Skills

​​The skills that I believed to be important and required monthly training – were weapons, shooting, first aid and target indication. The skills that were required to develop junior leaders were section tactics, navigation, leadership and instruction. Then at section level the skills we needed to be effective were fitness, section tactics, fire control and casualty management. Fitness overlayed every facet – the ability for soldier to be effective, a leader to lead and a section to be cohesive and functional.

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Platoon Notebook 

Every digger was expected to know key military knowledge:

Unit History;

Weapon Ranges;

Enemy Weapon Ranges;

Calling in Mortar Fire;

Marksmanship principles;

First Aid; and

Basics of Infantry tactics.

So, we wrote a note book.

Of course, we stole the idea from an earlier book made by a One Platoon Commander in the early 80s, and then we improved it. Then we printed it, got our diggers to buy cheap mini photo albums and carry the Notebook everywhere. They were given a month to read and learn it.

In barracks during Physical Training, we questioned the diggers on weapons, or enemy weapons and any wrong answer 5 push ups and catch up with the platoon. Our diggers knew as much in the Notebook as many NCOs in the Unit knew.

In 1983, 1984 and 1985 our platoon comprised the Champion Soldier. It worked. Our diggers knew what we wanted them to know.

Our CSM got a copy – then printed them for everyone in the company, but the difference was that the other platoons were not invested in it as a resource. It worked for us.'

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Soldiers Fives

A Soldiers Five is an informal lesson on a military topic taking 5-10 minutes. Every NCO had to have about 4-5 Soldiers Fives up there sleeve in the event of a delay or change in training.

Usually preceded by the catch cry – Hurry Up and Wait.

The Platoon Notebook again was a great resource for adding layers of knowledge to lists or checklists in the Notebook. Or just a topic of interest – Nuclear Biological Chemical warfare, Machine Gun handling, or simply Strip and Assemble weapons blindfolded.

It could be performed in a barracks room, under the breezeway, or in the re-entrant.

A time filler that kept diggers motivated and learning.

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Initiative Exercises

In 1987 I was back in One Platoon after a gap year. I marched back into the platoon and had Simon Crafter as our boss and Brett O’Donnell as Platoon Sergeant.

The boss was really detailed and professional in barracks and the field. His version of a Soldiers Five was to organise with minimal notice Initiative exercises. Across breezeways, barracks, and up stairwells, diggers did exercises with mined areas that required teamwork and developed leadership. These are the sort of exercises that are conducted for Officer Selection to identify leadership traits.

They were always a great time filler, enjoyable and gave different diggers the chance to lead an exercise in a non pressured environment.

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Exercise Trained Soldier

The other activity that is often used was ETS. A series of activities conducted to verify core skills and assess the level of soldiering in sections and platoons. As a platoon, we probably did this less than most, as our morning PT sessions embodied the types of skills we would have practised in an ETS.

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Elevating standards

I mentioned earlier that I recommend you train like the Special Forces.

So, what do I mean by that? The first time we are taught weapons we are taught a full program of lessons, starting with Characteristics, Strip and Assemble, Weapon readiness, Cleaning … all done in formal 40 minute lessons. It’s how it is. It’s the same program we ran for the Steyr and Minimi in the Replacement Project with Jim and Steve.

And it is important to maintain those skills – for all section and platoon weapons. Because that is our bread and butter – seek out and close with the enemy. But at some stage we must elevate our expectations of what weapon handling is. We’ve all seen soldiers who have not handled weapons effectively or safely under pressure, stress, fatigue or at range practises. The same people who were OK on a ground sheet under the breezeway last week. That is not the standard.

Can your diggers strip and assemble all section weapons blindfolded? As in - at night in the dark? Can your diggers handle all weapons and perform Immediate Actions effectively during Fire and Movement? Can your diggers handle and manage their weapons wearing Gas Masks (yes, I know – respirators)? And can they do those things with both the Steyr and Minimi? What is your standard?

In our platoon, we added those skills into our Battle PT in the morning. We did Soldiers Fives on who could assemble their weapons blindfolded and had contests for the quickest with the SLR, M16 and Mag 58. We added Dry Firing into our training after PT, to get guys used to holding aiming and firing effectively from various positions.

When we were in Butterworth, we did a 25m range practise with bayonets attached to see the difference between firing with or without bayonets. As well as a Machine Gun practise from distances between 500 and 800m to practise the gun crews and get the diggers used to firing 2-3 round bursts and effectively engaging targets. When we were on standby for Fiji, we did Fire and Movement across obstacles with respirators.

We wanted skills that stood up under stress and fatigue.