Sappers from 1 Topo, battle out the volleyball final with 21 Const Sqn Photo by Cpl D Chapman, 21 Const Sqn

Control welcomed

By WO2 Graham McBean
FUN, festivities and a dash of training hailed in the Army's newest unit, as 6ESR officially celebrated its presence within Land Command and the order of battle at its Gallipoli Barracks home in Brisbane.

The new regimental headquarters provides command and control for Sydney-based 17 Const Sqn and the Brisbane-based 21 Const Sqn and 1 Topo Svy Sqn while also providing engineer staff support to the Deployed Joint Force Headquarters.

6ESR's first CO, Lt-Col Neil Greet, said the regiment was raised officially on July 1 this year, but unit commitments to AACAP and DCP meant celebrations had been postponed.

"Since 1999 and the INTERFET experience it was found that engineers needed bolstering in the command and control area," he said.

"The new headquarters makes engineers more robust to respond operationally and gives the corps more capacity to respond in force-level operations in the region with engineer support."

Week-long celebrations included inter-squadron sport, a regimental dinner and a ceremonial muster parade reviewed by the Head of Strategic Operations Division, Maj-Gen Ken Gillespie, where the RAE Corps Banner was received and paraded with the new regiment.

Lt-Col Greet said managing the disparate roles of construction squadrons and the topographical survey tasks presented a lot of challenges.

"The construction squadrons have been very busy over the last decade with AACAP and DCP work in PNG, Tonga and the South West Pacific."

He said the New Year would bring a full complement of 17 soldiers to the new headquarters to meet the challenge of managing the many tasks of the new and varied command.

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