The life of a soldier on the border line

It will be his last visit to his barracks for a while.

The NSW Government has decided to close its border with Victoria in the wake of the growing COVID-19 crisis.

There are members of the NSW Police Force on the border checkpoints, but the task ahead is a huge one, so assistance from the Australian Army has been called for.

For Sgt Hetherington, this is nothing new.

“For the last three years at 8/9 RAR, we have been the ready battalion,” he said.

“So it's not uncommon to get orders at two in the morning and be at work by 5.30am to go through procedure to head out.

“You usually have some warning, there is usually a notice to move. For this situation we were told it was highly possible we were going to work on the border, and then we were stood down.”

Then, in Sgt Hetherington's own words, things changed out of the blue.

“We got a phone call on the Monday night at around 10 o'clock to say we were being sent to work on the border,” he said.

“It took us about 12 hours to make the journey from Brisbane to NSW, we arrived there by about 1400. We pushed into Wagga, where we were broken up into call signs.

“There are three platoons of 35, and we were all sent to different areas across the border.

“We were sent to Tumbarumba first, looking after those three bridges, before moving to Mulwala and then on to Moama.

“There wasn't a great deal of detail in the initial brief, just that we would be working with the NSW Police Force as part of the border closure.

“Once arriving on the checkpoint, it was as simple as checking permits and identification. If we are satisfied with what we are shown, we let the car through, if not, we take them off to the side and the police look into it further.”

A lot has changed in the time the border has been closed.

In the initial stages there was a great deal of confusion over who could and couldn't cross, and the initial permits made wait times considerable.

But Sgt Hetherington said this had completely changed as time had gone on.

“When we first started out it was mostly the police doing the checks, but as you can see now we have the mobile phones where we can scan the codes and get the whole thing moving really smoothly,” he said.

It's one of many different experiences Sgt Hetherington has had since he joined the Army.

After finishing year 12, he spent a year enjoying his time out of school.

But a year was enough — he was looking for a challenge.

And the Army was happy to provide.

“I've been in for 14 years now,” he said.

“I've spent most of my time stationed in Brisbane. After a year and a half I first went overseas.

“I've spent time in Afghanistan, Malaysia, Philippines and Fiji, and I also spent two years in a training command establishment.

“The deployment to Afghanistan is something I'm incredibly proud of, but I loved my time at Kapooka (near Wagga) training recruits.

“You bring in a group of people who have no knowledge and no experience, and as well as taking them through their training, you get the opportunity to pass on what you know, your own experiences and use that to help guide them through.”

And yet, after weeks on the border, Sgt Hetherington said his experiences this year inside the country had been some of his favourites.

“When you serve overseas, you're serving the nation and it's something I am incredibly proud of,” he said.

“But this year between the bushfires and COVID, we've done a lot on the ground at home, which gives you an opportunity to give back and really help people. I'm so proud of that, of getting the chance to really help people. It's been a great experience.

“We'd rather not be here, we'd rather the borders be open, but we are happy to do our part.”

Having now been on the task for a few weeks, the end is in sight, with the call sign returning to Brisbane in the next few weeks.

And when he does, Sgt Hetherington will have nothing but good things to say about his time on the border, especially in Echuca-Moama.

“The locals understand the situation, and they've been incredible to us,” he said.

“Everyone is kind and polite, they keep our spirits up, and simple things like the number of times we have had someone bring us food or something to drink while we've been out here.

“This is a fantastic community, I've really enjoyed my time here and we all have the local community to thank for that.”