Captain Sue Graham
During October 1999, the Amphibious Beach Team from 10 FSB was deployed to Suai to provide assistance to the initial deployment of 3 Bde units, the New Zealand and Canadian contingents. Due to the lack of port facilities at Suai it quickly became apparent that the Team would be required for the ongoing resupply function. In March 2000, the ABT role was expanded to include some transport and aerial dispatch tasking and thus Suai Log Base was formed.
For those lucky enough to be detached to Suai, they quickly realised that it was no holiday camp, despite the rumours circling around Pelican Lines. No, a hectic schedule of shipping ensured that most days were taken up with unloading weekly ration resupplies, UN materials for housing and anything else that turned up on the shore.
A close working relationship was established with the Kiwis who were always more than willing to help out with tasking down on the beach and assisted providing materials for the ongoing house improvements. CARE Australia members also became regulars at ‘The Castle’ (the SLB accommodation), largely due to the fact they could always be relied upon to provide quad bikes for crusty dirt bike demon races at the beach.. The fickleness of the weather on the south coast of East Timor was demonstrated when we hit a career high of four ships lined up along the beach having run aground. Perhaps the best part about working at Suai was the opportunity to meet the local villagers, who always appeared en masse whenever we were working at the beach. The kids were certainly the favourites and provided us with hours of entertainment, or was it the other way around? Or perhaps the best part about Suai was because HQ was in Dili…..
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