Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon aircrew flew long sorties over the North Indian Ocean or the South China Sea for Operation Gateway from late November into early December.
Yet most of the team at Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Base Butterworth supporting those missions began work hours, if not days, before.
Intelligence, admin, operations, logistics, medical, maintenance crews, refuellers, locally engaged civilian staff and even a contracted wildlife management officer from Darwin were all working behind the scenes.
They worked from before the sun rose and well after it had set to contribute to successful mission outcomes.
Administrative work began weeks in advance; the intelligence team would always beat everyone else into work, and the maintenance crews would check over and power up the aircraft just in time for their sorties, and took care of them on their return.
"Only one-third of the people on this deployment are aircrew. The other two-thirds are the essential staff that we need to go flying every day and without them we wouldn't be able to do operations," Squadron Leader Justin McCoy, of RAAF's 92 Wing, explained.
"There are a huge amount of people working behind the scenes to keep the aircraft serviceable and ensure the aircrew are organised and safe to fly."
'Our presence on this trip provided the team with easy access to health services in an approachable and stress-free way.'
Throughout the deployment, aviation medical officer Flight Lieutenant Alannah Frazzetto was on standby to support the Gateway team, working with her small team from both the deployment headquarters and assisted by the RMAF Butterworth Medical Centre.
"Thankfully, we haven't had any major health concerns, in part due to decisions made by the deployed medical team," Flight Lieutenant Frazzetto said.
"Our presence on this trip provided the team with easy access to health services in an approachable and stress-free way."
In the hours leading up to take-offs and landings, wildlife management officer Stuart 'The Bird Man' Butler, a Defence industry contractor, raced up and down the tarmac in his vehicle with the horn blaring and sirens blazing to clear the flocks of birds from the runway.
"The environment around RMAF Butterworth presents a high wildlife hazard due to extensive agriculture, dense urban development and close proximity to the coastline, all of which support abundant wildlife activity," Mr Butler said.
"So it's my role to try to keep that wildlife away from the aircraft during flying operations, which is harder than it sounds."
This iteration of Operation Gateway involved about 90 personnel who, in various roles, enabled P-8A Poseidons to safely conduct maritime domain awareness patrols in the North Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
