YEAR OF MILESTONES
THE unique nature of military service in Army’s true Garrison Town has been reinforced in 2018.
During the anniversary year of the final battles of World War I, the 3rd Brigade saw almost 2000 troops deploy overseas in support of operations in the Middle East and the Philippines.
The support of the Townsville community throughout this period has been very humbling.
I would like to thank in particular the Defence Transition Aides in our schools, and the many supporting organisations who come to the fore during these times, most especially RSL Queensland for their ongoing hands- on support, and Legacy for all they do the families who are left behind when the ultimate sacrifice has been made.
Above all, I would like to thank the members of this great community. Your attendance at memorial activities, our welcome home parade in October, the Lavarack Barracks Open Day the everyday smile and wave for those in uniform is greatly appreciated.
With everyone safely home from operations, our attention turns to the challenges of 2019.
This will be a year of consolidation for the brigade, with a focus on investing in our young leaders for the future.
My intention is that we do this with our outstanding partners in the Queensland Police Service, Fire and Emergency Services, as well as our elite sporting partners in the Townsville Fire, the Cowboys and Netball Townsville.
I passionately believe that great organisations learn from each other, and developing a cohort of future leaders across these organisations in 2019 is one of my goals.
Another goal is to deepen our already strong relationship with the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
We have some excellent training activities planned for 2019 that are of great mutual benefit.
I enjoy seeing our young soldiers get the opportunity to travel to PNG, make great friendships and get some exposure to the richness of our World War II military history.
At the core of our commitments for 2019 is, of course, the demanding military training regime that we will undertake to ensure our people and units remain at the very forefront of regional and world capability.
We are integrating many new and exciting technologies into the brigade, including our new logistics vehicles, UAVs, digital command and control systems and enhanced simulation training platforms.
These demand new and innovative ways of doing business, and I know that our young people are up to the challenge, now and into the future.