Private Quayle said she would miss her family and friends but would be back when she got leave.

12/16th HRL commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ron Cox said the regiment was proud to be able to contribute two soldiers who were well-trained, capable and reliable.

Privates Genevieve Manuel and Hanna Quayle of the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers left Tamworth for northern Australia yesterday to spend eight months assisting the Royal Australian Navy on Operation Resolute.

Operation Resolute is the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) contribution to the Australian Government’s focus on domestic maritime security activities, with up to 400 ADF personnel assigned to the

operation.

Private Manuel said she volunteered for the operation because she thought it would be a great

opportunity.

“It will be something different to what I normally do because I work in an office all day,” she said.

“It’s back-to-back rotations, so it’s for eight months supporting what the navy does with border security.”

Private Manuel has previously worked with the Pope’s visit to Australia and aided with security at APEC.

“I haven’t done anything like this before,” she said.

Her mum, Ena Olemick, who was at Tamworth Regional Airport to farewell her daughter, was very supportive of her participation in the operation.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to see part of Australia and be able to contribute to Australia,” she said.

Private Quayle said it was going to be the experience of a lifetime.

“There are not many opportunities like this, so I thought it was a good first operation for me,” she said.

“It’s a good operation to get me going.”

Private Quayle has applied for the Australian Regular Army and said she only became a fully qualified medic a few months back, so was looking forward to the experiences on the

operation.

“We’ll finally be able to use the skills we’ve learnt through training,” she said.

“I think it will be quite fun, because we met the people we’re going with and there are good people going.

“It will be good to build new relationships in the army.”

Private Quayle said she would miss her family and friends but would be back when she got leave.

12/16th HRL commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ron Cox said the regiment was proud to be able to contribute two soldiers who were well-trained, capable and reliable.