RAA Liaison Letter 2025/2026 Edition 12 History Conference Address Wow the DCA address at the Chief of Army’s History Conference at the end of 2025 was so refreshing to hear, especially for someone like me who joined the Army in January 1979. I encourage all readers to visit ‘You Tube’ and listen to his address. It is 30 minutes long and when I started, I thought I will watch this for a few minutes. Before I knew it the half hour was over and I had just viewed an excellent speech that was in touch with warfighting and soldering more generally. I was so impressed that finally someone who was prepared to call it as it is!!!! ANZAC Centennial 18 Pounder Gun (ACG) The most lasting project to mark the contribution that the Royal Regiment made to World War One was the Centennial 18 Pounder Quick Firing Gun. This project was solely an initiative of the RAAHC and the project manager Colonel Ian Ahearn DSM, OAM (Retd), with no input from the serving Regiment. This project was more than a restoration of a gun simply to be placed in a museum as an exhibit alongside other guns to display the evolution of artillery. It was and still is, a living memorial to all those Gunners who served in the Great War and especially those who paid the supreme sacrifice. It was meticulously restored by volunteers, under the supervision of Fred Frecklington. in the years leading to 2015. Throughout the five centenary years it was paraded around Australia with an actual gun detachment and horses. In all it was shown at 42 events throughout NSW, VIC and QLD. Its ammunition limber contains an actual (restored) round from every battlefield that the Australians fought on the Western Front, I have the greatest respect for the work of those managing the Artillery and Armoured Museum at Puckapunyal and I appreciate that they have limited space and resources. That said, when I visited the museum in November last year, I was disappointed that there seemed to me that there was no understanding by those involved of the significance of the gun aside from it being yet another item by which to teach ‘equipment principles. In my view this ‘Memorial Gun’ should not be tucked away in the corner of an open hanger and exposed to the elements and weather but rather it should take centre stage along with the old Queens Banner in the main indoor display area. Personally I feel the current situation does not highlight the significance of the Gun and is disrespectful to the memory of those Gunners it represents. Personal Era Closes Whilst I am not big on change, I appreciate it will happen regardless …. not always for the best .. in my opinion. I will leave the observations and comments on the capability changes to others including the RCC and HOR. I simply would like to acknowledge that there are times when the baton must change or at least start to change. I was in a meeting / discussion which among others included the HOR, DHOR and RMG. I was interested to hear the views of the DHOR (who I observed had not joined the Army when I was transitioning to the Reserve) on communication and messaging. Whilst the Gunner message had not changed, I was impressed with his thoughts and understanding on how best to engage with the younger soldiers and officers. Personally I have never embraced social media and how to sell and spread the message. I feel an entire mindset change is necessary to appreciate how to engage with the younger generation of Gunners, whilst of course not losing the old and bold. My only observation about social media and the electronic correspondence more generally is that unlike paper it only has a short shelf life. There are paper documents and books that have been around for years, even centuries. They have survived wars, fires, floods etc. I am not so sure the ‘cloud’ will have the same longevity! As Gary Down and I move from the Reserve to our newly anointed honorary appointments in 2027 I have had reason on multiple occasions to reflect on the future of the HOR team. I learnt very early in my career that no one is indispensable regardless of appointment or rank. That said I believe there is a danger that in these demanding times things will slip through the cracks as they did with the closure of DARTY at the end of 1997. The DARTY oversight was addressed in 2001 with the creation of the HOR staff including a SO2 fulltime position. Unfortunately in these times of conflicting manpower demands these positions were easy
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