DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by Ministerial Support and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
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MSPA 486/10
Friday, 15 October 2010
Complexity the hallmark of Exercise Hamel
Soldiers defused an intricate hostage scenario in North Queensland without firing a
shot as part of the Australian Army’s most complex exercise to date – Exercise Hamel
2010.
According to one of the senior exercise umpires, Lieutenant Colonel Wade Stothart,
the scenario and the exercise as a whole aimed to test the men and women of the
Army’s 3rd Brigade in difficult scenarios with a large number of actors.
“It is designed to practice the Australian Army in what we call foundation war
fighting skills,” Lieutenant Colonel Sothart said.
“While we have performed very well - and continue to perform very well - on
operations, there are some capabilities and operations that we need to train for and be
very proficient in, that are not part of those operational tasks that we are undertaking
around the world, and that’s its aim,” Lieutenant Colonel Sothart said.
In the exercise scenario at the Tully military airfield, infantry soldiers from 2nd
Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), showed their high
professionalism in an Air Mobile Operation using Black Hawk helicopters from the
5th Aviation Regiment.
The Australian soldiers were also supported by a contingent of United States Marines
participating in the exercise.
The scenario involved the rescue of Australian hostages from a group of stubborn and
armed militia, role-played by other ADF personnel. After a tense stand-off, the release
of the hostages was successfully and peacefully negotiated, and as if the complexity
of the scenarios were not enough, the exercise has been undertaken during relentless
tropical downpours.
Exercise Hamel 2010 involves 6000 personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force. It
will test the combat capability of the Army’s 3rd Brigade, and is the first exercise for
the newly created Forces Command, which comprises about 87 per cent of the
Australian Army.
Media note: Vision will be fed to Parliament House this afternoon
Imagery is available from:
Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
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