The following message of farewell was received from CO 31/42RQR LtCol Damien Green prior to moving on to his new posting. Many of us have had the pleasure of meeting Damien during his tenure as CO of the Battalion. Membersof the Associaion have been particularly grateful for Damien’s efforts to keep we old diggers across the activities of the Battalion via the “31st/42nd Battalion Newsletter”. Over to LtCol Green:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope this email finds you well and not too impacted by COVID and/or the High Risk Weather Season.
The purpose of this email is to pass on my thanks to everyone for your support to the 31st/42nd Battalion, The Royal Queensland Regiment during my tenure in command of the Battalion. We very much appreciate the time you have given to us when we have visited or participated in events throughout Central and North Queensland. Without the support of the community, the Army Reserve ceases to function as it should and I am pleased to say we have been well supported.
I will be handing over command of the Battalion to Lieutenant Colonel Dave Gandy as of 18 Jan 2020 when I depart on posting to the Combat Training Centre in Townsville. I have had a great time meeting all of you and I know Dave is very keen to get around and introduce himself to all of you during his tenure as Commanding Officer. I am extremely proud of the support 31/42 RQR has provided to the community and state over the last two years which has included deployments on OP TOWNSVILLE FLOOD ASSIST, OP BUSHFIRE ASSIST, OP COVID-19 ASSIST and now the Emergency Support Force for Central and North Queensland. We certainly hope that the requirement to deploy on domestic operations reduce and we can all start enjoying a relatively normal life free of pandemics and weather events.
The Battalion is very keen to visit the communities in our area of operations to raise awareness of the unit that is North and Central Queensland’s own and provide people an opportunity to join our ranks. Many of you already know of the qualities an Army Reserve soldier or officer brings to your community and workforce, so we are keen to ensure people know about the opportunities available in or around Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. We believe the more involvement we have with the community, the better our chances are of growing our numbers to ensure the Army Reserve remains a viable part of defence capability and a positive contributor to our region.
To keep you informed of what we have been up to in the last part of the year I have attached a copy of our newsletter for 2020 for your reading pleasure. Thank you once again for your support.
Finally, I would like to wish you all the best for 2021 and I look forward to seeing you at some stage in the future.
Best wishes,
Damien
Damien Green
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Officer 31/42 RQR