Brad Dunn

Photographer unknown. (1999). INTERFET East Timor 1999. Defence Imagery.

Brad Dunn had always wanted to be in the Australian Army. As soon as he turned 17, he convinced his mum to sign the papers, enlisting in August 1979.

Brad became an Armoured Corps cavalryman and, when he progressed to Sergeant, specialised as a radio instructor. This skillset got him selected in 1992 for the peacekeeping mission to Cambodia, where Australia was responsible for the Force Communications Unit. Its signallers were attached to units throughout Cambodia to maintain contact with the force's headquarters.

In September 1999, Brad deployed to East Timor to join the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) as part of an armoured vehicle unit. It was a deployment that he found ‘more natural’ than Cambodia.

Brad never had to fire his gun in Timor-Leste, but he faced plenty of complex, tense and hair-raising situations. In one incident, his squadron was deployed to find two British reporters who’d rung the British embassy in England saying that the militia, possibly Indonesians, were trying to kill them.

On only their second night in Dili, Brad and his men were patrolling the capital looking for the reporters. During the search they came upon a checkpoint. The Australians knew they were close to somewhere where the reporters had been or were expected to be.

‘It was getting really tense,’ Brad remembers. ‘I got off the vehicle, the Officer Commanding got off the vehicle to communicate with the militia troops or the Indonesians. We were preparing to shoot; it was getting close...’ 

Then an Indonesian officer yelled out, "Chris! Brad!" 

It turned out the commander of the local Indonesian unit had been on a deployment to Australia, had trained with the Second Cavalry and was now, years later, in a command position. 

‘He recognised us, so it was much back-slapping and guns going down,’ says Brad. ‘Then one of my troops came forward and said:

"We’ve got them. They're in the back of the Type II – they're snuck out". 

‘"All right, well, nice to see you again, see you later," as we climbed up and headed off. That was the first 48 hours.

‘It became evident to the squadron commander and myself that we had to de-escalate our mindset from war-fighting to more of a peacekeeping concept … to calm things down a little bit in ourselves…’ 

They even instituted a “wave policy” – all commanders would wave. The 2 Troop sergeant had come up with a special wave, winding his hand up rapidly then coming up with a thumbs up. The local kids would later run out to the patrolling Australians and excitedly repeat the gesture. 

‘And so you knew – 2 Troop’s been here!’

Source: DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) (2023 ), Brad Dunn's veteran story, DVA Anzac Portal, accessed 3 September 2024, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/stories/oral-histories/brad-dunns-story