Page 116 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2018

LAND FORCES
TRAINING
Putting the ‘E’ into
Special Operations training
ALTHOUGH it has a long and proud his- members from off the street (in partner- tory of providing training for the ADF’s ship with Defence Recruiting), through to
LEFT and RIGHT: Australian Army soldiers from Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) and the wider ADF witness the transition of the Special Forces Training Centre (SFTC) into the Special Operations Training and Education Centre (SOTEC) in a small ceremony held at Holsworthy.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
Based at Holsworthy, the Special Operations Training and Education Centre (SOTEC) is one
of Army’s newest units, having been established in its current iteration on September 1 2017.
special forces, via its forebears, the clue to what stands the unit out from past organ- isations lies in its name. The ‘E’ signifies that SOTEC is more than just a training centre for teaching the warfighting skills required for the ADF’s Commando and Special Air Service Regiments – it is a holistic training and education establish- ment which covers the whole of career training and education required by mem- bers of Army’s Special Operations Com- mand (SOCOMD).
SOTEC is responsible for everything from recruiting potential Special Forces
master’s degree courses run in conjunction with the University of NSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).
Little is known of the organisation out- side Army or perhaps the wider ADF due to the inherently secretive nature of the special operations world, but ADM recent- ly spoke with SOTEC’s Commandant, to find out more.
SOTEC Genesis
SOTEC was formed from the Special Forces Training Centre (SFTC), which in
110 | September 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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