What’s happened to our courage and fortitude to stand up for what’s right?

Has it completely disappeared, or is it lurking somewhere … waiting to pounce when the timing’s right?  

Courage and fortitude … are these terms still in contemporary usage or do they lack significance of any sort?

Why is it that a willingness to stand up for what’s right seems to be such a rarity?

Injustice, such as that meted out to 1st Armoured Regiment – surely there are champions among us who will ‘take up the cudgels’ in response?  

Maybe the CA’s right in thinking that if she keeps her head down for a bit, it will all ‘blow over’ and she can just ‘side-step’ the issue.

But, is it not the CA herself who should be demonstrating courage and fortitude.  Should she not face up to the matter and tackle it directly? 

Of course, things such as those resulting from the appalling treatment received by 1 Armd Regt might not be considered to warrant the Chief’s attention.  After all, she’s got a whole Army to prepare to defend our nation!

Then again, if matters impacting a unit’s loyalty, heritage, esprit de corps and morale are not worth tackling – what is?  Could there be something more important at any time, than Army morale?

Morale was secretly monitored during 1 Armd Regt’s change-over period.  The then Chief of the Defence Force subsequently advised that the “current cohort of soldiers have embraced the unit’s new role”.  This was not a big ask, however.

Any military unit given a new (and supposedly very important role; one promoted even by the CA himself) would pride themselves in showing that they were worthy of the task invested in them.  

What’s missing from this equation, however, is the fact that a tank regiment has been removed from the Order of Battle.  Army’s combat power has been further reduced by a tank squadron, a cavalry squadron and a battle-group headquarters.  

It’s not within the grasp of 1 Armd Regt’s recent COs to understand how, or why, they’ve been manipulated.

Will the present CA change this, i.e. send 1 Armd Regt to Townsville to command the tanks presently under command of 2 Cav Regt; thereby returning 3 Brigade to the full armoured brigade it was intended to be at the time of the Defence Strategic Review; or will there be a pirouette?

If you think that it is my intent to ‘inflame’ the debate – you’d be correct.

The current CA has proven by dint of her service to be above such things!  

It is only to be hoped now that she ‘does the right thing’.  Nothing more can be asked of her.

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