A rock: Good training is the foundation of good soldiering.

Advanced soldier

By Cpl Damian Shovell

MARCH 21 marks a revolution in training delivered at Kapooka, with the first recruits undertaking the new Advanced Soldier Course, designed to better prepare soldiers to cope with the complexity and challenges of the modern battlefield.

The new training framework includes a revamped 45-day Recruit Course (common for both reserve and ARA soldiers), revised Recruit Instructor Development Course, and a 35-day Advanced Soldier Course (for ARA soldiers). Commandant ARTC Kapooka Col Andrew Nikolic believes the new training regime will deliver the foundation skills, knowledge, attitudes and robustness required by all soldiers within a hardened and networked Army.

“By the time they leave Kapooka, recruits on the advanced course will have done a broad range of training, including night-fighting equipment, navigation, weaponry, field craft, RATEL and first aid.

They will spend more time in the field at a new training area near Narranderra, achieve a higher degree of proficiency with their personal weapon, and significantly enhance their fitness and endurance,” Col Nikolic said.

“First aid skills will improve from ‘first responder’ to ‘emergency care’ standard.

Some soldier-skills previously taught in IET and elsewhere are being consolidated at Kapooka and the result will be soldiers marching-in to the combat force better prepared for challenges with which they are confronted.

“Perhaps most importantly, we’ll have an extra 35 days – to better socialise fulltime recruits into Army’s ethos of service to the nation and values of courage, initiative and teamwork.

This will be achieved through a series of theme weeks, a revised program of character cevelopment, a visit to the Australian War Memorial, and participation in activities like the High Wire Confidence Course.”

Col Nikolic said that while reserves would complete only the 45-day Recruit Course, in the future some high readiness reserve personnel might undertake the Advanced Soldier Course.

For reserve units wanting to bridge the training gap, TMPs in some of the key advanced competencies are available on the ARTC website, with a first aid TMP soon to follow.

He said the last major change to recruit training was in 1997 and the new training regime was influenced by analysis of lessons learned from recent operations, changes to soldier responsibilities over time, and the needs of Army’s COs.

“The increased spectrum of tasks our soldiers undertake is readily apparent when you consider the types of operations we’ve been involved in during the past 10-15 years.

CA’s conception of a hardened and networked Army is a response to the changing nature of warfare and the potentially complex environments in which we operate,” he said.