Operation Pakistan Assist was only beginning to wind down when the operational tempo for the Australian Army spiked even further. The period from May to November 2006 would mark the highest operational tempo experienced by Australian military forces (in terms of the number of concurrent operations undertaken) since the Second World War. Troops were deployed in unit strength in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Solomon Islands, and they redeployed to East Timor in May 2006. Elsewhere, smaller contingents continued to contribute to a wide range of internationally mandated operations. In addition, further short-notice contingencies arose in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Lebanon (discussed below). Admittedly, overall they did not involve serious fighting. But the fact that the Army and the wider ADF managed to handle the array of dispersed and varied tasks in a compressed period without serious complications is testament to their adaptability and resourcefulness. The experience also stands in stark contrast to the limited operational responsiveness of the ADF in the mid-1980s. This chapter illustrates the point.

Operation Acolyte: Commonwealth Games, Melbourne, 2006

While the Australian contingent in Pakistan was preparing to return to Australia, the Australian Army was also busy preparing to be involved in another operation, this time assisting civil authorities with security for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne from 15 to 26 March 2006. Operation Acolyte, as it was known, was named after the Greek word for ‘helper’ or ‘assistant’. The Army and the wider ADF had learned from the 2000 Olympics and were mindful of changed threat perceptions in the post-9/11 era. With this in mind, planning for the operation commenced in 2003 to coordinate with the relevant government agencies and organising bodies. Joint Task Force 636 was established under the command of Brigadier Andrew ‘Boomer’ Smith, with a force of 2600 personnel tasked with a range of specialist roles in support of the police. A deliberate policy of minimising ADF contributions to ‘general support’ tasks also influenced the smaller force size: unlike the Olympics, little was done that was not security-related (such as general driver support).