“We are an army at war in a nation that feels as though it is blissfully at peace”
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In 2007, then Chief of Army Lieutenant General Peter Leahy gave a speech to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.
His speech started…
Being an Australian infantryman is a way of life – an identity, rather than a job. Once you have served in ‘the corps’ the sense of belonging lasts a lifetime. There is a unique bond among infantrymen which is intangible but nonetheless real.
Who better than the Chief of Army to outline the future for the Army’s largest corps and, although his thoughts were delivered some eight years ago, they are just as relevant today as the Australian Army consolidates after more than a decade of war, and looks to its future.
Lieutenant General Leahy went on…
Today I want to tell you about the direction that Army is heading in. I want to harness the leadership of the Infantry Corps, to seize the intellectual and ethical leadership of Army as it advances along our development axis. These are very challenging times. We are an army at war in a nation that feels as though it is blissfully at peace. It is very easy to be lulled into a false sense of comfort and security in these times. Yet even as we convene here today, Australian infantrymen are on active service in the Middle East, engaged in a very tough struggle in Iraq. That contrast between the intensity of conflict in Iraq and opulent contemporary Australia is illustrative of the complex world we now inhabit.
Read the full story, starting on page 38, in our recently archived CONTACT issue 17…
Find more than 30 other digitally archived back issues on our DIGITAL MAGAZINES page.
Or buy the paper version HERE.
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