Australia's Army - An Army in Motion

An Army in Motion

It is my great privilege to be your Chief of Army. The Army of today is in great shape and will continue its journey of improving and adapting. There is always more to do as the context and needs of the future continually change.

We are an Army in motion.

Here I outline my initial approach for thinking about ourselves. I invite you to engage with and help further develop these ideas, framed around four command themes: Preparedness, People, Profession and Potential.

Australia’s Army

The Australian Army is central to the story of our Nation and we have an enduring connection to community and country. Today, our Army continues that great story as a national institution committed to service through our people.

We give confidence that we are prepared for the demands of today and for the future. 

We set high standards, live our values, have an inclusive culture and hold ourselves accountable. This strengthens our foundation as a profession.

We work collaboratively to maximise our people’s capability, enable and leverage partnerships, in combination with technology, to both lead and operate in new and creative ways.

Empowered leadership drives this focus and enables these possibilities.

Preparedness

Army is a versatile, decisive force, offering broad utility for the nation.

Army operates on the land, from the land and onto the land, across all domains including cyber, space, maritime and air. We are a vital member of the joint team.

In this age of increasing uncertainty, we must leverage Army’s unique strengths: bring people together and integrate capabilities; provide presence and enable access; foster people-to-people relationships and build trust.

Preparedness is dynamic. It requires us to be ready now, while concurrently becoming future ready.

To be ready now, we must harness the whole Army and leverage the potential of the joint force and the entire enterprise. We need both capability and capacity. We must be physically, morally and intellectually prepared for operational deployment, at any time, wherever we are needed. Army must also transform to capture future opportunities. Being future ready is a way of challenging the status quo; constantly evolving how we think, equip, train, organise and prepare to compete in the future.  

People

Our people are our Army. They lead, inspire and make a difference. They are our competitive advantage.

Army’s people are volunteers who operate as a total land force. We must respect and embrace the diversity, character and strength of all our people, in any capacity they choose to serve. We are inclusive and more capable as a result.

We continue to invest in our people and maintain a skilled and resilient workforce. We emphasise the essential value of professional military education and we develop leaders at every level, grow expertise and foster innovation.

We respect all those who have served in our uniform and the sacrifice they have made. We care for our people, and we continue to assist our wounded, injured and ill.

We understand the strength our families give us and the importance of community, and prioritise accordingly.  

We actively apply the tenets of the Good Soldiering initiative, supporting our cultural, moral and ethical foundations and setting the conditions for the development and maintenance of optimal Army teams.

As new challenges emerge in this information age, Army will collaborate and partner with others to capitalise on the full suite of national skill sets and knowledge and so enable the potential of our people. Pivotal to the success of these teams is trust, underpinned by our values of courage, initiative, respect and teamwork.

Profession

The Australian Army is a national institution; a professional fighting force, a force for good – earning and sustaining the trust of the society we serve. We understand our unique responsibility to apply lethal force when required to do so. This demands physical, moral and intellectual standards of the highest order.

Our people understand their context and exercise sound judgment. We do the right thing. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards through self-discipline and personal accountability. We are honest with ourselves. We learn and we adapt and we uphold our professional obligations to deliver what the nation expects.

Our people deserve the best leadership. We develop leaders who think critically, apply knowledge, solve difficult problems, value culture as critical capability and communicate effectively. Our leaders are authentic and get the best from their people.

Potential

The evolving character of war and the realities of an increasingly competitive and disruptive world demand we unlock our full potential.

We must create and leverage new opportunities to team with other militaries as well as across the joint force, government, industry, academia and community to generate capability advantage.

We will optimise what we have at every level in Army by thinking of new ways to operate, by experimenting, innovating and accepting risk.  

Potential exists in every corner of Army. We have many hidden talents and soldiers with innovative ideas with which to pair technology and tactics. Our job is to capitalise on this human potential – to give our people a voice, empower their ideas and foster a culture where learning, experimentation, innovation and adaption are the norm. We will empower and support our junior leaders; realising their potential is our future success.

Army is a learning organisation that encourages continuous improvement as normal behaviour, giving us the means to confidently move towards our future. We are committed, engaged and always seeking to optimise our potential in a fast changing world.

Army is always in motion.

Our next steps will be guided by a strategic framework, and articulation of our future warfighting concept, Accelerated Warfare. I look forward to your engagement as we explore these ideas together and turn them into actions. As we do this, keep creating and telling our Army story. Good Soldiering.