… Finding Asymmetry During Mobilisation in the Australian Army …

The Australian Army did not begin with the First AIF. On the contrary, the original force lived and died from March 1901 to December 1909. As responsibility for defence transferred from colonial to federal authorities, many problems of structure, administration and training came to the fore. The task of forging a these disparate structures into a national military organisation confronted a Federal Government already constrained by limited finances. This monograph shows how Australia's first army was …

Assessing Civilian Employer/Manager Support for Employees’ Part-time Military Service   … Drawing on Reserves …

In an era of increasing focus upon concepts such as hybrid warfare, insurgency and ‘low intensity conflict', asymmetry is often seen as a means employed by conventionally weak actors against traditional military powers. This presumption is challenged by the author in this paper. Unfortunately, most of the ADF's future operating concepts inadvertently give ground to Australia's enemies by—almost exclusively—addressing asymmetric warfare as a style of fighting in the unique realm of people who will do harm …

In this paper, Brigadier Field examines the role of the 9th Australian Division in Operation Cartwheel which involved the capture of the Japanese Base at Lae. He uses this division’s expeditionary operations and amphibious manoeuvre as the basis for analysis of the seven tenets of manoeuvre described in current Land Warfare Doctrine. The result highlights the challenges inherent to expeditionary operations and amphibious manoeuvre in Australia’s primary operating environment.  Brigadier Field also offers …

For military organisations, the aftermath of a war represents an opportunity to rest and refit, to think about the lessons so painfully learned and to preserve those of enduring value in education, training and doctrine. Arguably of even more importance, it is a time to reflect on and ask basic questions about the character of war: what has changed, what has remained the same, and what opportunities and challenges are suggested for the future evolution of the wars that are yet to come. Albert Palazzo’s …

For contemporary, Western military organisations doctrine serves as the basis of their members' intellectual unity and underpins their ability to identify and incorporate change. Doctrine is held in such high regard by military professionals that one senior officer termed it 'the heart of the army.' While widely accepted now, doctrine did not appear until the mid-nineteenth century. Its origins lie in the Prussian Army, whose brilliant theorist Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke employed it with devastating …

With the release of Force 2030, the 2009 Defence White Paper, the Australian Government has clearly set the ADF onto the path of a maritime strategy. With this development, Australia has joined many great states—from the Athenians to the Americans—who have pursued maritime strategies to their benefit. While the ADF does have a history of pursuing maritime strategy that arguably dates back to the landings at Gallipoli, most of its recent strategic thought has dealt with the requirements of Continental …

Periodically the US military is host to a robust, heated, and sometimes painful debate on the future character of war. By contrast, the most striking thing about debate within the Australian Army is its near total absence. The Army, it appears, is unable or unwilling to debate openly about either its own future or the future of war. For an organisation that prides itself on its professionalism, this is a damning conclusion. This LWSC Working Paper asks the question why this the case? In doing so, it …

The purpose of the concept series is to explore ideas about warfare, particularly those ideas that may improve how the ADF goes about it. The concept series therefore supports the functions of force design and force development. Each volume in the series will address a single bounded problem. by Colonel Chris Smith and Dr Albert Palazzo. The Australian Government intends to acquire land-based strike capabilities in the 2020s. While these sorts of capabilities are not new to many of the armies of the world, …