Today we remember Lance Corporal Andrew Jones. An Afghan rogue soldier fatally shot Andrew, an Army cook, on 30 May 2011.
Andrew was on his first deployment to Afghanistan and was serving with the Mentoring Task Force, which was involved with training the Afghan army.
He died shortly after being shot when he was walking in front of his accommodation at Combat Outpost Mashal in the Chora Valley near Tarin Kowt.
Twenty-five-year-old Lance Corporal Jones was from the 9th Force Support Battalion in Amberley. Lance Corporal Jones was serving with the Force Support Unit. This was his first deployment to Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Jones, father David stated it best:
"Young people like Andrew were all part of a family. They all had family and friends. They had interests outside of the military. Just like other people, they were book readers, footballers, athletes, fishermen … just like ordinary people outside the military. They weren’t just soldiers. The saddest thing is that they were all young people, just starting out their adult lives; it was all cut off too soon."
He left behind his loving parents, two younger siblings, and girlfriend.
Andrew attended Maryborough Kindergarten, then Kingsbury Primary School and completed VCE at Latrobe Secondary College.
At school he was a quiet, non-confrontational student who usually kept his head down but still with a cheeky streak.
He joined the Army in 2004. After recruit training, he completed his initial employment training as a cook and was posted to the Catering Platoon of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment. He was posted to the 9th Force Support Battalion in 2008.
Lance Corporal Jones’ first operational deployment was to East Timor in 2008. His second, to Afghanistan, commenced in November 2010.
Lance Corporal Jones was a loyal, reliable and trustworthy soldier who was dedicated to serving his country. He was a team player who loved his job. He had a quiet personality but enjoyed a joke with his mates.
He was a skilled cook who was the first to volunteer to go on the road or on exercise. His mates remember Andrew as a cook, who never thought that it was too much trouble to fire up the BBQ and get some going for when his fellow soldiers came in from the task. It did not matter how busy he had been; he was always happy to use his skills to provide the much-needed morale boost for his mates.
The Army awarded lance Corporal Jones the Australian Service Medal with clasp Timor–Leste, Australian Defence Medal, Australian Active Service Medal with ICAT Clasp, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the NATO ISAF Medal.
Andrew deployed on the following operations:
OPERATION ASTUTE (East Timor) – Jul 2008 – Oct 2008.
OPERATION SLIPPER (Afghanistan) – Nov 2010 – May 2011.
His sacrifice will never be forgotten.
‘Lest We Forget’
With grateful thanks to Rod
https://www.facebook.com/rodhutchings
