CPL Michael Groves (far left) from 3RAR Reconnaissance Platoon steers the clearance divers through full reconnaissance mode during the course, with (L-R) LSCD Cameron Raye, LSCD Colin Van Rechencea (partly obscured) and ABCD Darren Schuback.

A group of 30 clearance divers have taken to the Army way of life for a two-week course on operational survivability during beach reconnaissance tasks.

Called the Clearance Diver Infantry Minor Tactics Course, the 30 members of Australian Clearance Diving teams One and Four found themselves under fire at Singleton's School of Infantry, with this course comprising the first of three phases.

"The idea is to take them from the base level and teach them the individual skills they will require to survive on land - that being camouflage and concealment and individual movement plus weapons skills and so forth," said OIC CAPT Michael Bassingthwaite, the SO3 Operations at the School of Infantry.

"We get them working in groups of four to six in order to improve them if all goes to clag on land during a beach reconnaissance."

Clearance divers can sometimes be tasked to survey an area anywhere up to two kilometres inland, so land-based skills become essential for the task.

POCD Bruce Harvey from ACDT4 said the course was challenging and very informative. "The biggest differences were getting used to the Army's field craft and land navigation methods, but all picked it up very well," he said.

As for how the Army personnel handled teaching their Navy counterparts, CAPT Bassingthwaite said they were enthusiastic and very quick to learn.

"We treat them as professional soldiers. They come to us and we run it basically the same as a basic reconnaissance course. They are highly skilled Navy personnel so we treat them that way," he said.