Freshly qualified rifleman Private Hudson Sanders couldn’t believe how much he’d changed in the 17 weeks it took the Australian Army’s School of Infantry to turn him from soldier to rifleman.

“I look at myself from week one when I started here, going from more of a held back, scared, unknown environment; it reflected pretty negatively on me,” he said.

“My confidence, belief in myself and my own ability has improved tenfold from what it was, and that's just what the course does for you.”

Trainees arrive from Kapooka having completed their initial military training to undertake the rifleman course at the School’s Depot Company.

It starts with an individual skills phase with navigation, communications and combatives while qualifying on weapons from pistols to the Mag58 general service machine gun.

The course also includes a high-explosives week – a favourite of many trainees – which covers grenades, recoilless rifles and claymores.

Training is designed to prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat and demands of service in a combined arms force, according to Depot Company 2 Division officer instructing Lieutenant Tyson Hancox.

“This is done through testing and enhancing their physical resilience, working and fighting in small teams to generate safe, lethal and effective infantry soldiers,” Lieutenant Hancox said.

“A good infantry soldier displays Defence values, thrives in a small-team environment, is willing to learn and perfect their craft, and possesses high levels of moral, physical and mental resilience.”

'My confidence, belief in myself and my own ability has improved tenfold from what it was, and that's just what the course does for you.'

Trainees next move into the operations phase to learn the bread and butter of a rifleman – patrolling, constructing and operating in defensive positions, live-fire manoeuvre, and urban and close-quarters combat shooting.

They also learn “the why” behind seemingly endless days of patrolling, digging and combat drills.

“We want to create thinking soldiers, able to apply everything we have taught them and understand why we’re teaching them,” Lieutenant Hancox said.

“It makes everyone's life easier if, even at the lowest level, soldiers are asking, ‘What needs to happen next? What can I start doing?’, rather than just facing out on the gun waiting to be told.”

The course crescendos with Exercise HardCorps – a final assessment capturing all facets of training, demanding their application under fatigue and uncertainty.

But after the test, trainees receive their Skippy Badge – the mark of a qualified rifleman – and a posting to a battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.

For Private Sanders, his posting to 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), has a deeper connection.

“My father served for six years at 1RAR. It's really exciting not only for me but also my family, which makes it even more important to me to be serving at the Big Blue One,” he said.

He was looking forward to exercises, travel and hard work at his new battalion. The new experiences were his reason to join.

“The only way you get them is by being in a battalion and the only way you get to a battalion is putting in to get there,” Private Sanders said.