Fine tuning: Sig Niko Thompson, 8 Sig Regt, adjusts the patching on a Radio Relay Assemblage during Balcombe Spirit.
AN intensive 16-day training course has boosted the capabilities of Reserve signallers.
More than 120 students and 29 instructors from around Australia were involved in the recent Balcombe Spirit course at the Defence Force School of Signals (DFSS) in Melbourne.
The training model includes 10 trade and promotion courses in which students are taught on new generation communications equipment by experienced ARA and Reserve instructors. The course material is condensed into short, concise modules, allowing soldiers to become trade qualified as quickly as possible.
Maj Denis MacFarlane, DFSS Senior Instructor and Reserve Liaison Officer, said the “Balcombe Spirit model is an untold training success story” for the Signals Corps. He said many reservists were now getting more opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills on operations and deployments, including some currently deployed on Operation Anode.
Balcombe Spirit has officially been running for 16 years, but the today’s course is a result of the 1998 RA Sigs Trade Structure Review in which 16 trade employment categories were reduced to five.
With this, training for the entire Signals Corps was standardised and on completion of their trade courses, all reservists achieve the same competencies as their ARA counterparts.
The name Balcombe Spirit stems from the fact that the DFSS was previously located at Balcombe on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
