30 April 2025
Personnel of the 1st Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (1 Regt, RAA), performed well at the Best by Test annual artillery competition run by the US military in Hawaii.
Teams competed against their US counterparts, from March 30 to April 8, testing their technical and tactical proficiency, in addition to their gunnery and joint-fires knowledge.
They conducted a series of live-fire missions, including an air-assault pistol gun mission with CH-47s.
The competition culminated in a timed 14-kilometre ruck-march/run through Schofield Barracks.
Battery commander of the Australian team Major Liam Hurley said it was good to be tested against international peers.
“As part of our regimental priorities, we had a dedicated training program leading up to the event. I’m extremely proud of the effort the team put in during the lead-up and throughout the competition,” Major Hurley said.
He said the 1 Regt, RAA teams demonstrated a significantly superior all-round level of physical preparedness, technical proficiency and all-corps soldier skills.
“As 104 Battery were champion battery from 1 Regiment in 2024, the team was centred around this battery – however, a selection of high-performing members from other batteries were chosen to supplement the team,” Major Hurley said.
The Australians won three team awards, including an overall win by the M777A2 howitzer detachment, and second in both the joint-fires team and command post.
Australian team’s command post officer Lieutenant Henry Long said the Australians were used to having digital comms.
'A big success was building the resilience of the group; this was one of the best outcomes from this experience.'
“Coming into a degraded environment where we had to do it manually was a huge change in how we were operating,” Lieutenant Long said.
“We were tested in those environments … and ended up performing highest in emergency and degraded fire missions.
“A big success was building the resilience of the group; this was one of the best outcomes from this experience.”
Three Australians won individual awards: Bombardier Jesse Todhunter best M777 gunner; Gunner Oliver Dye best joint-fires team soldier; and Lieutenant Henry Long best command post operator (CPO).
“From a technical perspective, conducting an air assault and shooting an emergency fire mission live is a thing that every CPO dreams of, and being able to achieve that was extraordinary,” Lieutenant Long said.
Major Hurley said the Australian personnel had to familiarise themselves with the equipment they were required to use and to understand and implement significant changes to doctrine to comply with US competition and safety rules.
“This was an awesome experience for the gunners who don’t get these sorts of opportunities very often,” Major Hurley said.
“Firing live artillery and competing alongside our American partners in Hawaii is the sort of thing we all joined the Army to do.”
