Is the Chief of Army just a figurehead?

In the famous words of Julius Sumner Miller: Why is This so?  

1st Armoured Regiment is the senior regiment and 2nd Cavalry Regiment is the second most senior regiment, of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC).  Why?

1 Armd Regt is now an experimentation unit and has nothing at all to do with the RAAC whose job it is to: “locate, identify, capture and destroy the enemy, by day or night, in combination with other arms”. 

Presumably, 2 Cav Regt is now the senior RAAC unit.

The Chief of Army needed a unit to evaluate emerging technologies, and, against the recommendation of the RAAC, decided on 1 Armd Regt.  This is the first time that a unit has been reassigned in this way, resulting in the complete loss of the tank-craft and skills built up over decades.  

The role of a tank regiment is to destroy the enemy, using fire and manoeuvre.  The ability to do this successfully requires not only individual crew skills in gunnery, driving and radio, but also high levels of tactical training.  BUT … why on earth would any commander want to decommission an operational tank regiment? 

There aren’t many plausible answers.  One scenario could be that he, i.e. the commander, could no longer put off the need for the new unit; added to which, he was under intense pressure to save money in the defence budget to pay for the AUKUS submarines.  

The advantage offered by stripping the tanks from 1 Armd Regt is that the unit is in Adelaide where Defence industry is establishing a ‘hub’ and costs would be saved by not having to relocate it to Townsville (as wanted by the Defence Strategic Review).  Furthermore, operating costs would be saved, even after having to transfer tank crews to 2 Cav Regt and increasing its strength to four squadrons (the net result being that a net tank squadron, a cavalry squadron and a battlegroup headquarters are removed from the Order of Battle.)

Having said this, who knows what his rationale was … honestly?  The CA has declined to comment.  The CDF and Minister’s staffs have provided meaningless responses. 

Interestingly, the outcome leaves 3 Brigade in Townsville (supposedly an armoured brigade) very much weakened in terms of combat power.  Surely no CA would allow this to happen … or was it a matter of him having no choice?  The CA gets his experimentation unit, but at the cost of significant armoured combat power and a very much weakened 3 Brigade. 

So, what exactly is going on?   Who is wielding the power in terms of Defence matters?  In the vernacular … who is calling the shots?  To all appearances, the CA is but a figurehead, doing as he’s told.  Some have argued that this stems from the labyrinthine nature of the lines of responsibility in the current Defence structure.

I’ve been told, for example, that the CA controls neither organisations nor personnel – these belong to the Joint Capability Group and Defence Personnel Group.  Both groups are accountable to the CDF (not the CA).  

The CA, you might say, managed to have a unit reassigned to evaluate emerging technologies.  BUT…. was this only permitted if Army’s manpower numbers were held steady, i.e. is it possible that the only way to raise such a unit, was to sacrifice another, i.e. 1 Armd Regt? 

How can the outcome be justified?  

A tank regiment with 75 years’ service to the nation is stripped of its tanks, made a non-combatant, and reassigned the task of managing new technologies.  The close crew bonds which make a tank regiment unique — simply discarded.  The years of training to ensure a first round hit every time, now worthless.  The endless practice which enabled tanks to move into an ambush and silently adopt sentry routine, no longer a matter of importance.  Efforts to ensure that all battle honours are emblazoned on the Standard and the dates on the Theatre Honour are correct, all now meaningless.  But who cares?  The CA certainly doesn’t. 

A unit that once marched to Radetzky is no more.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Cameron, MC, RAAC (Ret’d)

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FILE PHOTO (April 2025): Australian Army soldiers from 2nd Cavalry Regiment perform a counter attack demonstration during the T4 (D Squadron) Raising Ceremony at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, Queensland. Photo by Private essica Gray.

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