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ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) inexorably connected Australia and New Zealand with these words: It was eighteen minutes past four (5:48am Afghanistan time) on the morning of Sunday, 25th April [1915], when the first boat grounded... the men leapt into the water, and the first of them had just reached the beach when fire was opened on them from the trenches on the foothills which rise immediately from the beach. 1 This ANZAC action occurred at Gallipoli, Turkey, which is approximately 4000 …

Abstract To communicate effectively, one must write clearly. To write clearly, one must think clearly. To succeed in battle, one also must communicate effectively and think clearly. So one would think Army would place a premium on clarity of expression. Yet there is abundant evidence in the pages of this Journal that the clarity of military writing is in sharp decline. Why this might be so, and what can be done about it, is the subject of this article. I have read every issue of the Australian Army Journal …

For my generation, there is one profession that captures our imagination more than any other: Entrepreneur. This is especially true of those leaving the military and going to business school. It would seem logical for the military to find ways to blend the best of entrepreneurial and combat cultures in ventures like a joint Harvard Business School/Naval War College degree program. Yet, in reality, the very word entrepreneur is met with blank stares by career service members—and in some cases, viewed as an …

Abstract The complexity of the future battlespace will consistently require more and more from our junior leaders. The more is our junior leader’s ability to apply their leadership and skills across all Five Lines of Operation and to transition very quickly between them as required by Adaptive Campaigning . This means they must fully commit to prevailing in one line while thinking about the next. More so than ever we must be aware of the need to shape and develop our people. Adaptive Campaigning - Future …

The Australian Army currently conducts individual training for soldiers, non-commissioned officers, warrant officers and officers in two forms: ‘All Corps Training’ and ‘Corps Specific Training’. As my authorities extend only over the All Corps Soldier and Officer Training Continuums, it is there that I will focus my encapsulation of that aspect of Army’s professional military education. The All Corps Soldier and Officer Training Continuums provide the foundation warfighting knowledge, skills and attitudes …

Abstract Strategic brinkmanship, the preparedness to take a country to the edge of war without having to ultimately do so, has a powerful historical basis in the United States and China and is on the rise between those nations in the Indo-Pacific. Although their competition is multifaceted, the most significant security risk for Australia appears likely to play out in the race for technologically sophisticated autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (A/AI), where risk-taking could confer a decisive …

The War of Ideas: Jihad Against Democracy   Written by: Walid Phares, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 9781403976390, 266 pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Jason Thomas The referees for the author of this book are many and varied. Phares is, according to the book sleeve, a world renowned expert on Islamic based terrorism and the Middle-East, with many television and governmental interviews. It is obvious upon reading the text that his knowledge of the subject is indeed impressive. Additionally, he makes …

The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police   Written by: Jonathan Richards, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2008, ISBN: 9780702236396, 320 pp. Reviewed by: Major Murray Stewart Considering the Australian frontier war raged from 1788 into the 1920s across Australia with the expanding settlement, and about 2000 white and 20,000 Aboriginals were killed as a direct result of armed clashes, it is surprising that it is only now starting to loom in Australian military consciousness. …

Extraordinary Justice: Military Tribunals in Historical and International Context   Written by: Peter Judson Richards, New York University Press, New York, 2007, ISBN: 9780814775912, 272 pp. Reviewed by: Wing Commander Terence O’Connor Against the background of the ongoing Guantanamo Bay controversy, the time is right for a book that presents a balanced analysis of the history and current utility of Military Tribunals and Military Commissions. Extraordinary Justice: Military Tribunals in Historical and …

Between Victor and Vanquished – ATIS Interrogators in the Pacific War   Written by: Arthur Page, Australian Military History Publications, Loftus, 2008, ISBN: 9780980475319, 525 pp. Reviewed by: Colonel Terry McCullagh Between Victor and Vanquished is Arthur Page’s own story of his remarkable wartime career. Arthur arrived in Australia at the age of 19, a refugee from a Japan gone mad with nationalistic fervour and rabid militarism. Arthur’s parents had escaped to Japan in 1920 from Russia, so this was the …