History of 9 FSBSub-units of the 9th Force Support Battalion can directly trace their individual heritage to units of the 1st AIF. In some instances such as 15 Transport Squadron, they go back to the Boer War. The Battalion however was first structured under Headquarters 9th Supplies and Transport Column, Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAAASC) which was raised in the 1950's as the senior Citizen Military Force RAASC HQ in Eastern Command. In 1960 the unit was re-designated and became a regular Army unit. With the formation of the Royal Australian Corps of Transport (RACT), on 1 June 1973, Headquarters 9th Supply and Transport Column bacame the 2nd Transport Battalion. In November of that year it was re-titled 9th Transport Column and placed under command of Headquarters Logistic Command. On 19 December 1978, the unit transferred to Land Command and was renamed 9th Transport Regiment and at the time commanded 19 Transport Squadron in Randwick, 26 Squadron in Puckapunyal and 3 Transport Squadron in Lidcombe. On 1 August 1998, 9th Ttransport Regiment, the last RACT Transport Regiment on the Order of the Battle was renamed as the 9th Force Support Battalion thus reflecting the new Combat Service Support composition of the Army. Tha Battalion now consists of a Headquarters element and seven sub-units:
In recent history the Battalion has taken part in Operation GOLD (ADF support to the Olympics), deployed to East Timor, where they supported the transition from INTERFET to UNTAET, deployed to Bouganville on Operation Bel Isi, deployed to the Solomon Islands as part of Operation Anode, and deployed to the Middle East on the first Force Level Logistic Asset. In 2008 the Battalion already has approximately 30 personnel serving overseas and is set to provide a second rotation of the Force Level Logistic Asset later on this year as well as many other individual reinforcements. |