CONTACT BLOG SPOT – Page 2 – CONTACT magazine

Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart addresses the audience at the Chief of Army Symposium 2024 in Melbourne, Victoria. Photo by Corporal Cameron Pegg.

Letters to the Editor

White Lies, Pork Pies, and Whoppers

15/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2270 Views 0 Comments

How does one get to the truth of a matter when it is constantly hidden behind half-truths? This happens whenever

M1A1 Abrams tanks during the 1st Armoured Regiment's Cambrai Parade at Edinburgh Defence Precinct. Photo by Corporal Adam Quinn.

Letters to the Editor

How do you cover up the cover up?

13/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2155 Views 0 Comments

The responses to all the letters written to everyone about 1st Armoured Regiment’s tanks being stripped from it and the

Sales of Legacy bears support the annual national appeal to raise awareness and funds for the families of veterans who have given their life or health in service to our country. Story by Leading Seaman Nadav Harel. Photo by Emma Taylor.

Annual fundraiser a big boost for Legacy

12/09/202512/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 4931 Views 0 Comments Legacy Week, Vivian Bullwinkel

Across the country, sailors, soldiers and aviators took to the streets selling pin badges and bears to raise funds in

Group Captain Kath Stein is the first current serving ADF member to be president of the Australian College of Nursing. Story by Michelle Hoare.

ADF People Health and Wellbeing News

ADF nurse to lead Australian College of Nursing

12/09/202522/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 4422 Views 0 Comments Vivian Bullwinkel

For Group Captain Kath Stein, following in the footsteps of one of her military nursing role models is deeply meaningful.

Defence APS member Grant Tebbutt with his late grandfather Tom Foster’s recently recovered World War 2 medals and a photo album belonging to his father, Ivan. Story by Lieutenant Fenlan Miller. Photos by Lance Corporal Luke Donegan.

ADF People Archives History Lest We Forget

Defence APS member reunited with lost medals

12/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2745 Views 0 Comments WWII

Forty years after they vanished, a set of medals belonging to a Defence Australian Public Service member’s grandfather has been

The crew of HMAS Ballarat hold a morning tea during their regional presence deployment to raise funds and awareness for R U OK? Day. Story and photo by Sub-Lieutenant Jake Badior.

ADF People Health and Wellbeing News Royal Australian Navy

HMAS Ballarat crew checks in on R U OK? Day

12/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 3915 Views 0 Comments HMAS Ballarat, mental health, RUOK

The crew of HMAS Ballarat paused their busy regional presence deployment schedule to mark R U OK? Day at sea.

Letters to the Editor

Avoiding the Issue and Taking the Easy Option: The RAAC Way?

11/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1360 Views 0 Comments

Will the next Chief of Army (likely to be appointed at the end of 2025) revoke the decision to employ

The immediate health and safety of ADF personnel has been the priority in the wake of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

ADF People Health and Wellbeing

Defence prioritises health, safety in wake of report

09/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 393 Views 0 Comments mental health, Suicide Royal Commission

One year after the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide delivered its final report, the senior officer supporting the

An Australian M1A2 SEP v3 main battle tank fires a sabot round during a live fire to confirm the aiming system of the tank at Puckapunyal Military Area, Victoria. Photo by Corporal Michael Currie.

Letters to the Editor

When Leadership Goes Missing: What do we do?

07/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2325 Views 0 Comments

The following quotes from Major General R N L Hopkins, CBE (author of ‘Australian Armour’), are relevant to the Royal

Recipients of the Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award (JCGSA) approach the Sandakan Death March Memorial in Sabah, Malaysia, while retracing the historic route. Story and photos by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton.

ADF People Australian Army History Lest We Forget Overseas

A journey of remembrance and learning in Borneo

05/09/202516/09/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 5824 Views 0 Comments Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award, WWII

Recipients of the Jonathan Church Good Soldiering Award (JCGSA) have retraced the route of the single worst atrocity inflicted on

Australian Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, patrol through Cowley Beach Training Area during the combined arms training activity. Photo by Corporal Brodie Cross.

Letters to the Editor

Damage to the RAAC: How Much More Can we Possibly Suffer?

05/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1325 Views 0 Comments

The damage so far: 1 Armd Regt stripped of its tanks and made a non-combatant, losing all crew skills and

A M1A1 Abrams main battle tank puts out a smokescreen at Cowley Beach, Queensland. Photo by Leading Seaman David Cox.

Letters to the Editor

The Guy With the Microphone is Always the Winner

02/09/202502/09/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1537 Views 0 Comments

The recent Chief of Army’s symposium introduced a new catchphrase: ‘command accountability’. A bit of research brings up ADF Philosophical

An Australian Army M1A2 Abrams main battle tank from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment during a live-fire practice in the Townsville Field Training Area during Exercise Eagle March. Photo by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton.

Letters to the Editor

Demise of 1st Armoured Regiment – Winners and Losers.

30/08/202530/08/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1805 Views 0 Comments

The recent (2025) Chief of Army Symposium highlighted some of the failings in the Defence space that we’ve been saddled

Signaller Ashlee Chivers with a photo of her great-grandfather’s cousin, Sergeant Henry 'Harry' James Chivers, at the Australian War Memorial. Story and photos by Warrant Officer Class 2 Max Bree.

ADF People History Lest We Forget

Last Post reading a personal one for signaller

29/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2814 Views 0 Comments AWM, Last Post, WWI

Blaring bugle sounds and reading stories of Australia’s fallen is nothing new for Signaller Ashlee Chivers. CAPTION: Signaller Ashlee Chivers with

Commander 2nd Health Brigade, Brigadier Louise Martin, visits soldiers at Shoalwater Bay during the South Queensland Warfighter Exercise. Story by Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Rickey. Photo by Corporal Johnny Huang.

Australian Army Health and Wellbeing News

2nd Health Brigade keeps soldiers in the fight

27/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 3457 Views 0 Comments 2nd Health Brigade, Australian Army Warfighter

At first glance, the Australian Army’s Warfighter exercise series is just that, an opportunity to practise high-end combat operations within

Funeral Guard members, left to right, Leading Seaman Lindsey Young, Able Seaman Jake Clarke and Leading Seaman Bella Cummins, carry the coffin of Leading Stoker Des Jones, as Navy Chaplain David Hastie follows. Story by Lieutenant Commander Ben Robson. Photos by Lance Corporal Joseph Hess.

ADF People History Lest We Forget Royal Australian Navy

Last living link to tragedy of HMAS Canberra I

27/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 4321 Views 0 Comments HMAS Canberra, HMAS Canberra (I), WWII

On a still and cloudy afternoon, Leading Stoker Des Jones was laid to rest, carried to his gravesite on the

History and Heritage - Air Force volunteer Pamela ‘Margaret’ Wilkinson with a newspaper article from 1965 when she was serving as a nurse at RAAF Base Townsville. Story and photo by Flying Officer Casie Scott.

ADF People History

Sixty years of RAAF, love and life

27/08/2025 Posted by Mike Hughes 2775 Views 0 Comments RAAF Townsville

As Pamela ‘Margaret’ Wilkinson walks the halls of RAAF Base Townsville’s Building 51, her memories of working from the site

An Australian M1A2 Abrams SEP v3 fires sabot rounds during a live-fire to confirm the aiming system of the tank and to qualify crews on the new systems at the Puckapunyal Military Area, Victoria, November 2024. Photo by Corporal Michael Currie.

Letters to the Editor

When Something Isn’t Right: What do You do?

27/08/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 1259 Views 1 Comment

The Chief of Army can’t explain why 1st Armoured Regiment had to be stripped of its tanks and made a

Soldiers officers and vehicles of the 1st Armoured Regiment on parade to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai. Photo by Corporal Craig Barrett.

Letters to the Editor

If There’s no Trust, What’s Left?

23/08/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2333 Views 0 Comments

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

Letters to the Editor Thought provoking

Anonymous comments and their authors

22/08/202522/08/2025 Posted by Brian Hartigan 555 Views 1 Comment

What motivates a person to offer a comment on a topic under a false name, or with no name at