Commodore Bruce Kafer, RAN

I had the honour to meet Commodore Bruce Kafer in the Northern Arabian Gulf in late 2008. He was commanding a multi-national naval force that was protecting Iraq's off shore oil terminals. I was visiting his (Australian-staffed) headquarters and the RAN frigate that was under his command as a curator/archivist from the Australian War Memorial. Both had a mix of male and female service personnel and they successfully and happily endured a fairly stressful and dangerous environment. I recorded a decent number of oral history interviews with personnel in his command.

He struck me as a very well respected, intelligent and thoughtful leader. It would be a complete shame for his career to be destroyed and for his qualities to be lost to the Australian Defence Force as a result of the scandal at ADFA.