Where does this leave the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC)?

If no action is to be taken by the RAAC’s leaders … the future is bleak, indeed! 

What needs to be done?  

That’s one question … what can be done, is another thing completely.  

The two are very different.

The problem is that the RAAC Representative Honorary Colonel has no authority.  He can only advise.  The Chief of Army may or may not accept the advice provided.  

There is every indication that she will reject it, i.e. the many letters published in CONTACT have had no apparent effect in terms of promoting the issue and having the injustice acknowledged.  

But surely, you say, the RAAC Rep Hon Col has some influence?  Of course … but influence has no significance, without authority to back it.

So … the RAAC has to accept that nothing can be done to change the status quo; i.e. 1st Armoured Regiment will remain an experimentation unit and 2nd Cavalry Regiment will remain a dual-role unit. 

Can nothing at all, be done to change this? 

It would seem that media pressure might be the only option.  

Surely, you argue, the CA doesn’t respond to such circumstances, but decides her response to issues, based solely on facts and military imperatives. 

Is it now time to give up?

Absolutely NOT!  It is now time to campaign harder and smarter.  If one believes that an injustice has been done, the only answer is to persevere until it is righted.  (The Australian Army Training team in Vietnam chose wisely when they adopted the motto ‘Persevere’.) 

An injustice was certainly done when, after 75 years’ service as a tank regiment, 1 Armd Regt was suddenly stripped of its tanks and made an experimentation unit with a non-RAAC role.  

The fact that this was done without notice and without consultation with the unit’s stakeholders (so as to avoid the possibility of any repercussions); rankled even harder.

Does the CA stand behind the decision made by her predecessor?  Does she support it?  If so, why?

The heritage of what was the Army’s most senior regiment has been consigned to the scrap heap.  The three battle honours awarded in Vietnam, together with the Unit Citation for Gallantry, meaningless now that the unit no longer has an RAAC role.  

1 Armd Regt had earnt the right to carry a Standard, the only unit in the Army to do so.  This right belonged to the equivalent of a Heavy Dragoon Guards unit in the British Army; as an experimentation unit, the right no longer exists.  (The heritage of 1 Armd Regt is prostituted by the fact that the Standard has not been laid up, as it should be.)

Dear CA, if you do nothing else, please maintain the customs and heritage of 1 Armd Regt; once the senior regiment of the Australian Army.

We will, of course, continue to seek your approval for 1 Armd Regt to be reinstated as a tank regiment … thereby returning 3 Brigade to its rightful place as a full armoured brigade.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Cameron, MC, RAAC (Ret’d)

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FILE PHOTO: 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.

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