Our People in NSW
Nathan Guilfoyle - Wattle Grove Man in Sumatra Rescue Operation
Wattle Grove’s Nathan Guilfoyle is now around 7000kms from home. He’s based at the Australian Defence Force’s primary health care facility in Sungai Geringging, near Padang in West Sumatra
Nathan is a private in the Army’s medical corps and in Sumatra he’s the facility’s ambulance driver. His primary job is to move any ADF personnel to a more suitable health care facility should they need treatment that can’t be provided on the spot.
Nathan originally began military life by joining the Navy back in 1988 and, after a break in civvy street, he joined the Army in 2000.
Operation Padang Assist is Nathan’s first overseas deployment with the Army.
“I love being here, love these sorts of deployments where we’re helping the locals,” he said.
Back in Wattle Grove Nathan’s wife Angela, and two children, Jessica and Lachlan, are waiting for him, and Nathan has a special message for them.
“Love you, thinking of you, and see you soon,” he said.
As part of the operation, Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen are working day and night to provide health care, purified water, and to deliver aid supplies to the people of Padang and the surrounding areas of West Sumatra in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that recently rocked the Indonesian province.