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The battalion has committed to increasing urban warfare training in between deployments.
Bravo Company personnel from the 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (8/9RAR) conducted urban warfare training earlier this month in the Urban Operations Training Facility at Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane.
The exercise involved breaching buildings with shotguns, explosives, or breaking windows safely to support quick entry and clearance.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Charles Boag noted the importance of such exercises in preparing warfighters for future conflicts.
“Human populations are moving toward urban areas and cities, and we need to be able to train and win in those environments,” WO2 Boag said.
“The Urban Operations Training Facility enables our soldiers to train in that unique environment, and allows us to hone our warfighting skills so we’re best prepared if we’re called to operate in an urban setting.
“At the facility, there’s streets, buildings, staircases – all the complexities that would be in a normal urban environment in any city or built-up area in the world.”
WO2 Boag also noted a distinction between urban operations and military exercises conducted by infantry.
“All warfare is complex, however, there are unique complexities to urban environments,” he said.
“There’s a 360-degree avenue – there’s up, down, and other buildings, whereas in the field there are less dimensions to be concerned with.”
8/9RAR conducted urban warfare training despite being called to support Operation COVID-19 Assist.
“We’re currently on 72 hours’ notice to move, but while we wait, we’ve been training, mainly in urban warfare, motorisation training, and a lot of tactical care of the combat casualty,” WO2 Boag added.
“We’ve enabled all that training in our urban facility.”
[Related: Warfighters complete shotgun training course]
