Our People in QLD
Joshua Mooney - Check that for size
From Gold Coast’s rollers to the deserts of the Middle East, Joshua Mooney, 24, is on a roller-coaster ride of his own.
Joshua, an Army corporal, has specialised as a quartermaster (supply manager) and is now part of the team that provides the reception and staging of Diggers in and out of the Middle East Area of Operations.
“We size and issue all the equipment – the clothing and vests - to personnel who are going forward into the area of operations,” Joshua said. “Then when they return to Australia, they come back here where we take that equipment off them and put it back in the stock.”
The 24-year-old grew up on the Gold Coast, where he attended St Kevin’s Primary School and Merrimac State High, before leaving school to work with his father as a bricklayer.
Two years later, at the age of 20, he joined the Army and, while based in Darwin, he deployed to Iraq. At the start of the 2009, Joshua was posted to Townsville and he deployed to the Middle East in late July.
“It was a different job in Iraq; it was soldier first, job second,” Joshua said. “I was a storeman, but I was more on the front line. I went out on patrols through Iraq, so now I know what the guys do outside the fence.”
While he misses his wife and family back on the Gold Coast, Joshua said it doesn’t detract from his enjoyment of his career in the Army.
“It’s all been a highlight; it’s never really stopped,” he said. “I’ve been one of the lucky ones.
“Since I joined, I had my first trip to the Middle East, and the when I got back, I got put on all my promotion courses and then got posted to Townsville and now here – so it’s been a roller-coaster and it’s never really stopped since I’ve joined.”
Australia's military contribution to Afghanistan is part of the nation’s broader commitment to Coalition efforts against international terrorism, countering piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and maritime security.
The Australian deployment, comprising around 1550 personnel in Afghanistan and a further 850 across the Middle East, is know as Operations SLIPPER.
Under Operation SLIPPER, Australian forces contribute to the efforts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) - led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, aimed at preventing Afghanistan again becoming a safe haven for international terrorists, and the United States-led International Coalition Against Terrorism.