Page 124 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep-Oct 2022

124 LAND WARFARE RFSG
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
from the Indigenous communities in the Group’s area of operations, the ADF is able to build and maintain essential links with the communities it may need to work with in the future.
These communities serve as a vital source of intelligence, with as much of the Group’s information coming from local relationships as from the latest high-tech surveillance gear.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EDUCATION
The RFSG contributes to the government’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative – which aims to deliver better health, educa- tion, and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – through the deployment of its pa- trols into the field, and with the training
dertake that training in the North, where they feel far more comfortable working with Indigenous instructors, and in an environment where they’re far more comfortable than perhaps some of the environments down south,” LTCOL Medlin said. “RTEC also runs other development courses for the Group, improving our soldiers’ numeracy, literacy, science and technology skills, and also delivering leader- ship training all designed to increase the capability of our soldiers from within the Group.”
All three units also conduct significant engagement with local communities, which in recent years include those in Borroloola and the Barkley region in the NT, Jigalong in WA and Wujal Wujal in QLD.
and employment of its personnel.
To support potential recruits who may be disadvantaged by the circumstances of their remoteness, such as insufficient schooling or fitness, Army has established three Indigenous Pathway Programs: the Army Indigenous Development Program (AIDP), the Indigenous Pre-Recruit Pro- gram (IPRP) and the RFSG Education
and Development Course (REDC).
The AIDP is a five-month program aimed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Is- lander people who do not meet the gener- al-entry standards for Army and need to
“THOUGH THE RFSG UNITS ARE NOT IDENTICAL, ONE THING THEY DO SHARE IS A RELIANCE ON LOCAL KNOWLEDGE TO PERFORM THEIR RECONNAISSANCE AND SURVEILLANCE”
“In addition to protecting Country and pro- viding our recon and surveillance capability, over the last two years, the Group has contrib- uted to keeping remote communities and the homes of the soldiers safe, through contributing to Covid management, biosecurity zones and the like, out on Country,” LTCOL Medlin said.
At the conclusion of his presentation at the ADM Summit, LTCOL Medlin called out to in- dustry on what he needs from them to keep his soldiers safer and better equipped on the ground.
“What I need out there in the remote parts of Australia, what I continue to need, is improved ability for us to increase the sophistication of our conduct of littoral and land-based recon-
develop education, aptitude, fitness and resilience skills. It is delivered from RFSG’s dedicated Training and Educa- tion Centre (RTEC), located 15 kilometres east of Darwin at Defence Establishment, Berrimah.
After their training and mentorship under the program, participants are ready for acceptance into recruit training at Kapooka.
“The important part of the AIDP is that we provide the opportunity for Indigenous members from the North to un-
naissance and surveillance,” he said. “I need to de-risk some of those operations where I send out single patrols of six patrol men and women out into the most inhospitable, remote parts of Australia. And I need to be able to increase my ability to deliver training to those Indigenous soldiers in those incredibly remote locations. I need the help of the people in the room now to be able to make those continued improvements so we can continue to deliver the capability to Australia.” ■
LEFT: A Private
of the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment (51 FNQR), helps construct an observation post during a Patrolman’s Course
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