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Abstract Private Cameron Robison from 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, is currently deployed with Alpha Company on Operation ASTUTE, and he is also a qualified fitness instructor. Like almost everyone who has ever eaten a combat ration pack, he has an opinion. However, the interesting points that Private Robison brings to this discussion are drawn from his own knowledge and experience in fitness. ‘C’est la soupe qui fait la soldat!’ - Napoleon While attributed to Napoleon, the axiom ‘an army …

Abstract From the loads carried by the armies of antiquity to today’s modern forces, this article explores and critically analyses soldier load carriage over two millennia. Historical misconceptions appearing in some military documents and literature regarding the context and weight of the soldier’s load are also discussed. The author looks at how, even with changes in logistic practices, technology and the very nature of warfare, the soldier is still a beast of burden and suggests that relying on improved …

Abstract Operation LAVARACK was an ambushing and reconnaissance-in-force operation conducted by the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment – New Zealand (Anzac) in Area of Operations (AO) Vincent in Phuoc Tuy Province from 30 May to 1 July 1969. During thirty- two days of continuous patrolling and ambushing, 6RAR-NZ defeated in battle two main force regiments and a district company, captured and destroyed hundreds of enemy bunkers, disrupted the Viet Cong administrative system in Phuoc Tuy Province …

Abstract This article outlines the massacre of the 18th Battalion at Gallipoli in August 1914 and argues that the soldiers of that unit were needlessly lost as a result of being sent unprepared into battle and that their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chapman was made a scapegoat for the debacle. The article refers to a number of eyewitness accounts of the battle and provides a rare glimpse into the behind the scenes interactions of those officers responsible for the operation. There was still …

Bardia: Myth, reality and the heirs of ANZAC   Written by: Craig Stockings, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009, ISBN: 1921410256, 496 Pages.   Abstract On 3 January 1941, Australian soldiers led an assault against the Italian colonial fortress town of Bardia. Two days later, after fifty-five hours of heavy fighting, the position fell to the Australians in a resounding victory. At a cost of 130 killed and 326 wounded, the Australians captured around 40,000 Italian prisoners and large quantities of arms and equipment. …

Calling Out the Troops: The Australian military and civil unrest: the legal and constitutional issues   Written by: Michael Head,  Federation Press, Sydney, 2009, ISBN: 9781862877092, 254pp     Abstract This review essay examines the arguments of a new book on the use of the ADF to deal with civil unrest within Australia. Several arguments are set out which point to a growing capacity and inclination on the part of governments to use the ADF for such purposes. Various factors that constrain such use are …

POWs of World War II in the Pacific     Written by: Gavan Daws, Scribe, Melbourne, 2008. ISBN: 978086519782, 462pp   Reviewed by: John McCarthy This book was first published in the United States to highly favourable reviews in 1994. Ten years later it was published in Australia. In 2008 it was reprinted. The New York Times Book Review considered it ‘may be the rawest, harshest book about the war’. The international edition of The Japan Times Weekly found it ‘sears the reader’s memory with unforgettable …

  Abstract Is Australia prepared to support the possibility of a negotiated solution to the current Afghan situation? A negotiated solution must be from a position of strength, and not as a last resort or from a position of fear. With the Soviet–Afghan war as a backdrop, the insurgencies in Oman and Aden provide the basis for debate on the merits of negotiation as a means to resolve insurgencies. Many of the Afghan population support dialogue with the Taliban. This underscores President Karzais desire to …

Abstract As the Australian Defence Force (ADF) embarks on an ambitious re-equipment program involving the procurement of multi-billion dollar platforms, enhancement of the logistics required to support this technology will also require careful consideration. Autonomic Logistics is a system that offers the ADF the opportunity to link the current Military Integrated Logistics Information System (MILIS) to real-time platform information through the employment of the Sense and Respond Logistics system. This is …

Abstract In 2002, John Nagl wrote an influential book titled Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife  that analysed counterinsurgency attempts in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. With this book in mind, this article examines some of the counterinsurgency actions taken by US General David Petraeus during his tenure in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. It provides a comparison of the elements that Nagl details as necessary for an organisation to learn or adapt to new and challenging environments. Introduction Most …