The Last Knight: A biography of General Sir Phillip Bennett AC, KBE, DSO ,  Written by: Robert Lowry,  Big Sky Publishing, Sydney, 2011,  ISBN 9780980814040, 416 pp Reviewed by: Nick Jans Every decade since Federation has thrown up a distinctive challenge for the Australian military institution. The main challenges in the first half of the twentieth century concerned the mobilisation of the services for conventional warfare operations overseas, and in the last decade or so the ADF again finds itself …

  Wau 1942-1943 ,  Written by: Phillip Bradley,  Australian Army Campaign Series No 6, Army History Unit, Canberra, 2010,  216 pp   Australia’s Palestine Campaign ,  Written by: Jean Bou,  Australian Army Campaign Series No 7, Army History Unit, Canberra, 2010,  180 pp   The Battle of Fromelles 1916 ,  Written by: Roger Lee,  Australian Army Campaign Series No 8, Army History Unit, Canberra, 2010, ' 256 pp Reviewed by: Ian van der Waag The Australian Army History Unit (AAHU) has set the yardstick by which …

  The Architect of Victory: The military career of Lieutenant-General Sir Frank Horton Berryman ,  Written by: Peter J Dean,  Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2011, ISBN 9780521766852, 406 pp   Armies of Empire: the 9th Australian and 50th British Divisions in Battle, 1939–1945 ,  Written by: Allan Converse,  Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2011,  ISBN 9780521194808, 368 pp Reviewed by: Captain Dayton McCarthy The shadow and influence of our pre-eminent military historian, C E W …

  From Storm to Freedom - America’s Long War with Iraq,  Written by: John R Ballard,  US Naval Institute, Annapolis, 2011,  ISBN 9781591140184, 352 pp,   Surging South of Baghdad - The Third Infantry Division and Task Force Marne in Iraq 2007–2008,  Written by: Dale Andrade,  US Army Center of Military History, Washington DC, 2010,  ISBN 9781780390253, 429 pp,   In the Gray Area - A Marine Advisor Team at War,  Writen by: Seth WB Folsom, US Naval Institute, Annapolis, 2010, ISBN 9781591142814, 256 pp, …

Listed below are a select group of books recently or soon to be published that either contribute to the discussions initiated in the articles in the Australian Army Journal  or on subjects that may be of interest in the near future. Some of these books may be reviewed in forthcoming editions of the Journal. David Horner, Australia’s Military History for Dummies , John Wiley & Sons, 2010, ISBN 9781742169835, 384 pp, RRP AU$45.00. War has had an enormous effect on the way Australians perceive themselves—as a …

Brigadier Phillip Jamieson Greville, CBE (1925 - 2011) Phil Greville was born in Queenscliff, the son of Staff Sergeant (later Colonel) S J Greville, OBE of the Australian Signals Corps. After schooling in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory—a consequence of the posting cycle even then—he graduated from one of the wartime courses at RMC Duntroon in December 1944 (although through illness he was not commissioned until January 1945). He served in New Guinea at the war’s end, with …

Abstract I was privileged to spend the last two years commanding the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment, and I loved every minute of it. Apart from the enjoyment of being a brigade soldier again, and the pleasure of regimental life, the exercise of command is an intellectually engaging pursuit. There was rarely much complexity in the decision-making, but with a wide sphere of influence, responsibility for a large number of people, and the need to nurture every aspect of the regiment for the long term, it was a …

Abstract Army recruits have traditionally entered the ARA straight from school with no previous military experience, a method known as ab initio entry. More recently, other avenues of entry including re-enlistment, reserve transfer, and overseas transfer have increasingly been used to augment ab initio entry. There are disadvantages in an overemphasis on non- ab initio avenues of entry, which, in our continued desire to fill vacancies and achieve recruiting targets, are often overlooked. This article …

Abstract This article argues that the Australian Defence Force Academy, by virtue of its original charter, access to resources and duration of its officer training course, offers a unique and unrealised suite of opportunities yet to be fully realised and harnessed toward ADF capability. The author offers practical suggestions for implementing a number of ready, command-led measures for directing the academy toward this end, thereby increasing graduates’ contributions to Defence capability across the …

Abstract Dissatisfied with its soldiers’ physical readiness for combat, the US Army has recently conducted a sweeping review of its physical training program. To a degree, the rise of innovative fitness programs such as CrossFit influenced this review. This article contends that the theory and practice of physical training in the Australian Army requires review. The CrossFit strength and conditioning program offers an innovative prism through which to identify opportunities for improvement. Specifically …