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Letters to the Editor

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Letters to the Editor 

Tanks on the Rebound: New Hope for 1st Armoured Regiment?

17/06/202617/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 168 Views 0 Comments

Lieutenant General Susan Coyle AM, CSC, DSM will soon be Chief of Army … will she resurrect 1 Armd Regt? The

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Letters to the Editor 

The loss of 1st Armoured Regiment: What’s it mean to the RAAC?

15/06/202615/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 273 Views 0 Comments

The role of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps is to “locate, identify, capture, and destroy the enemy using fire, manoeuvre,

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Letters to the Editor 

AUKUS sells sovereignty through foreign capacity

15/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 275 Views 0 Comments

Dear Editor, AUKUS is being sold as sovereign capability, but sovereignty is not created by a slogan. Collins was difficult,

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Letters to the Editor 

AUKUS just met Britain’s budget reality

13/06/202614/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 308 Views 0 Comments

Dear Editor, John Healey’s resignation as UK Defence Secretary should give Australians pause. AUKUS is often discussed in Canberra as

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An M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank fires on Exercise Diamond Run 2017. Photo by Captain Anna-Lise Brink.
Letters to the Editor 

The future of tanks: Have they been made redundant by drones?

11/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 298 Views 2 Comments

“Ukraine and Russia deploy drones for every tactical purpose imaginable: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, artillery spotting, electronic warfare targeting, psychological operations, logistics

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An Australian Army Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 main battle tank during a live-fire serial as part of a qualification course for Royal Australian Armoured Corps soldiers at Puckapunyal Military Area, Victoria. Photo by Corporal Jacob Joseph.
Letters to the Editor 

1st Armoured Regiment: Will it ever be a tank regiment again?

09/06/202609/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 356 Views 3 Comments

Will Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, the first woman to be Chief of Army, be the saviour of the Royal Australian Armoured

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Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) members enter a training compound at Multi National Base Tarin Kowt (MNBTK). Photo by Corporal Chris Moore.
Letters to the Editor 

AWM will henceforth credit ADF photographers

05/06/202605/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 353 Views 0 Comments Australian War Memorial, AWM

G’Day Brian, Love the work you do at CONTACT Magazine, keeping the stories of our serving personnel authentic.    We’ve had

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Australian Army M1A1 Abrams tank and Australian Army personnel from the Amphibious Force and Indonesian National Armed Forces marines move inland from Banongan Beach, East Java, during Exercise Keris Woomera 2024. Photo by Andrew Green.
Letters to the Editor 

Close fire support for infantry: A thing of the past?

04/06/202604/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 266 Views 0 Comments

“Our attack was timed to start at 12.30am on 23 July 1916.  Three shrill blasts on a whistle, was the

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Soldiers from 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, watch on as an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank fires in support during Exercise Diamond Run 2017. Photo by Captain Anna-Lise Brink.
Letters to the Editor 

Does armour have limited value on modern battlefields?

03/06/202603/06/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 254 Views 2 Comments

Dear Editor, Many eminent writers have expressed their individual and collective concerns about Army decisions concerning significant change to Armoured

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Letters to the Editor 

2026 Veterans’ Affairs Budget deserves much closer scrutiny than it’s getting

27/05/202627/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 281 Views 0 Comments

After the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, veterans were promised structural reform. Instead, the Budget now introduces a

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An Australian Army M1A1 Abrams tank fires during Exercise Jericho Dawn 2016. Photo by Sergeant Pete Gammie
Letters to the Editor 

Why did 1st Armoured Regiment have to be stripped of its tanks?

27/05/202627/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 289 Views 0 Comments

Why was 1 Armd Regt nominated to become the Army’s experimentation unit, instead of any other unit?   Why not,

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Letters to the Editor 

Trust: Is this Army’s weakness?

08/05/202608/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 237 Views 0 Comments

Trust … the result of a working environment in which human values are paramount: the dignity of the individual is

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Australian Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, conduct a trench clearance supported by Abrams main battle tanks from 2nd Cavalry Regiment, as part of Exercise Brolga Sprint at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland. Photo by Private Jessica Gray.
Letters to the Editor 

How long was 1 Armd Regt’s experimentation unit in the planning?

04/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 321 Views 0 Comments

The Defence Connect headline on 26 September 2023 was “Rumours are swirling that the 7th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR)

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Australian Army soldiers from 2nd Cavalry Regiment demonstrate the power of their M1A1 Abrams tank as part of 3rd Brigade's Lavarack Barracks open day activities in north Queensland on Saturday, 3 September 2016. Photo by Sapper Josh Saurin.
Letters to the Editor 

“Look at what we have allowed the Army to become!”

01/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 441 Views 2 Comments

This was a cry from the heart by the Deputy Chief of Army, Major General Chris Smith, DSC, AM, CSC, during

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Has Welcome to Country become a compliance market?

30/04/202601/05/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 600 Views 5 Comments

Dear Editor, Welcome to Country on Anzac Day has become a sharper issue than many institutions seem willing to admit.

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Corporal Bill Burton (far left) and colleagues from 1 Troop, C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, RAAC, speak with General William Westmoreland, Commander, US Military Assistance Command Vietnam, about an enemy attack on Fire Support Base Coral. Photo by Kevin Thurgar – AWM file THU/68/0566/VN
Letters to the Editor 

The Honour of the Regiment, vis a vis, the Spirit of the Regiment

27/04/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 327 Views 0 Comments

They are both held high in the Parthenon of military ethos, but do they have significance and real meaning?  

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Soldiers from the 1st Armoured Regiment await the order to start the parade to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai. Photo by Corporal Craig Barrett.
Letters to the Editor 

Open letter to Senator James Paterson

24/04/202624/04/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 367 Views 0 Comments

Dear Senator Paterson,  Congratulations on your appointment as the Shadow Minister for Defence.  I write to you as someone who is concerned about our Nation’s defence

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A portrait of Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith at the Australian War Memorial, by Michael Zavros superimposed with a photo of Harry 'Breaker' Morant.
Letters to the Editor 

Alleged Afghanistan war crimes and the execution of ‘Breaker’ Morant – A Perspective

21/04/202621/04/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 697 Views 3 Comments

The allegations of war crimes against Ben Roberts-Smith echoes a similar occurrence during the Anglo Boer war and the trials

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Letters to the Editor 

1st Armoured Regiment: The unit whose heritage was stolen

21/04/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 341 Views 0 Comments

 Is it really possible for a unit’s heritage to be stolen?  How could it happen?  Stolen in what sense?    Stolen in the very real context that something that existed for 75 years, has suddenly

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Letters to the Editor 

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander

18/04/2026 Posted by Brian Hartigan 366 Views 0 Comments

How do you stand your ground in a fiercely hierarchal organisation like the Army, if you’re not the Deputy Chief?

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