Is the bias for Combat Corps hurting our Combat Brigades?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Within the three combat brigades there is a bias towards combat corps officers and SNCO’s when filling key appointments. This can be […]
Category: Tactics
When technology fails
Reading Time: 3 minutes Technology has become ubiquitous within the modern world, in particular with communication systems. There are few people in Australia today who do […]
Failure at Fromelles
Reading Time: 20 minutes Failure at Fromelles, 19-20 July 1916: Examining failures against the nine tactical considerations for the attack Fail: c. 1200, ‘be unsuccessful in […]
Finding Maths in the Military
Reading Time: 5 minutes As a maths-teacher-turned-infantry-officer, there are some parts of military planning that I’ve particularly enjoyed. For example, I’ve always been able to quickly […]
The Value of Sergeants to Lieutenants
Reading Time: 3 minutes You may have heard during Officer training to quickly build a relationship with your Sergeant (SGT), take in their perspective and respect […]
The Misunderstanding of Actions On
Reading Time: 3 minutes Actions on are designed to equip the recipients of orders to quickly react to a series of situations that may be encountered […]
Tempus Fugit: Using Time for Cognitive Advantage
Reading Time: 5 minutes The mystique surrounding the current buzzwords of information advantage and manoeuvre is unnecessary and counter-productive, it is simply the cognitive degradation of an opponent’s ability to act. Degrading the enemy’s cognitive ability is not the end, rather it is merely an enabler for military action – part of the plan, not the plan itself. Time flies, but it flies higher and faster for the confused and blindfolded.
Readiness Posture: “Move now, out”
Reading Time: 6 minutes A ‘notice to move’, or as it is known by its military acronym ‘NTM’, serves as a useful planning tool to manage expectations for both force elements and commanders. But in dynamic, unpredictable circumstances, a notice to move can sometimes be the source of confusion and friction between various levels of command. This needn’t be so.
Integrating with Combat Agencies in a National Emergency
Reading Time: 5 minutes This is the second article in a three-part series from the Australian Defence Force Liaison Officer (ADFLO) to the New South Wales Rural […]
Setting the Standard – Patrolling is not Combat Shooting!
Reading Time: 7 minutes Why can’t they see the enemy? As an Observer Trainer shadowing the lead section, I could see the enemy up ahead. As […]
Tactical Fighting System: Section Contact Narrative, Part 2
Reading Time: 19 minutes This narrative is designed to explore the difference that robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomy and augmented reality spatial computing could achieve with technologies […]
Tactical Fighting System: Section Contact Narrative, Part 1
Reading Time: 8 minutes This narrative is designed to explore the difference that robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomy and augmented reality spatial computing could achieve with technologies […]
Beyond The Multi-Domain Model
Reading Time: 6 minutes Western militaries are struggling to comprehend how to effectively manage the rapidly changing character of contemporary warfare because the multi-domain model used […]
Edinburgh Castle and the Principles of War
Reading Time: 4 minutes I was fortunate to be able to visit Edinburgh Castle recently and as I was walking around learning about the history of […]
Leonidas’ Legacy: A Matter of Missiles vs Manoeuvre
Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘Our archers are so numerous, said the envoy, that the flight of their arrows darkens the Sun. So much the better, replied King Leonidas, […]
Shock and Surprise at Slim River
Reading Time: 8 minutes Covered in sweat, and emerging from his Type 97 Medium Tank, Lieutenant Watanabe of the Imperial Japanese Army must have been surprised. […]
Closing the Short Learning Loop
Reading Time: 3 minutes Effective short learning loops support high readiness contingency forces, the development of new capabilities, the generation of forces for known operations and […]
A System of Systems – Revising the Sub-Unit Training Construct
Reading Time: 4 minutes We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. —Archilochus, Greek soldier and […]
Fighting the Hydra: Flexibility, Mission Command and the Australian Amphibious Force
Reading Time: 5 minutes For the last two years I have written ‘Letters from HAMEL’ for Grounded Curiosity. The idea was always to take my own […]
Shades of Grozny: Anti-Tank Drones and the Yom Kippur Effect
Reading Time: 8 minutes ‘Don’t shoot till you see the glint of their electro-optic sensors‘ Armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) designers employ a multilayered systems approach to […]
Military Experimentation Part II: Continuous War-Gaming
Reading Time: 5 minutes This article is the second in a two part series that seeks to generate discussion and debate on military experimentation. Part 2, […]
The Future is Now: A Path Forward in Manned-Unmanned Teaming
Reading Time: 5 minutes The future of Australian Army Aviation lies in its ability to successfully integrate manned and unmanned aerial vehicles in the tactical and […]
Musings on the prominence of Informational Effects in the Operational Art
Reading Time: 8 minutes In a time of increasing emphasis on the information domain, perhaps the words ‘See first, understand first, disseminate decisively’ offer a mantra […]
Directed Energy Weapons: A Defence Against Emerging Threats
Reading Time: 4 minutes The technological advantage currently enjoyed by western militaries will likely decline in the near future as the spread of information and goods […]
Deception, Diversion & Disguise (3D): Amphibious Operations Success in the Third Decade
Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘Be mysterious to the point of soundlessness, then be the director of your opponents fate’ An Australian Amphibious Task Group (ATG) assembled […]
When Radio Silence is Not Enough: Signature Suppression & the Fight for Surprise
Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘The next fight will be a battle of signatures. Assume everything we do can and will be observed. We are going to […]
What is a Warfighting Culture?
Reading Time: 5 minutes For the past 14 months I have been privileged to serve as an exchange officer with the United States Marine Corps. During […]
Army Air Defence: Forget the Missiles
Reading Time: 12 minutes Following decades of relative relegation resulting from uncontested airspace, growing trends have invigorated a renewed emphasis on Air Defence as an essential […]
Commander Combat Training Centre’s ‘Fast Five’
Reading Time: 3 minutes The following is based upon my experience over the last five years as a Commanding Officer and Commander of the Combat Training […]
Return to the Jungle: a Renaissance of Close Country Warfare
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Indo‐Pacific region is in a period of unprecedented transformation, accelerated by the shifting distribution of economic and political power[i]. The importance […]
OPFOR TEWTS – Understanding the Enemy’s Mind
Reading Time: 4 minutes Defeating the enemy’s will. That is the essence of manoeuvre warfare, that you defeat the enemy’s will to fight rather than his ability […]
Contemporary Strategic Effects of Army Attack Aviation
Reading Time: 4 minutes Army attack aviation is a niche capability possessed by a minority of global militaries. As a capability which had its genesis in […]
Close Infantry Assault
Reading Time: 4 minutes The key to Army’s success on our next battlefield will be ensuring we pay adequate attention now, and applying enough resources to […]
An Eye on the Sky – UAS as an Enduring Presence in Conflict and Training
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Australian Army’s use of drone footage in its recent video of 7 Brigade’s Combined Arms Training Activity (Ex Diamond Run) reinforces […]
Less is More: The Enabled Combat Brigade Headquarters
Reading Time: 11 minutes Editor’s Note: This is Grounded Curiosity’s 3rd most read article of all time. INTRODUCTION The Army must be a force capable of exerting ‘land […]
A Shared Responsibility – Growing our Understanding of Air Defence
Reading Time: 3 minutes Air Defence continues to grow as a capability and concept against the increasingly complex array of airborne threats. In Australia, this can […]
Aide Memoire – Advising and Mentoring Foreign Militaries
Reading Time: 11 minutes 60 tips to become a more effective advisor Advising and mentoring foreign militaries has been carried out by the Australian Defence Force […]
Death From Above – Armoured Mortar System
Reading Time: 4 minutes Death from above or a crude weapon for a crude war? The utility of the armoured mortar system in future warfare The future operating environment […]
A Joint Force – An Overview of Army’s Land Combat System
Reading Time: 19 minutes Keynote Address delivered on 26 October 2017 by Major General Fergus McLachlan AM, Forces Commander – Australian Army, to the Northern Australian Defence Summit, […]
Australian Tactical Design: Development and Use of Decisive Events
Reading Time: 21 minutes War is a science covered with shadows in whose obscurity one cannot move with an assured step. Routine and prejudice, the natural […]
Training The Way We Fight – Aide Memoire for RSOI&E
Reading Time: 7 minutes The Benefits of Incorporating Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, Integration and Extraction into the Training Environment INTRODUCTION Whether it is deploying on global […]
Enabling C2 Survivability – Deception, Technology and Redundancy
Reading Time: 3 minutes Survivability of communication systems has been called into sharp focus given technology advances and their use in contested theatres. It is here […]
Second Battle of El Alamein – The Lost Manoeuvrist Battle?
Reading Time: 13 minutes The Second Battle of El Alamein was the decisive battle of the North African campaign fought between the Allied 8th Army […]
Command and Leadership – Fit to Fight
Reading Time: 12 minutes “Australian Soldiers identify with their Battalion. It’s indeed their family: it leads, feeds, clothes, directs and exhausts them. Its veins are its […]
Transformation of War – Mortal Violence for Rational Ends
Reading Time: 5 minutes War is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means Carl von Clausewitz And the nature of the case […]
Letters from Talisman Sabre: The Four Currencies of War
Reading Time: 8 minutes Introduction: Ex TALISMAN SABRE and the Beast The Australian military is about to conduct its largest multi-national amphibious operation since the landing […]
Rethinking Force Structures: Delivering Tailored Forces
Reading Time: 4 minutes If our forces in action are to have utility, we need to organise our standing forces to reflect the change in paradigm […]
Leadership in Focus – Vehicle Craft – Blending Technology and Tactical Acumen
Reading Time: 3 minutes There is much discussion and idea exchange about the ASLAV replacement (CRV) and future Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV). These capabilities are a […]
Data Driven Decision Making – Embracing Technology to Clear the Fog
Reading Time: 3 minutes Imagine being able to predict enemy patrol and aerial surveillance routes with a high degree of certainty, or an increasing vehicle availability […]
Debating Doctrine – Reciprocity as an Enduring Feature of War
Reading Time: 3 minutes Debating doctrine Two years ago, Army began an intellectual pivot designed to review the lessons of the past 15 years, better understand the […]
Future Thinking – Attrition and the Next Air Defence Battle
Reading Time: 7 minutes The forces that we prepare today will be the forces that we take into the battle tomorrow. For the Air Defence capability, […]
Risky Business: Equipping Junior Leaders to Exploit Risk on the Battlefield
Reading Time: 7 minutes ‘In the art of war, lesser men are schemers, who avoid risk with mediocre results.’[i] Napoleon Bonaparte Introduction To an extent unmatched […]
Letters from HAMEL Part 3: The Operational Level of War. What is it Good For?
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Op HAMEL intervention is ending. With the Kamarian Armed Forces in retreat and the International Boundary restored, peace is steadily returning to East Cultania. Grateful Cultanians line the streets, thanking […]
Letters from HAMEL Part 2: Just War and Tactical Ethics in a Brutal World
Reading Time: 4 minutes Many of you who read this will be tacticians. Congratulations, and good luck. You’ve volunteered for one of the hardest, most illogical and […]
Letters from Hamel Part 1: The Duel, the Enemy and Psychological Mastery
Reading Time: 5 minutes I’ve just watched a Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drill on Ex HAMEL, and I’m struck by a thought. I had the same thought […]
How Large Land Force Exercises Hone a Small Army
Reading Time: 4 minutes This week the Australian Army commenced its annual Exercise Hamel in South Australia. A large scale land, air, sea, info-war and cyber […]
Redefining ‘Mountains of Steel’: The Utility of Disaggregated CSS in Contemporary Warfare
Reading Time: 12 minutes Army’s logisticians have operated under an obsolescent doctrine for decades that is out of touch with a rapidly accelerating technological arms race between […]
Time Wasted and Lessons Learnt
Reading Time: 10 minutes It takes considerable knowledge just to recognise the extent of your own ignorance. Thomas Sowell[1] Introduction The leadership, readiness, resilience, mental toughness […]
Lesson Report – Tale of Two Tarin Kowts – Adaptive Action and Critical Thinking
Reading Time: 8 minutes This vignette is from my deployments as a military engineer in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. I was an engineer with Australia’s Reconstruction Task […]
Lesson Report – Thinking on the Ground – Intellect, Strategic Perspective and Adaptability
Reading Time: 3 minutes This image was taken in Uruzgan Province during a patrol by Reconstruction Task Force personnel in 2008. The image depicts the thinking […]