DE BOER, Michael Peter

C1006620, Captain, Royal New Zealand Engineers

CITATION

New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration

Queen's Birthday Honours List 2008

Captain De BOER served as the Plans Officer, on secondment to the Australian Army’s Timor Leste Battle Group Two from June to October 2007.  He was responsible for the planning of numerous operations in an environment characterised by constant change, limited information and a volatile strategic and political atmosphere.  His professional competence saw him placed in command of a Company sized organisation of Australian Forces, comprising infantry, engineers and numerous specialists, for a six week period, and charged with containing growing violence and disorder in the notorious Viqueque district of Timor Leste.  This operation was of such importance to the strategic climate that it was afforded the status of the Battle Group’s main effort.  In addition to succeeding in all of his tactical objectives of containing the regional violence, he creatively employed all of his command’s capabilities to effect a change in the local population’s attitude, which then allowed operations conducted by the International Stabilisation Force to commence.

KNOWN AWARDS

New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration

NOTES

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