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Message from CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy
Many of you will have seen posters and banners titled “I’m an Australian Soldier”.
Some of you have also been given medallions in presentation cases, and you might be wondering what “I’m an Australian Soldier” is all about.
This Army feature aims to explain what I and other senior Army leaders are trying to achieve.
The “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative aims to cover the so-called “soft” side of the Hardened and Networked Army.
I believe we are good at the equipment and organisation components of force development, but we haven’t traditionally focused on developing our soldiers.
To continue to be successful during operational deployments in increasingly complex and uncertain environments we need to invest more in developing our people.
If you look at what other armies are doing to equip their soldiers for future operations you will notice how similar the technology is: ballistic helmets, body armour, better weapon sights, improved personal radios, knee pads, etc.
To use a motor racing analogy, it’s as though all soldiers are going to be driving the same cars. The best way to keep our advantage over other soldiers is to become “better drivers”.
That’s what the “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative is all about.
This initiative is built on nine core behaviours, outlined at right, which describe a soldier ready to meet any challenge on operations.
The nine core behaviours are aspirational in nature. I do not expect every soldier to be perfect in every behaviour, but we should all try to be as good as we can. This initiative requires collaboration and cooperation throughout Army.
Challenges must be identified and met, creativity must be encouraged and innovation supported. We must be honest enough to admit when change is required and courageous enough to try to do something new.
This will not be realised through a single program or shift in our approach to training, education and employment.
It will be a journey of many small steps and adjustments. The challenge is to ensure that each move we make takes us towards a common goal: developing our soldiers for the challenges of the future.
Message from RSM-A WO Kevin Woods
This initiative is about recognising the importance of our people and highlighting the values and behaviours that we want to see develop and grow. It is focused on our soldiers and in fact draws many of its main ideas from the soldiers of the Army.
The nine core behaviours are not new ideas. The Australian Army has a long tradition of things like courage, teamwork and initiative and our soldiers are world renowned for these traits.
Our soldiers are leaders, they are physically tough, they are mentally prepared, they are courageous and they show initiative – the “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative is about recognising this in our people. It also reflects the growing recognition that investment in people is essential for our continued success on the battlefield.
It is no longer enough for Army to buy new equipment and obtain extra capabilities – the operations we deploy on and the tasks we undertake require that not only our equipment but our people are the best they can be.
Soldiers are increasingly required to work in small groups, to respond to a complex and continually changing environment, and conduct themselves knowing that their individual actions can have a strategic impact. Australian soldiers must be prepared for these challenges – that is what being an Australian soldier is all about.
The “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative is an opportunity for people to provide ideas and contribute to their own development.
Soldiers have been, and will continue to be what makes our Army great – that is why it is vital that we invest in them.
Message from LCAust
Land Command continues to mature and adapt to meet the operational demands of today as the ADF’s principle provider of land capability. Our current experience confirms the Australian soldier still holds true to the hallmarks of flexibility and adaptability of our forebears.
Future conflict will continue to test the initiative, leadership skills and courage of the Australian soldier just as it tested those deployed to the Boer War at the time of Federation or those who landed at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915.
The experience of the Queensland Mounted Infantry at the Siege of Elands River Post in August 1900 gave some indication of the privations that would face those in the trenches of Gallipoli.
The extensive use of aircraft to deliver the first defeat of the Japanese on land at Kokoda and Milne Bay in July 1942 matured in less than 12 months into the stunningly successful divisional strength air-land operations of 1943 that secured the Markham Valley.
Similarly, the lessons learnt in fighting insurgents in Malaya by the RAR shaped the Australian approach to the war in Vietnam, and continues to inform our approach to insurgency today.
Evolutionary battle structures, new tactics, techniques and procedures, the adaptation of legacy equipment and the introduction of new equipment are issues common to every campaign and theatre that Australian soldiers have fought in.
Currently the Australian soldier is facing an adaptable enemy with the technological savvy to counter us more rapidly than any we have experienced in the past and the conviction of belief to carry the fight forward in the most arduous of circumstances.
The Australian soldier must think and act swiftly to survive.
He or she must be an expert in close combat, capable of facing any situation with courage and leading those around them when duty calls.
The demands of conflict do not lessen with time and the Australian Soldier must continue to prepare themselves for the rigours of their next deployment as soldiers have always done to defend Australia and its national interests.
The essence of the Australian professional soldier is forged from our past, tempered by the here and now, and honed for our future.
Remember that you wear the slouch hat in the same proud way as those who fought at Lone Pine.
You are part of a military team with deep roots in history and you are the Army’s future.
Message from SOCAust and RSM SOComd
The “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative highlights traits that are fundamental to all Special Operations Command personnel. These nine core behaviours provide an important foundation for the skills and principles that all members of SOComd need to exhibit if they are to excel on the modern battlefield.
Each of the nine core behaviours represents a different facet of what is required to become an effective soldier in today’s rigorous operational environment.
We also expect all members of SOComd to be soldier-diplomats who are not only experts in war-fighting and ruthless in battle, but also to act with integrity and to build trust in the culturally complex and often alien environments in which they find themselves.
SOComd has introduced a number of initiatives to develop the nine core behaviours as detailed in this project.
This includes further developing outstanding close quarter battle skills across the command in order to ensure that all our soldiers, irrespective of role, are at the highest standard they can be to ensure they have the advantage in combat.
By its very nature, SOComd is at the forefront of developing tactics, techniques and procedures that have been proven regularly during combat operations.
SOComd is determined to further develop our culture of rewarding initiative and encouraging personnel to display leadership in an environment that fosters professional and personal excellence.
This culture is fundamental in getting the most out of the Aussie soldier and is reinforced and exercised at all levels on a daily basis throughout the command.
We are proud that SOComd includes more than 2000 highly motivated personnel who have demonstrated that they are tough and professional servicemen and women who have contributed significantly to recent operations.
Message from Commander and RSM TC-A
- The Australian soldier has a proud record in combat and in peacekeeping. In a uniquely Australian way he has always been better than other soldiers: smarter, tougher, good-humoured, more resourceful; yet down-to-earth, compassionate, and able to adapt to any environment and relate to the peoples of any nation.
Deadly in combat and often a larrikin when not, some may describe the Australian soldier as ill-disciplined.
The RSM and I prefer to see this as good self-discipline: instinctively doing the right thing when the situation demands it.
Our current operations are more complex and ambiguous than ever before, and Army’s people come from more divergent backgrounds than ever before. CA’s “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative aims to take that diversity and mould it with the core behaviours needed to continue our proud operational record. Commanders don’t make operations successful: soldiers do.
Every soldier an expert in close combat, a leader, a team player, a continuous learner: these are the characteristics that have always done the nation proud, and for which TC-A must continue to train.
I am examining a range of ways to do this:
- Less traditional, rote training and more training in the context of the contemporary operational environment.
- All-corps training that is more job-relevant.
- Military unarmed combat training, team sports on courses and more physically and mentally challenging training (including adventurous training).
- More scenarios and quick decision exercises.
- More opportunities for flexible learning, including personal development, to suit the soldier rather than TC-A.
- More leadership and decision-making opportunities, from recruit training onwards.
Cultural and media awareness training.
The Nine Core Behaviours describe how we want every soldier and officer to be. By introducing better ways of fostering the Core Behaviours in training, we are laying the foundations on which LComd and SOComd can build.
Together we will continue to develop the unique culture that is the Army.
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Proud of their heritage: 1RAR’s Ptes Wade Turnock and Leigh Smith pause at the memorial dedicated to Sparrow Force – the 2/2nd and 2/4th Independent Companies – who fought the Japanese in East Timor during World War II.
Photo by PO Damian Pawlenko
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The Army’s nine core behaviours
CORE BEHAVIOUR 1 – Every soldier an expert in close combat
Close combat is that conducted with direct fire weapons against recognised individuals. Every soldier must have close-quarter combat skills to be successful on the modern battlefield. The complex battlefield has no fronts or flanks and no secure areas. All soldiers, regardless of their corps, need to be competent in small team tactics in urban terrain. All soldiers need to be expert in the use of personal weapons and in unarmed combat. While the level of expertise will vary from corps to corps, and unit to unit, all soldiers must be tactically proficient.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 2 – Every soldier a leader
The small team emphasis required in complex warfighting demands that even junior soldiers be prepared to step-up and lead – either to replace casualties, to contribute to collective assessments of appropriate actions or to exert a positive influence on peers and superiors. Every soldier must be given the opportunity to develop his or her own leadership style.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 3 – Every soldier
physically tough
Soldiers face great physical demands in all theatres of operations – even without the additional demands of close combat. Preparation for these demands requires a systematic approach to conditioning that continues to develop both physical strength and endurance. This cannot be achieved through organised physical training alone. Physical toughness requires that individuals commit themselves to continuous physical conditioning.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 4 – Every soldier mentally prepared
The intellectual and emotional demands of both operations and daily life require intellectual preparation and psychological endurance. To achieve their full potential, soldiers need to develop thinking and decision-making skills and mental toughness to complement their physical toughness.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 5 – Every soldier committed to continuous learning and self development
Mastery of complex warfighting requires that every soldier develop knowledge in a wide array of fields. Therefore, all soldiers must be provided with opportunities for self-improvement and self-education. They must also be supported in their endeavours and rewarded for their achievements.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 6 – Every soldier courageous
Courage is more than facing the physical dangers of battle; it is doing what is right and fair with a sense of duty and compassion. It is built on an ethos of serving the nation and service before self. Courage is a complex mix of personal attributes, confidence in the organisation and psychological conditioning.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 7 – Every soldier takes
the initiative
Initiative is the ability to achieve the mission by exploiting opportunity, often in the absence of orders and improvising to make the most of the equipment and resources available. Soldiers need to act independently within appropriate boundaries and require cognitive decision-making skills to support this independence.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 8 – Every soldier works
for the team
Teamwork is based on equality, tolerance and friendship which is essential to achieving the mission. Teamwork is the product of sound leadership at all levels, individual competence, trust and training. Soldiers need to be taught that they and others play different roles in team cohesion and effectiveness and that they need to tailor their behaviour accordingly. A soldier’s family is also critical to this behaviour as they shape the attitudes of the individual, community and government.
CORE BEHAVIOUR 9 – Every soldier demonstrates compassion
War among the people requires that soldiers be able to cross cultural divides and understand that their own perceptions and motivations are not universal. Soldiers must be able to shape their own actions in response to the perceptions of others. The exercise of compassion is supported by, but not reliant on, a range of attributes, including cultural awareness, enhanced language skills and a solid grounding in ethical decision making.
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You deserve a medallion The “I’m an Australian Soldier” medallion is one part of the awareness campaign for the “I’m an Australian Soldier” initiative.
The awareness campaign aims to promote a wider understanding of the initiative as well as reinforcing a feeling of pride in service in the Army.
Medallions have been presented to soldiers graduating from Kapooka since last September, and officer graduates from RMC since last December. It is planned to present medallions to everyone else in Army in November this year, coinciding with Remembrance Day.
The idea for the medallions originated in Training Command, and the concept was endorsed by the CA’s Senior Advisory Committee early in 2006. Since then the design has been finalised and a contract has been established for full-scale production of the medallions.
The front of the medallions feature the Australian Rising Sun badge, the symbol of the Army. The badge dates from 1902 and has been modified several times since then. The Rising Sun badge was worn with pride during both World Wars and is a symbol of Army’s esprit-de-corps – that spirit which gives a soldier purpose and the endurance to carry on when others might give up.
The front of the medallion also features Army’s core values of courage, initiative and teamwork.
The back of the medallions feature four common themes from answers given by soldiers to the question: “What makes you proud of being in the Australian Army?”
These four themes dominated the answers given during a survey conducted in 2005 among soldiers in the Army’s principal operational formation, 1 Div.
The first two themes from that survey relate to the role of soldiers as custodians of both the Anzac legend and the heritage of service, mateship and sacrifice of previous generations. The Army holds these in trust for the Australian nation.
The other themes related to service in securing Australia’s future and to helping the people of other countries.
We hope you will share the feeling of pride of all those with whom you serve.
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