Abstract This article describes our approach to developing and employing concepts to guide innovation efforts and investment for future dismounted combat teams, including a discussion of two possible future concepts. Our approach is underpinned by the philosophy that innovation should be guided by clear, conceptual aiming points in order to achieve step change in combined arms capability. We suggest this requires concepts to provide sufficient detail for a tactical setting, link to strategic guidance, and …

Abstract The informal, part-time military formations of the Australian Militia between 1930 and 1945 are an understudied aspect of military history. Part of the Australian Military Forces (AMF) (the predecessor to the Australian Army), the Militia never achieved its key founding objective: to be a sufficient force for defending territorial Australia. Official and academic accounts of the organisation are largely critical, depicting it as a victim of poor government planning and cost-cutting. However, these …

Vietnam Vanguard: The 5 th Battalion’s Approach to Counter-Insurgency, 1966   Edited by: Ron Boxall and Robert O’Neill Australian National University Press, 2020, ISBN 9781760463328, 430pp Reviewed by: Major Andrew Maher Vietnam Vanguard is an important work in the documentation of experience, lessons and perspectives from Australia’s experience in the Vietnam War. The book uses a collection of personal narratives, woven together by the editors to provide insight into life in an infantry battalion on …

A Research Agenda for Military Geographies   Edited by: Rachel Woodward Elgar, 2019, ISBN 9781786438867, 215pp Reviewed by: Major Cate Carter Military geography uses tools and techniques of the discipline of geography to solve military problems. In essence, it studies military operations through a geographic lens. As the editor of this volume, herself a leader in military geography, tells us, ‘military geographies invite study at scales from the global and international, through the national and regional, …

No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us   Written by: Rachel Louise Snyder Scribe, Melbourne, 2020, ISBN 9781925849820, viii+307pp Reviewed by: Chaplain Darren Cronshaw In the face of the reality and suffering of family and domestic violence (FDV), over the last decade Defence has increased support and referral services for those affected, and developed focused training for all members. As a chaplain, I am eager to understand the complex dynamics that trigger or allow FDV …

On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military, Citizenry and Community   Written by: Pauline Shanks Kaurin Naval Institute Press, 2020, ISBN 9781682474914, 274pp. Reviewed by: Chaplain Nikki Coleman, PhD One of the central values of the military is that soldiers, sailors, airmen and women will obey all legal orders. Without obedience, it is argued, there will be chaos on the battlefield, and the good order and discipline of the military will be eroded to the point where it can no longer function. …

This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War against Reality   Written by: Peter Pomerantsev Faber, 2019, ISBN: 9780571338634, 300pp Reviewed by: Major Lee Hayward This is Not Propaganda is by no means an easy read. This is not because it is not well written but because Pomerantsev takes the reader on a difficult and confronting journey through a subject that has not really established itself in the Western consciousness. The subject is information warfare, and how effectively authoritarian figures are …

There is a difference between requiring an individual or a team to think creatively about a problem and allowing an individual or team to use creativity to solve a problem. The former is as useful as telling someone to innovate without providing them with a licence to fail; the latter enables them to apply the resources available in novel ways to achieve the mission. Creativity is a process, not an output. The recent reforms in joint professional military education (JPME), begun under the Ryan Review in …

If you were to ask any soldier if the Australian Army should lower its standards in order to allow more women to join, you would receive a resounding ‘no’. From recruit to RSM, although diplomacy may vary, no soldier would be willing to argue that the standards developed to reflect job requirements within the Army should be reduced. As biscuit company Arnott’s says, ‘there is no substitute for quality’. However, in 2012, Defence senior leadership made a unified statement of cultural change through the …

Abstract In November 2020, Rifle Company Butterworth (RCB) will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first infantry company deployment to Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth. This longstanding deployment has contributed to the training and development of nearly 25,000 soldiers who have gained the essential skills required to operate in complex jungle environments. While RCB’s 50th anniversary is a conspicuous achievement, it is part of a larger story of the Army’s involvement in Malaya and then …