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CONTACT magazine

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor 

Why won’t the Chief of Army answer this question?

27/12/202527/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 312 Views 0 Comments

Why was the need for a unit to evaluate emerging technologies so urgent that it justified demoting Army’s most senior

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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.
Letters to the Editor 

Is the Chief of Army just a figurehead?

20/12/202520/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 587 Views 1 Comment

In the famous words of Julius Sumner Miller: Why is This so?   1st Armoured Regiment is the senior regiment

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Letters to the Editor 

What price 1st Armoured Regiment’s esprit-de-corps, heritage and tradition?

16/12/202516/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 433 Views 0 Comments

The loss of combat power suffered by 3 Brigade (Armoured) is relatively easy to quantify in terms of unit strength

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Soldiers of the 1st Armoured Regiment honour their unit's Guidon and first Standard in Adelaide. Photo by Private Sophie Hartley.
Letters to the Editor 

Dismal end to the Army’s most senior unit

12/12/202514/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 37589 Views 15 Comments

The following quote is from the Wikipedia entry for the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC): “The removal of 1st Armoured

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The Hanwha Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle, above, and the Rheinmetall Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle, below, have been delivered to Defence to support test and evaluation activities conducted as part of the Land 400 Phase 3 Risk Mitigation Activity.
Letters to the Editor 

Infantry fighting vehicles displace core armour roles

05/12/202506/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 573 Views 2 Comments

A series of five articles was published by CONTACT during October and November 2018, titled “Armour in the Australian Army:

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Australian Army and Indonesian National Armed Forces soldiers, supported by an M1A1 Abrams tank, conduct a combined joint-force entry operation as part of Exercise Keris Woomera at Banongan Beach, Indonesia. Photo by Leading Seaman Rikki-Lea Phillips.
Letters to the Editor 

How will the new history of RAAC depict 2023/24?

02/12/202502/12/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 563 Views 0 Comments

The first volume of the RAAC history was written by the late Maj Gen R N L Hopkins, CBE. It

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A Centurion tank of C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, moving through the jungle in South Vietnam. June 1971. Australian War Memorial file FOD/71/0305/VN.
Letters to the Editor 

How is change brought about?  By rightfulness and persistence!

30/11/202530/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 601 Views 0 Comments

Will 1st Armoured Regiment become a tank regiment again?  Will it resume its rightful place as part of Australia’s only

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An Aussie soldier writing in the field. Cropped from larger image by Corporal David Cotton.
Letters to the Editor 

CONTACT supports 1 Armd Regt’s reinstatement campaign

27/11/202527/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 435 Views 0 Comments

Between 22 April and 25 November 2025 (when these statistics were compiled), CONTACT published 81 letters related to the demise of

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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 

In our ADF superiors we trust (or hope)

25/11/202525/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 924 Views 1 Comment

On 7 Nov 24, the Chief of Army said: “I’ve set four strategic priorities for our Army. The central one

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An Australian M1A2 SEP v3 main battle tank is test fired remotely for the first time to check the main gun for safety before a live-fire to qualify crews on the new systems at the Puckapunyal Military Area, Victoria, 5 November 2024. Photo by Corporal Michael Currie.
Letters to the Editor 

The Chain of Command must stand for something …

22/11/202522/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 727 Views 2 Comments

The essential element is that someone is responsible for making a decision; as compared with the procrastination that often accompanies

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An M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tank is loaded onto a United States Navy asset during Exercise Talisman Sabre at Townsville Port, Queensland. Photo by Lance Corporal Caitlyn Davill.
Letters to the Editor 

The RAAC Head of Corps’ dilemma

20/11/202520/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 492 Views 0 Comments

Heads of Corps were reinstated in 2001 via Chief of Army Directive 05/01.  According to the Directive, HOC are responsible

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An Australian Army soldier from the 1st Armoured Regiment controls controls an M134D An Australian Army soldier from the 1st Armoured Regiment controls an M134D minigun remote weapon station attached to a modular robotic vehicle during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland. Photo by Lance Corporal Caitlyn Davill.minigun remote weapon station attached to a modular robotic vehicle during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland. Photo by Lance Corporal Caitlyn Davill.
Letters to the Editor 

What part did Future Land Warfare play in the demise of 1st Armoured Regiment? 

14/11/202514/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 549 Views 0 Comments

In October 2022, the outgoing Director General of Future Land Warfare was Brig Ian Langford, DSC (and bars).  He’d brought

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An Australian Army M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tank provides support for soldiers during an urban assault at Shoalwater Bay Training Area as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 25. Photo by Corporal Michael Rogers.
Letters to the Editor 

Is an Army unit something that the Chief of Army can do with as he likes?

10/11/202510/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 5733 Views 19 Comments

He’s the one in charge … so, why not? If he wants a unit to undertake a new role managing

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Australian Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, conduct a trench clearance, supported by 2nd Cavalry Regiment M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks, as part of Exercise Brolga Sprint at Townsville Field Training Area, Queensland. Photo by Private Jessica Gray.
Letters to the Editor 

Is frank and fearless advice a thing of the past?

08/11/202508/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2904 Views 4 Comments

Is the concept of ‘frank and fearless advice’ simply rhetoric; or is it a goal which defines the ideals to

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An Australian Army M1A2 Abrams main battle tank from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment during the South Queensland Warfighter Exercise at Shoalwater Bay, Queensland. Photo by Corporal Johnny Huang.
Letters to the Editor 

An Appalling Lapse of Judgement

06/11/202506/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 695 Views 0 Comments

“It was warm and humid as I stepped out of my vehicle to greet the commander of the Australian Army’s

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Letters to the Editor 

The Last Battle – SOTG in Shah Wali Kot

03/11/202503/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 841 Views 0 Comments

Dear editor, May I introduce you to a new book I have written, highlighting the role of the Australian Special

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

What will be the cost of NOT having a tank regiment?

01/11/202502/11/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1081 Views 0 Comments

The National Defence Strategy 2024 makes it clear that the Army must have the capacity to respond with credible military

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An Australian Army Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicle (left) and an M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tank during sea-transportability trials at Townsville Port, Queensland. Photo by Lance Corporal Caitlyn Davill.
Letters to the Editor 

The RAAC like it’s never been before

25/10/202525/10/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 897 Views 0 Comments

A direct consequence of 1st Armoured Regiment being stripped of its tanks and made into a Combat Experimentation Group (CXG),

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An Australian Army M1A1 Abrams main battle tank fires its 120mm cannon during a live-fire serial for the Coral-Balmoral Cup at Puckapunyal Military Area. Story by Captain Thomas Kaye. Photos by Corporal Johnny Huang.
Letters to the Editor 

Where will the hurt be felt most?

22/10/202522/10/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 796 Views 1 Comment

Making 1st Armoured Regiment a non-combatant was something managed very closely by Defence.  Complaints from the unit itself had to

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THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1917 (Q 6284) A British Mark IV tank at Wailly. This shows how it would appear to occupants of the German trenches during the Battle of Cambrai. This was the first occasion on which tanks were launched en masse in a surprise attack and it clearly demonstrated the potential of the armoured vehicle. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205124999
Letters to the Editor 

The Values of Cambrai: Recognised Today?

18/10/202518/10/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 802 Views 0 Comments

“It remains for unit Commanders and for Tank crews to complete the work by judgement and pluck in the battle

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