Soldiers urged to maintain friendship with Australia, NZ

National

By PISAI GUMAR
DEFENCE Force engineers at the Igam Barracks Morobe have been urged to maintain the spirit of camaraderie to maintain relations with their Australia and New Zealand counterparts.
Lt-Col Joseph Fabila said there had been challenges in terms of physical and human resources faced by the battalion over  the past 41 years while involved in civic activities.
He said the engineering battalion had been actively involved in non-military activities.
“There are tough financial issues ahead which may affect many civic programmes. As soldiers, we must see how can we cope to sustain our functions and programmes and focus on one project at a time to keep the engineer battalion a step ahead,” Fabila said.
He addressed the soldiers during the engineer battalion Green River anniversary dinner on Friday.
The Green River anniversary symbolises the birth of the engineering battalion on Sept 1, 1976, as the assault pioneer platoons in the Pacific Islands Regiment into construction troops.
The first project was the Green River civic action project which included an airfield and road from Green River-Amanab in West Sepik in 1975 which was completed in 1977 ahead of schedule despite the difficult conditions.