leadership and basic policing abilities.

· CPP: The importance of having trained personnel in CPP was proven in Cambodia. UNTAC was the recipient of a procession of visits from various heads of state, national statesmen, and high ranking officers from various national forces. The ASC was visited by VIP from the AS Prime Minister, Minister for Trade and Foreign Affairs, other parliamentarians, the CDF, the CGS and so on. All of these personnel were provided with various degrees of CPP. Additionally, the FC was afforded continuous CPP by AS MP personnel. It is considered imperative for all future AS MP involvement in UN missions that a well-trained CPP element be included within its personnel make-up.

· Deployment Timing: The timing of the deployment of the AS MP contingent to the UNTAC MP Coy was left too late in the Mission. It is considered that had there been an AS MP presence within the framework of the UNTAC MP Coy from the commencement of the mission, significant problems may not have been encountered. The ‘party’ atmosphere that pervaded UNTAC was hard to curtail halfway through the mission. In some circumstances offences such as speeding and drink driving were considered acceptable. The overall professionalism of the UNTAC MP Coy organisation may well have been different as well. Retraining and reorganisation was necessary to effect an efficient policing service within the UNTAC MP Coy. Had centralised training been implemented from the outset this may not have been required. The increased and unnecessary workload may have been avoided.

· Language: There is benefit in having AS MP trained in the colloquial language of the foreign countries in which they serve. In the case of Cambodia a heavy reliance was placed upon interpreters who in some instances would relay incorrect information. MP spend much of their time communicating in the written and verbal form to personnel so a colloquial understanding of the relevant language would be most beneficial. A minimum figure of 10% of the strength of the MP commitment is considered appropriate.

· Utilisation of Skills: An important factor for consideration in future UN missions involving AS MP is a correct and balanced distribution of skills. This is particularly important in the initial personnel selection phase. It is important that personnel are able to be utilised taking into account the multi-skilled police experience of the majority of senior CPL and SNCO. A balance of experience in rank as well as a balance of personnel trained in general duties, field duties and investigations is considered necessary for an AS MP commitment. The selection of RACMP personnel for service with UNTAC proved to be quite well balanced with experience and expertise. Some minor problems were encountered but these were overcome through time in country and confidence through personal achievement.

· Investigators: Qualified investigators are a must in any deployment of AS troops into an overseas theatre. Two investigators were provided for the initial deployment of the ASC UNTAC and this was considered the minimum number necessary. The investigator strength was subsequently reduced to one at a time when there were numerous investigations being undertaken. This proved to be unsuitable in that the investigator was forced to conduct many enquiries concurrently. A minimum of two investigators per ASC to UN mission areas is considered to be the bare minimum required to effectively conduct enquiries.

Conclusion

Operational policing in an operational area provided the ideal opportunity and environment for assessing the levels of competency and proficiency of AS MP, and represented a validation tool for AS MP training standards. It was also the opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of RACMP personnel in situations of high risk. The result of the AS MP within UNTAC proved that e possessed a superior training standard in our MP. The AS MP JNCO proved to be professional, capable and mature when compared with their peers from other nations.

Close Personal Protection

The high profile of the Force Commander LTGEN Sanderson and the perceived threat against him from those Khmer elements opposed to the UN presence in Cambodia led to the first operational CPP duty performed by Australian MP. The Australian Defence Attache in Cambodia, COL Chamberlain, had considered the use of Special Forces (SF) personnel for such a role, however decided upon the use of resources already in the country.

A CPP OPORD was compiled and approved, and the fully-fledged CPP commitment began in earnest. WO2 Rob Gear was nominated to be the Bodyguard (BG) to the FC with the following personnel allocated supporting roles.

a. SGT Clark (seconded from FCU) – 2IC Protective Escort Section (PES) until repatriation in June 1993;

b. CPL Brad Kirkwood – 2IC PES post SGT Clark;

c. SGT Graeme Sutton – PES member; and

d. CPL Chris Fry – Residence Security.

A number of Ghanaian soldiers from the Ghanaian Bn resident in Phnom Penh were also seconded for duty in the CPP operation and performed tasks in the PES.

The CPP operation was undertaken just prior to the critical election period, at a time of increased tensions and heightened hostilities around the country. The election period saw many long hours of commitment to the role, along with concurrent activities such as range practices and CPP drills being held in rest hours. FCU provided on ammunition allocation for the CPP range practices and also procured much needed stores and equipment vital to the operational role at hand.

Towards late June 1993, with the election result finalised and an easing of the tense atmosphere leading up to the election, the CPP commitment was scaled down significantly, with only WO2 Rob Gear remaining from the Aussie side of the house to conduct BG duties with the FC. The Ghanaian soldiers stayed on to provide the PES thereby releasing the remaining Australian MP back to duty at the MP Coy. It also permitted SGT Clark to be repatriated back to Australia, after having served in excess of 12 months in Cambodia. WO2 Gear stayed on as BG to the FC up until late July 1993 when he was seconded for special duty in HQ UNTAC.

The CPP to the FC, though the most significant and prolonged, was not the only task undertaken by Australian MP in Cambodia. Varying degrees of CP support were provided by the FCU MP Det during the visits to Cambodia by the then CDF GEN Gration, the Australian Prime Minister Mr Keating, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Senator Evans. Other CP duties undertaken by the Australian contingent members of the UNTAC MP Coy were to the Comd 1 Div MAJGEN Amison and the CDF ADM Beaumont.

CPP and Australian MP were seen to be well matched during the mission in Cambodia. Many years of training for such a contingency paid off, with significant praise coming in the direction of all concerned. At long last, the feet of the MP were in the CPP door.

Cambodian National Armed Force (CNAF) MP Training

In mid July 1993, the CNAF put forward a request to the UN for the provision of support, through training advice, for the establishment of he CNAF MP organisation. The FC was very keen on the idea and as a result a delegation of UN military personnel from the MMWG Plans Branch and the UNTAC MP Coy took part in the initial discussions. CAPT Foxe represented the MP Coy n this delegation.

Those first few meetings with the CNAF showed that there was no official MP organisation within the CNAF. Each battalion/regiment had its own integral police, much akin to our RP, but their functions were limited mainly to patrols. The CNAF’s desire was to create a MP organisation able to fulfil a number of responsibilities in the ‘new’ army, with these responsibilities very similar to those undertaken by the UNTAC MP Coy.

Once the criteria had been set and parameters established for the assistance to the CNAF, a facility had to be located in the vicinity of Phnom Penh for the conduct of the training. CAPT Foxe and MAJ Fauzi, Plans Branch, conducted numerous recons of the areas surrounding the capital, with the result being the discovery of an unused refugee reception camp approximately 25 km from Phnom Penh. Then followed the determination of the other resource implications of the task, including instructional staff, stores, fuel and rations.

Permission was granted for the assembly of an instructional and administration staff of 10 personnel form the Australian, French, Malaysian, German and Canadian contingents. It was recommended that no Australian personnel from the UNTAC MP Coy be released for the task, such was their importance in their own organisation. However, approval was given for WO2 Gear to be released from his BG responsibilities with the FC, and three of the four MP from the FCU MP Det were to be made available. RACMP personnel involved in the task were:

a. WO2 Rob Gear;

b. WO2 Brian Lewis;

c. CPL Bob Jeffers; and

d. CPL Gordon Kubea.

The content of the MP course was put together by the instructional staff in little over a week. Thirty lessons which covered most aspects of basic policing were written, based predominantly on RACMP doctrine. Some of the lessons included arrest procedure, crowd control, crime scene protection, police restraints, statement and report writing, TA investigations, humanitarian considerations, and instructional techniques.

The first course of 103 students was conducted over a period of 18 days. The students ranged in rank from PTE to BRIG, and were found to be extremely keen and willing to learn. The lessons at the MP Training Centre ran from 0830 hrs to 1800 hrs daily, with each lesson held in a platoon sized group. Each lesson had a UN instructor teaching through a Khmer interpreter, and although this was awkward at first, proved to be very successful as time progressed.

The graduation parade of the first batch of CNAF MP was attended by the FC, the Chief of the CNAF, and any other officials and dignitaries. Much praise was forthcoming for the efforts of all those UN personnel involved in the successful completion of what appeared initially to be an onerous task. The UN support for the second MP course was significantly reduced, with only WO2 Gear and CPL Kubea from the RACMP remaining on staff with a few other contingent representatives. The reason for this was that amongst the first MP graduates a number were identified as instructors for future MP courses so that the CNAF would be able to undertake the training of their own personnel.

The involvement of the UN in the training of the CNAF MP lasted less than two months, but in that time an enormous amount of time and energy was spent in ensuring a successful completion to the task. The importance of this UN commitment to the rebuilding of the CNAF was seen to be one of the most significant events of UNTAC according to LTGEN Sanderson.

Bulgabatt Escort

Bulgaria contributed its first UN commitment of troops to the UNTAC operation. It is widely assumed now that Bulgaria’s first UN Mission is very likely to be its last. The Bulgarian troops were the most troublesome and ill-disciplined of all troops of the nations contributing to UNTAC. When the time came in August 1993 for their repatriation to Bulgaria, there were many relieved people in Cambodia. The repatriation of the Bulgarian Bn was to take place over two separate flights on Tower Air, this being the airline chartered by the UN for the repatriation of UNTAC troops. The first flight of approximately 400 troops back to Bulgaria was the catalyst for the subsequent request by Movement Control for AS MP to police the repatriating Bulgarians created havoc for the Movement Control staff as well as the staff of Tower Air. They attempted to smuggle reptiles, drugs, poisons, firearms, ammunition and explosives out of Cambodia, and almost destroyed the chartered 727 aircraft. The flight was to be a non-smoking flight however as virtually all of the Bulgarians were chain smokers this was not a popular rule. A fire was started in the toilet of the flight when the smoke detectors were disconnected to that smoking could take place in private. However, smoking began ‘open slather’ within the seating area, much to the disgust and dismay of the hostesses. The hostesses were also subjected to assault and harassment during the flight, and as a result refused point blank to fly with Bulgarians again. Accordingly, with a second flight of Bulgarians to be repatriated, Movement Control requested AS MP support to police the troops both on the ground and in the air so as to prevent further troubles.

For the period 21-24 August 1993 three AS MP, being SGT Graeme Sutton, CPL’s Brad Kirkwood and Chip Collins were employed on short notice in a capacity where they were most unlikely to have been employed before. The MP assisted firstly the UNTAC Movement Control staff in Thailand with searching the remaining Bulgarians, before they boarded the flight. The following items were confiscated:

a. approximately 300 assorted knives;

b. 30 various calibre rounds of live ammunition;

c. large quantities of fireworks and aerosols;

d. 100 imitation handguns;

e. four concealed cane swords;

f. one live snake and a quantity of spiders;

g. a large quantity of illegal narcotics;

h. two authentic firearms; and

i. a quantity of poison.

The three AS MP accompanied the Bulgarians all the way to Bulgaria where they remained for a couple of days – well looked after by CAPT Mladen Mladenov, the Bulgarian Log Offr from the UNTAC MP Coy. During the flight, the Bulgarians were well behaved with the only incident being the discovery of a soldier hand feeding a viper that he had concealed in his waist belt. Much praise and thanks were received on the completion of the support, this accompanying many other requests for MP support by Mov Con, which could not be met. RACMP can now proudly say that we have had three members policing a Bn minus of Bulgarians, and deploying into the old eastern block country of Bulgaria.

A serious traffic accident had occurred about 30 km south of our position on the road to Sianoukville involving an Australian vehicle. It was late in the afternoon and the driver and his passenger had been brought to our hospital at Pteah Australii, the house of the Australians in Phmon Penh, Cambodia. The driver had multiple abrasions but his passenger had a fractured femur in several places. There is no permitted travel out of Phnom Penh after hours so we had to sit the night out and start the investigation the following day. It was usually the UN that investigated Tas in Phnom Penh. The exception was where Australian vehicles were involved because we had struck a deal to investigate our own, which they were happy to agree to. When the Aussie contingent turned up to work with them, then and only then were we happy to relinquish this responsibility back to them.

CPL Francine Rigby-George, interpreter Ruda Toch and I set out in the early light for Prey Veng where the remains of the vehicle lay in wait. We arrived to see the shell of a vehicle that was once a Nissan Patrol and the truck that had hit it, it was a wet road and the driver of the Nissan had lost control of his vehicle and had spun out of control into the oncoming path of a very large old truck heading for Phnom Penh. The Nissan had been reduced by the locals to nothing more than a shell. The car had been jacked up by wooden poles and the tyres removed. I knew they would not be far and through Ruda threatened the locals that no compensation payout at all would be made until they were returned – they were soon to appear from a local shanty.

All the comms equipment, the motorola, etc. had been removed the day before and the car was a write-off, so I was not too concerned about the badges, etc. Francine was taking photos with styer slung whilst I was directing Ruda to do some statement taking with the driver of the truck. The truck’s engine was damaged in the accident and he had nowhere to go. Ruda was a bit of a professional by now. He knew the content we required in the statements and was busy canvassing the locals for eyewitnesses. Of course they all saw the accident because they thought there may have been a ‘quid’ in it for them. We always had to be very careful when outside the city and especially in a situation such as this. Ruda was always quick to tell us of the feeling around the village at a given time.

We had established that there were several people travelling on top of the truck when hit and subsequently were thrown from the vehicle on collision. One woman was taken to a nearby nurses station for treatment. The UN workshop tow truck finally arrived but as we were about to leave I realised I had locked the keys in the car. After a few feeble attempts Francine took to the little back window with a hatchet but missed at the first attempt and hit the support. She was successful on the second attempt, which allowed us to go and talk to the Singaporian Civpol based at Prey Veng who had attended the accident the night before. They gave us what information they had and were happy for us to take over the investigation.

With a local in tow we went to the nurses station – a shanty with a bed – at a nearby village. We found the injured woman in obvious discomfort. She was a mother of six and was travelling back to the farm when the accident occurred. Her right forearm was splinted with bamboo strips. The strips were cutting deep into the skin and they were causing her more discomfort than the suspected break of her arm. Her arm showed no external signs of a break – no reddening or swelling, but she was in genuine pain. Our expert diagnosis was a simple fracture. We could give her better treatment than she would receive from anywhere else around. I found a palm leaf and shaped a splint from its base with a hatchet from the family. I bandaged and padded the splint. Francine had bathed the arm and then she fixed the splint to the arm securely. We gave her some aspirin for the pain and then Rudo took her statement. She could be moved back to her village now so we took her there. Upon arrival she was met by most of the village. Ruda explained about the compensation and she was happy to leave it with us. It was then that another family wanted us to look at their two sons who also claimed to have fallen from the truck. As we arrived at their shack they rushed into a bed and threw a blanket over themselves. There was nothing wrong with them so we gave them some false assurances and then left.

The completed TA would go to the UN MP to be rubber stamped, recorded, and then the report would go to the UN workshop for repair of the vehicle and to the UN compensation people to judge on the payment of compensation. It took the injured woman some time to get her family the money she had claimed (US$200), but it was ten times faster with us walking through everything.

Another satisfied customer … all in a day’s work.

The alarm broke the morning silence as I awake in a bath of sweat. It wasn’t an unusually hot morning, just another morning in Cambodia. It only seemed like the other day that we left the sanctity of Australia – now it seemed like we were living in a long tunnel with just a flicker of light visible, but it is oh so far away.

‘Get outta bed you slug’, were the kind words from one of my three room mates. I dragged myself up from the stretcher, put on some shorts, grabbed my towel and shuffled out the door. It was 0530 hrs. The 150 odd metres or so to the shower block was enough time to gather my thoughts, along the way making the usual morning greetings to the other occupants of the sweatbox.

‘Why am I so tired?’ The long hot days were all too quick to sap the energy from you. The wait at the basins was unusually short this morning and I was soon returning feeling a tad fresher, at least clean shaven – a cold water shave.

PT was pretty hard this morning – we were jogging towards Phnom Penh dodging all the morning traffic. The presence of petrol hung strong in the air as the locals filled the Fanta bottles in the hope of a good day’s trade. The sight of the morning sun sitting on the palm tops took my breath away – so large, so beautiful, Lahore. We sat outside the room in a desperate search for motivation. The cold shower was a welcome relief but the journey back to the room took away any freshness gained from the shower. I sat quietly finishing my letter home and listening to the dulcet tones of Marcia Hines on my walkman, reflecting the day at foot.

I was at my office desk tuning the radio into Radio Australia when all entered with the morning greetings. I knew I was too early for the radio but it was a ritual attempt to make contact with the outside world. I sometimes felt like Gilligan or the skipper! Today’s agenda; put the laundry in, chase those Tas with the UN MP, get the brakes checked on the Four Runner, see LT Wanna at the Dangkor Police about those kids and finish that job for Gary.

‘Anything happen last night Leo?’

‘I went out with Wayne, ask Francine. By the way, Steve is ringing from Battambang this morning.’

The afternoon was just too hot, whose turn for the drinks? ‘I’ll go’, says Francine as she heads off for the Sallyman.

It’s late in the day and the discussion group is now on the steps outside the office. A regular sight for the passers by. We may have time to drive there this time, 281 km in eight hours, at least there are no mines, we think.

The day is behind me now as I sit out the back of the mess writing home. The thought of that traffic accident and the sight of the crushed skull of the local khmer is slowly diminishing, as is the sun. It is amazing what we accept and take for granted now. Dixies in hand, I set off for the evening meal. My trek to the mess is interrupted as I pause to look at the moon, which has emerged from the depths of the horizon. How could something so beautiful exist in a place so tragic?

A final trip to the showers before I lay the day to rest. ‘Starry, starry night, paint your palette blue and grey, look out on a summer’s day…’ The stars are truly a welcome relief for tired eyes but no matter how hard I search they are not there.

When will I see them again? Let me see, 169 down, only 196 to go…But who is counting?…I am.

‘Why are we here?’ I find myself all too often asking. But before that thought gets time to emerge in full those smiling children’s’ faces appear in my subconscious.

Yeah, that’s why.