RAA Liaison Letter 2024 - 2025 Edition

RAA Liaison Letter – 2024 / 2025 Edition 58 navigation, digging pits, putting up wire, patrolling and air sentry duties”. The result: “non-arms corps units are finding it necessary to expend valuable time teaching foundational skills rather than on collective training, inhibiting the value troops draw from exercises”. Major General Smith’s letter urged commanders to shift their priorities and focus on improving the physical, psychological and social conditioning (or group cohesion) of troops, representing a broader philosophical change in the army’s approach to training – to ensure the army can meet the nation’s “changing situation”. A spokesman confirmed General Smith wrote the letter to all army commanders in December, saying it was “intended to reflect on the force’s posture changes and strategic circumstances as outlined in the 2024 National Defence Strategy”. But one commander, speaking under anonymity, suggests the letter speaks to his own deeper concerns about troop standards claiming some were simply “not up to scratch”. They claim cadets lacked the mental fortitude expected of a soldier, being unable to take on criticism or withstand “being yelled at”. The letter also flagged remote training as a problem, being at odds with the army’s philosophical shift, stating in-person experiences were preferable as they built “camaraderie, resilience, and readiness in ways that remote learning cannot replicate”. General Smith emphasised the need to change immediately, explaining “the unusual step” of issuing the letter to all commanders rather than following a standard top-down process, “because the requirement to adapt is urgent”. “Army Headquarters is leading the development of doctrine for the essential physical, psychological, and social conditioning we seek to instil across the force,” the letter says. “That work is important; however, action cannot wait for top-down directives. “In the interim, I encourage you to take immediate steps to reflect this change in the bias of our training to the extent you are able and to the extent resources and staffing allows. “Time is the critical resource for conditioning our soldiers and officers. Exploit it fully.” Defence would not clarify why the letter reiterated a sense of urgency but said there have already been changes within the army over the last six months since the letter was sent – including an increase in the number of weeks troops spent going through basic training. Duntroon cutting officer training time by a third Contact Portal 29/01/2024 - Posted by Brian Hartigan ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE–DUNTROON WILL TRIAL A NEW APPROACH TO OFFICER TRAINING THIS YEAR, WHICH WILL SHORTEN THE CURRENT 18-MONTH PROGRAM TO 12 MONTHS. Commandant Land Combat College Brigadier Jason Groat said trainees would receive the same training in a shorter format, meet the same graduation standards and qualifications, and graduate as lieutenants on completion. “The 12-month OCP, to be trialled from January 2024 to December 2025, marks a significant development in the Army’s commitment to deliver an integrated force that meets the requirement to be simple, scalable and agile,” Brigadier Goat said. “We will monitor and evaluate trainees throughout the program and, if adjustments need to be made, we will make them.” Brigadier Goat said the trial officer course would comprise six modules that include practical applications of leadership, command, foundation warfighting and military planning and was designed to enable the same initial foundation and leadership skills for all officers. Commanding officer RMC – Duntroon Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Hickey said, “as we re-shape and contemporise our training approach to be more effective, the training will retain the same core performance elements and critical skills that are the mainstay of Army’s ab-initio officer education pathway”. “The trial aims to remove duplication by incorporating technology and new methods of instruction that are sources of efficiency and value for training systems and the receiving units”, Lieutenant-Colonel Hickey said. “The program presents an opportunity to increase the speed-to-capability for generalist officers. ADFA cadets will still do the same training, with delivery broken into modules to allow them to join their RMC class to complete their usual 12 months. On 1 July 2023, Royal Military College- Australia and Combined Arms Training Centre (CATC) aligned to become Land Combat College (LCC) with headquarters in both Canberra and Puckapunyal. LCC is now the single training authority to deliver foundational training and combat capabilities for land specialists.