This final edition of the Australian Army Journal for 2007 maintains our recent focus on lessons from operations, especially in Afghanistan. The grim reality of the risks entailed in all military operations has been brought home to all of us by the deaths of three soldiers in Afghanistan and another in Timor-Leste in the weeks preceding publication of this issue. Those losses remind us that the profession of arms is a serious business and that the soldier has entered a covenant of unlimited liability with his or her nation.
As the Chief of the Army Lieutenant General Peter Leahy frequently reminds us, the ultimate benchmark for the performance of those serving at home in Australia is the degree to which our efforts are supporting our mates engaged in operations overseas. They face implacable and dangerous enemies in harsh environments.
For this reason the AAJ aspires to be a forum in which soldiers of every rank and specialisation can analyse and debate their experiences on operations. Our enemies are adaptive. We need to match them in this regard. The Centre for Army Lessons performs excellent work in disseminating the hard-won lessons of deployed soldiers to others preparing for operations. The AAJ seeks to complement this valuable work while providing a forum for discussion of issues of a strategic or historical nature. We reiterate our request to those with recent operational experience to commit their reflections to paper. This should not be an abstract exercise. It might save a mate’s life.
In that spirit we publish an article by Lieutenant Colonel Mick Ryan, who commanded the inaugural Reconstruction Task Force in Afghanistan, about the application of adaptive counterinsurgency techniques against the Taliban. His article is essential reading and has applications more broadly in other theatres where irregular enemies are operating in complex terrain against us and our allies.
Similarly, we are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2007 Chauvel Essay Prize is Major Michael Scott. Selected by the AAJ’s Editorial Advisory Board, his article, ‘Rebuilding Afghanistan One Mud-brick at a Time: Lessons from an Aussie Engineer’, appeared in the AAJ’s Autumn 2007 edition. This clear and well-presented exploration of the issues surrounding coalition reconstruction efforts is timely. The eminence of the judges highlights the utility and applicability as well as the relevance of the lessons Major Scott presented. We recommend it to you.
The oft-neglected area of logistics is the subject of the article by Brigadier David Saul, who examines the benefits and risks involved in the reliance on contractors in the battlespace. Contractors are now an integral part of our operations in all theatres and awareness of both the limitations and opportunities associated with their use is essential to commanders.
And as recent controversy surrounding the private security firm Blackwater demonstrates, the proliferation of contractors is not confined to logistic support. Contractors like Blackwater are engaged in highly visible close protection tasks in areas where our troops are operating. They frequently use lethal force. This inevitably will affect perceptions of all forces operating ‘amongst the people’—to employ the phrase made famous by British General Sir Rupert Smith.
Unique rules of engagement, differing perceptions of threat and incompatible methods of dealing with local populations may all conspire to complicate the relationship between conventional military forces and security contractors. This is an area in which our doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures may need to rapidly adapt to the changing battlespace. Antony Trentini reviews some of the recent literature about this controversial subject in this issue.
This year has seen the AAJ successfully increase its publication schedule to three editions. That this has been achieved is a credit primarily to the officers, NCOs and other ranks of the Army who continue to submit high quality, thoughtful articles for publication. It is also a credit to the staff of the Land Warfare Studies Centre particularly Dr Albert Palazzo, Mr Scott Hopkins and Ms Natalia Forrest, who work tirelessly to produce it.
This issue will appear on the eve of Christmas. We wish all of our readers a safe and happy holiday season. To our comrades deployed on operations, we wish you a safe return to your families. Finally, to the families and loved ones of Sergeant Matthew Locke, Trooper David Pearce, Private Luke Worsley and Private Ashley Baker, who died on operations in recent weeks, we offer our sincere condolences and respect at this time of inconsolable loss.
The Publisher
