Preparing the Australian Army for joint employment

In 2007, a number of events and ideas combined to initiate improvements to the Australian Army's land force projection. By 2008, the Adaptive Army initiative was one of the most significant structural reforms since the Hassett Review recommended the establishment of the Army's functional command system in the early 1970s. The Army was not only strengthening its capability and capacity to generate land forces for the defence of the Australian homeland, but also streamlining the challenging process of preparing and projecting land forces, often at short notice, for joint employment overseas - the same processes that would be needed to defend the vast Australian continent and its offshore territories.

In 2009 and 2010, Bob Breen was granted access to those involved in reorganising the Army and also to key documents. This research focused on the formation of Forces Command and the new role of Headquarters 1st Divsion.

This paper is a history of record and an analysis of the contribution of the Adaptive Army initiative to the self-reliant military force projection that underpins Australia's sovereignty - the Australian Defence Force's main game.