Trent Ollis
- Afghanistan - Digger showed bravery under fire -
TRENT Ollis has grown tired of what he perceives as a
failure by average Australians to understand what their
troops are doing in Afghanistan.
Mr Ollis, 27, who spent seven months as an infantry
soldier in Afghanistan, was awarded the Commendation for
Gallantry in the military awards section of the Queen's
Birthday honours list.
The award was granted for "gallantry in action in
hazardous circumstances" when the then Private Ollis was
lead scout of a platoon attacked by Taliban forces at
Musazai, in Afghanistan, on August 8 last year.
During a patrol, his platoon, part of the Security Task
Group protecting engineers of the 2nd Reconstruction
Task Force, was ambushed by the Taliban. "Private Ollis,"
his citation reads, "led his platoon to safety.
"During this contact, he was directly engaged by small
arms, machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, with
one grenade landing 15m from him and another passing 2m
over his head. He remained in unprotected positions in
open ground, reporting enemy locations to his command,
and laid down suppressing fire which neutralised the
effect of enemy fire and flanking manoeuvres and allowed
his platoon to break contact safely and withdraw."
The action, which lasted more than four hours, was one
of several firefights he was involved in during his
seven-month deployment in Afghanistan.
But Mr Ollis, who recently left the army to pursue a
career in fitness and sport, says he often has trouble
explaining to people that his main job over there was
not to fight the enemy, but to "protect engineers who
were building stuff for the people of Afghanistan".
He says people he meets, especially those who were
opposed to Australian involvement in the Iraq war, often
confuse the two conflicts and have the wrong impression
of what Australian troops are doing in Afghanistan.
"I think we were doing a very important job over there,"
Mr Ollis said.
"I found it very rewarding. Basically, from my
experience dealing with the Afghani people, I believe
they want our help. They're happy to see us. We're
helping them build schools and hospitals. They can't
hate that."
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