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Bowen Chamber Lauds US Military’s Spending Boost
BY PAUL GELLATLY
its kind in the Pacific region, with a draw about 30,000 military personnel from 13 nations involved in the exercise proper throughout the country.
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The ADF’s Lt. Col. William Bolton said Bowen was “a nice place to target” for a marine landing exercise and was a small, friendly town.
“We get to do some really good training for our amphibious forces,” he said. The strategic alliance and its other training partners were learning a lot from one-on-one interactions over logistical matters.
Lt. Col Bolton said the Bowen training exercise would continue with the construction of a mobile pier at the landing ground.
Bowen business had more than three million reasons to be thankful for the boost US forces gave the town’s economy when its Chamber of Commerce held an official welcoming ceremony on July 24.
The ceremony drew around 60 US and Australian troops and their senior commanders, Col. Samuel Miller of the US 7th Transport Brigade and Lt. Col. Wil- liam Bolton of the Australian Defence Force, as well the state member for Burdekin, Dale Last, and Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Julie Hall.
Mayor Hall said that during the troops’ bivouac in the town during a logistics exercise that complements the main exercise, the tally of their spending had been $3 million.
And that spend isn’t over yet.
She added that the US forces’ participation in the Mayor’s Charity Ball had raised $50,000, with three auction prizes, two ‘Day in the Life of a Soldier’ exercises raising another $40,000, and a lunch with the troops event raising $10,000. Col. Miller said the Talisman Sabre Exercise was one of the largest exercises of
Member for Burdekin Dale Last moved a vote of thanks to the US contingent and hailed their seamless integration with the community, down to their appearance with fishing rods around the town’s best fishing spots.
The welcoming ceremony ended with the presentation of a wooden plaque to the US contingent by Bowen graphic artist Bill Phillis.
