Peel The Orange!
Posted on April 3rd, 2009 by MichaelOne of the lessons in SOT’s Advanced Leadership Training (L-mhg1) is called PTO or Peel The Orange. For background on the thinking behind this article you can click to read this lesson here.
______________________________________________________
I was a RAAF Reserve Officer for 5 years and the motto Per Ardua Ad Astra was always Latin for Through Adversity to the Stars. I was inspired by that motto. Stars not tears!
This may be a deeply more serious event than it appears to be on the surface. Just think! Could this event be a valid indication of the current level of competence of the Australian Defence Force? Let’s hope not. However, at a time when the US may ask Australia to send a competent military force to Afganistan there is the big question being asked in Canberra: can Australia do it?
When the Electors of Australia call upon the ADF we expect a world class response. As an Elector, I would have thought that the elected leader of Australia while on legitimate taxpayer-funded Commonwealth business and while in the care and security of one of the elite units of the ADF could reasonably expect orders to be carried out to the letter. And, our elected leader the PM, should be able to demand world class professional virtuosity of the ADF and should be able to reprimand without impunity. Peel the orange!
With ANZAC Day in our front of mind, where we celebrate the memory and reputation of the ADF, isn’t this a poignant state of affairs?
That the PM of Australia has to apologise to the defence force is not only embarrasing to the Australian electorate but may also be of deep security concern regarding the professional competence of our soldiers under their current leadership.
In the context of the current defence mission of Australia in the War in Afgahnistan there is the other big question: can Australia win?
REFERENCES:
For those interested in exploring this strategic issue here are some informed references:
• Cameron Stewart in The Australian (31/03)”Our Defenceless Force”:
and
• ”Military not ready for war as fighter jets, choppers and submarines unfit for frontline”
and
Defence Industry Daily: “ADF: An “Aren’t Deployable” Force?”
and
“Thousands more soldiers needed for Afghan war”, Maj-Gen Jim Molan, former Chief of Operations in Iraq.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Although we will never know all the facts, your comments apply equally to the Prime Minister, surely we should expect and demand the same level of professional conduct from our Prime Minister.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:44 am
military has its own way of doing their business. it is totally different from the profit driven business we are at. The judgement should be made in the military court, not PM.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
There are a number of issues touched on here, but, one that adds some texture to the discussion is the internecine fighting that is currently going on between Defence and the Australian Government over a review of the Defence Forces.
Can Australia win? Only if the following questions can be answered. What is the mission? Is it clearly defined? Do the troops and their leadership believe in the mission? If any of these three questions is answered in the negative then the answer will be no, Australia cannot win.
If the answer is yes then Australia can win.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Unless you have access to the incident report and are able to have a closed door meeting with the PM regarding the incident and the PM answers honestly, then anything else is baseless conjecture and should be dismissed as such.
When talking about mission success are you talking about UNAMA or Operation SLIPPER or Operation PALATE II? If you’re talking about the operations, are you talking about the operation as a whole or the various taskforces in the operation? And should mission success be limited to the Australian input or the higher level UNAMA goals? Hard to answer unless you’re more specific with your questions.
ADF professionalism : 9/10
Based on the fact there’s always room for improvement and the fact that the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade reports comment regularly and positively on ADF professionalism, and the fact that there are academic reports that comment positively on Australia’s involvement in multinational taskforces such as INTERFET.