A landmark Australian Defence Force-funded $4.2 million dollar road project in Uruzgan province is complete, opening up a former insurgent safe haven to commerce and government services. Until recent years the Mirabad valley in the province’s East was the scene of significant fighting between joint Australian-Afghan force and insurgents, which cost three Australian lives and more wounded. The 14 kilometre asphalt road features 49 culverts, five major causeways and one bridge along its length and has slashed the time it takes local residents to access the resource of the provincial capital, Tarin Kot.

Artillery soldiers from 102 ‘Coral’ Battery, 8/12 Regiment, in Afghanistan and Adelaide have remembered fallen mates with a test of physical endurance on May 10, 2013, completing a cross-fit workout dubbed ‘Sixty Toucan’. The name is drawn from the number of Adelaide-based 102 Battery personnel killed on operations, 62, with the Battery’s emblem – a toucan bird.

The C-130 and C17 aircraft of the Australian Air Component Command have been described as the lifeblood of Operation Slipper in the Middle East Area of Operations, moving tonnes of equipment and hundreds of passengers between Kabul, Kandahar, Tarin Kot and AL Minhad Airbase in the UAE.

This video provides Defence personnel with guidance on using social media

Members of Special Operations Task Group, based at the Multinational Base in Tarin Kot continue their efforts to ensure Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have the capacity to plan, conduct and lead independent operations within Uruzgan province. The advanced training includes combat casualty care, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and communications.

Australian Defence Force personnel operating in Uruzgan continue to receive vital support from the RAAF’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft detachment. Heron operators conduct daily missions inside the province in order to provide real time intelligence and imagery analysis to commanders on the ground. The information captured by Heron is now also helping shape Afghan National Security Force operations in the region.

Five Royal Australian Navy sailors are conducting dangerous work in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan as part of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team. 1 EOD Troop arrived at Multi National Base – Tarin Kot in November 2012 and has been busy assisting with the validation of Afghan National Security Forces EOD technicians. The vital preparation is to enhance training and skills required to conduct safe explosives clearance outside the wire.

Mother's Day had special meaning for the many mother's serving in the Australian Defence Force, especially for those on deployment and on operations overseas. For mother's on deployment in Afghanistan it was duty as normal but also an opportunity to take time out and reconnect with their loved ones back home.