First civilian to graduate from Aust army college

The National National
Hosea Bandy (centre) with colleagues from the Australia’s defence department during his graduation. – Picture supplied

HOSEA Bandy was the only civilian among five members of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Defence Force who graduated from the Australian Defence College on Dec 8, in Canberra, Australia.
Bandy, a policy staff from the Department of Defence, graduated with a master’s degree in military and defence studies, making him the first civilian personnel from the PNG Defence Force to attain such a prestigious qualification from the college.
His graduation is a result of secretary Hari John Akipe’s vision and wisdom to integrate the ‘Olgeta Department initiative’ with ‘PNGDF’s Olgeta series’ under the traditional PNG-Australia Defence Corporation Programme.
Akipe congratulated Bandy for rewarding his confidence in him with the unprecedented achievement and looked forward to welcoming him back to Murray Barracks next year.