Members of 25/49 RQR try their sea legs during watermanship training at Shaolwater Bay during Exercise Milne Bay. Photo by WO2 Graeme McBean

Kiwi soldiers perform a traditional Haka welcome during the opening ceremony of Suman Warrior 2002.

Pte Steven McLenson, 25/49RQR moves up during Exercise Milne Bay. He has since transferred to the ARA after getting a taste for Army life with 25/49RQR.

Lt Shane McNamara, 25/49RQR, gets a soldier’s five on the Janus warfighting simulation from operator Diana Tufa in the Lower Command battle room in the Burnham Military Camp cinema.

Cpl Jeni Sandwell, 25/49RQR rubs noses with Kiwi culture after Cpl Junior Taimai finished his role during the official opening of Exercise Suman Warrior 2002 at Burnham Military Camp in New Zealands South Island. Photos by WO2 Graeme McBean

Cpl Danny Duncan, 25/49RQR, puts in the hard yards during lead-up activities on Suman Warrior 02 at Burnham Military Camp in New Zealand. Photo by WO2 Graeme McBean

By WO2 Graeme McBean
HARD work, good learning and having some fun along the way were the three key elements underscoring rebuilding 25/49RQR as a deployable and sustainable fighting force this year.

The integrated infantry battalion, headquartered in Enoggera and Toowoomba, lost a company of full-time soldiers following an SED review last year and planned for future development by consolidating individual skills.

CO 25/49RQR Lt-Col John Hutcheson planned to recruit at least 60 part-time soldiers in 2002 and 2003 and has allowed a further two years of training in which the battalion can be developed as a fully deployable infantry force by the end of 2004 and into 2005.

Lt-Col Hutcheson said the core of his training philosophy was to retain and develop soldiers through training that keeps them coming back.

“There are three key tenets of soldiering – you work hard, you learn from your mates and you play with commonsense – and that is what we are about,” he said.

“I think we now have a good critical mass of soldiers who attend exercises and we can build on collective skills from there.”

This year offered 25/49RQR a full and varied blend of the soldier’s life.

Early training weekends featured bush work at section-level, which was further developed during Exercise Milne Bay in July.

The exercise strengthened bread-and-butter skills such as shooting accuracy, weapon efficiency, collective performance of infantry skills along with communications expertise on the battefield.

25/49RQR next paraded its battalion colours in the heart of its joint home of Toowoomba for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Milne Bay.

Finally, an overseas deployment on Exercise Suman Warrior 2002 took more than 60 soldiers to Burnham Camp near Christchurch in New Zealand for an annual Five Power Arrangement CPX.

Lt-Col Hutcheson said Suman Warrior provided an excellent finish to a year in which the battalion had faced a lot of challenges and had come through on schedule and prepared for continuing development next year.

“We went across to New Zealand to exercise the planning and processes of the battalion headquarters and to learn from the other nationalities and how to co-operate with each other,” he said.

“But we also went there to enjoy ourselves – it was a great exercise and a great culmination point.”

Training demands

IT’S tough starting any new job but taking command of an infantry battalion has its own challenges.

CO 25/49RQR Lt-Col John Hutcheson has placed a priority on ensuring that reserve units, and 25/49RQR in particular, can deliver a deployable force to the Army. After a year in the job, the fat end of the learning curve has, as usual, turned up some unexpected insights into running an integrated reserve-regular infantry battalion.

“What I hadn’t expected was the amount of time that soldiers could devote to military training,” Lt-Col Hutcheson said.

“I had my eyes set on 35-to-50 days a year but what I found was that soldiers can only attend between 14-to-35 days a year.”

Lt-Col Hutcheson said a special emphasis then needed to be placed on certainty into the planning process for training.

He said a constantly changing training program only enhanced the problems of reservists with busy civilian lives being able to meet training demands. Even so, a larger allocation of regular soldiers meant that more time could be devoted to creating interesting training.

“We have a different level of skills base – particularly with the senior NCOs and officers in the battalion structure itself,” he said.

“I personally believe that if you are doing good training it tends to build the momentum to having more people turn up for longer periods.”
– WO2 Graeme McBean

Once were warriors

IT’S pretty much like any obstacle course that Cpl Danny Duncan has negotiated in his time with 25/49RQR – except that this one is located at Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch in New Zealand.

Cpl Duncan joined more than 60 Aussie soldiers for Exercise Suman Warrior 2002 at Burnham camp as part of the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), which finished earlier this month.

While an obstacle course may not be everyone’s ideal way of spending time on a first trip overseas, the Roma local and part-time soldier said it sure beat flipping burgers or pushing trolleys for part-time employment.

“It’s just a great time,” he said.

“There’s a lot of traveling time and hard work with the Army Reserve so it is a great opportunity when you get to go overseas.

“Most people find it difficult to go overseas on longer deployments but with Suman Warrior it was only two weeks.”

The main focus of the two-week deployment was to test the functional and procedural skills of each national headquarters rather than the actual standard of military skills of the soldier on the ground.

For that reason, the rifle companies stayed at home while headquarters staff conducted a virtual war with the Janus computer system.

Additionally, Suman Warrior also demonstrated CO 25/49RQR Lt-Col John Hutcheson’s central message to the wider Army and Defence community – that a largely reserve unit can provide a deployable and sustainable force to meet Army objectives.

But this goal can only be achieved by the input of the significant number of regular soldiers that are integrated into the battalion to provide current expertise, leadership and training to meet operational standards for deployment.

To this end, Lt-Col Hutcheson’s core philosophy is to recruit and retain soldiers through training that is realistic, challenging, rewarding and focuses on growing the individual to be the best they can be.

A long, rich connection between the Darling Downs and military service is alive and well in Christchurch.

Lt Shane McNamara said both his grandfather’s service in WW2 and his father’s service in Vietnam were powerful motivators for his own service.

Lt McNamara works as an acquisition engineer with DMO in his civilian life but joined the Army Reserve while studying mechanical engineering.

His role on Suman Warrior is 2IC A COY and he will be involved with making sure that the company, normally comprising about 100 soldiers, keeps abreast of the war as it flows from the higher headquarters.

“It teaches you management and leadership skills and, more importantly, you get to practice those skills in the real world,” he said.

Mind you, it is a far cry from the real world of soldiering on the ground. Each of the nation’s lower headquarters is situated in the Burnham Military Camp cinema rather than the chilly late September Kiwi spring and the mountainous South Island terrain that looms in the distance wherever you go.

The Janus simulation terminals spread around each wall of the cinema in a multinational hive of military activity.
– WO2 Graeme McBean

.