Engineering a beach assault
Combat engineers engaged in amphibious assaults from a ship was another tick for new capability during Exercise Tropic Major.
Lieutenant Frankie Thompson commanded a team of 15 combat engineers from both 2 and 3 Field Squadrons, 2 Engineer Regiment, specialising in small boat operations from the loading deck of HMNZS CANTERBURY. During the exercise, the engineers were tasked with using their zodiacs to infiltrate the reconnaissance teams to Epi Island, then infiltrate army personnel during the early hours of D-Day to secure a beach. A tropical environment, including the sea state and coral obstructions, had to be factored in. The infill is precise, low-profile, slow, and near-silent.
“It’s very cool to be able to do this from a ship,” says LT Thompson. “It’s something we’ve always talked about, but we’ve never had a chance to do it before.” In fact, it is the first time LT Thompson has been on CANTERBURY. “It’s great to take the team away, and great exposure to what our capabilities are.”
Combat engineers are all qualified to handle zodiacs and a number of the team are coxswains, with day skipper and boat master qualifications. They are the experts in using their small boats to get people in, and their work during Tropic Major is a useful relationship exercise for them. “It’s building trust of the other units with us. We enhance the plan, we get people to the beach, and we get them back.”
Staff Sergeant Quentin Whanau says it was very pleasing to see the engineers being used in a combat role during Tropic Major. “Because the ‘engineers’ have done so much HADR work, there’s been that stereotype, of doing bridging, and supplying water. But these guys aren’t tradesmen.” He noted the team had to perform a ‘casualty’ extraction as short notice. “There’s a lot of complexity, with reaching the right point, dealing with the conditions — the sea state, the environment, and navigating through coral, to get to the beach and extract them.”
LT Thompson, from Timaru, joined in 2011 after studying outdoor recreation at Aoraki Polytechnic. It was something she had always wanted to do, she says. “I qualified in Australia, with a four-year degree in civil engineering and a year’s commissioning course.”
