A phone rings at the Pentagon. A journalist identifies himself and states, “I just read a blog that says Soldiers use dogs for target practice in Iraq. There’s a video clip showing it, too. What’s the Army’s position?” How should the spokesperson respond? Military web logs, known as blogs or milblogs, are small websites that Soldiers maintain as informal journals for personal comments, images, and links to other websites. Blogs emerged concurrently with the War on Terrorism and have become an increasingly …

Abstract This paper discusses the impact of the peaking and then decline in world oil production— commonly known as Peak Oil—on the Australian Army from a Raise, Train and Sustain perspective. Peak Oil is described as the implications of Peak Oil at a global and national level. The likely impacts of Peak Oil on the Australian Army are then analysed against four of the inputs to military capability, being personnel, equipment, training and doctrine. The paper suggests a number of actions that can be taken …

Abstract As the Australian Defence Force overseas deployments grow in size and tempo, Australian strategists and planners must consider the growing number of organisations our troops will work alongside, and in concert with. This article explores the relationship between Australia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an issue that is particularly pertinent considering current commitments in Afghanistan. The end of the Cold War came quickly, and unexpectedly. Talk of ‘peace dividends’ on a …

Listed below is a selection from the review copies that have arrived at the Australian Army Journal.  Some of these books will feature as book reviews in future editions. Are you interested in writing a book review for the Australian Army Journal?.  Please contact the AAJ  at army.journal@defence.gov.au A Thousand Miles of Battles: The Saga of the Australian Light Horse ,  Ian Jones, ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee, ISBN 9870975712382, 224pp.   After Eden: The Evolution of Human Domination ,  Kirkpatrick …

A purely academic study of war by itself is today unrewarding. It is important that the future Commander or Staff Officer should understand the inter-action of political, geographic, economic and military factors in the various parts of the world and that our military studies be set in these realistic settings. - Major-General M AH Butler CB, CBE, DSO, MC (Commandant, Staff College, Camberly) 1 March 1967 Introduction On 8 March 1966 the Prime Minister of Australia announced that an Australian task force …

Abstract The purpose of this article is to explain some of the various types of incentives that can be awarded within sustainment contracts and that will benefit both the contractor and the client—in this case, the Australian Defence Force (ADF). This article describes a variety of financial and non-financial incentives including those currently employed by the ADF in its Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contracts. Introduction A number of Australian Defence Force (ADF) outsourced logistics contracts have …

Abstract Until the early 1990s Chinese participation in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations was rather insignificant. Since the mid-1990s, however, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has steadily increased its commitment to UN missions and moved from a position of marginality to become one of the main contributors to such missions. China’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations and its growing engagement with the UN in general has become an important component of the PRC’s diplomacy and its …

Abstract The debate about the importance of the United States, and whether it is the leader in a unipolar global order, continues to provoke leading thinkers in the world of International Relations. This article explores some of the intellectual positions that have led to current thinking about the United States and its place in an asymmetrical world. There are few things to stir the intellectual emotions during our time as the United States role in the world. There is wide disagreement about the merit and …

Abstract This article outlines the current Australian Army Aviation (AAAvn) General Service Officer (GSO) career profile and discusses proposed modifications to career requirements that the author recommends for the AAAvn GSO to function effectively in the combined arms environment. Introduction The introduction of the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance helicopter (ARH) considerably expands the role of Australian Army Aviation (AAAvn) and increases the complexities and professional challenges confronting officers …

Abstract This article examines the need for a National Security Strategy in Australia. The author looks at what is meant by the term, discusses what a National Security Strategy should achieve, and outlines how such a strategy should come about in Australia. The debate over the need for, and shape of, a National Security Strategy (NSS) is analogous to the debate over an Australian Republic. The post-mortem conducted by the Australian Republican Movement after the 1999 referendum indicated that ‘the …