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CALM has returned to Cultana, South Australia, after all major elements of 1 Bde were shaken out and dusted off in a series of significant exercises.
Exercise Southern Reach finished on May 17, three months after it began.
More than 1100 soldiers from the Darwin-based armoured brigade migrated south for the exercise.
Held 3000km from home, the push south was equally a major workout for the logistics train.
Chief of Staff 1 Bde Lt-Col Andrew Forbes said the move to Cultana, which the brigade does twice a year, was necessary to get outside the tropical wet season, which restricted the use of training areas in the north.
“We rely heavily on the Adelaide-to-Darwin rail link to avoid mass movements on the road, but essentially we do put a very large logistics footprint on the ground down there,” Lt-Col Forbes said.
“This effort was a bit bigger than usual this time, though, because of the mission-rehearsal exercise for OBG(W)3.
“At the end of the day, this MRE was one of the better run exercises I’ve seen.”
Exercise Southern Reach encompassed a series of exercises designed to enhance everything from basic individual and small-team skills to combined-arms effects on the battlefield.
“Every unit in the brigade was involved, working up from low-level operations and escalating to the mission-rehearsal exercise,” Lt-Col Forbes said.
“While units initially exercised by themselves to develop their own core skills, every unit in the brigade was involved in this activity, giving them the opportunity to reinforce and develop combined-arms techniques, tactics and procedures.
“For example, the artillery positioned themselves to observe the terminal effects that a tank unit can achieve and vice versa, before the two combined, adding infantry and other elements to maximise the combat power the brigade can generate on the battlefield.”
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