Learning By Doing
9 July 2009
The inland may be dry, but in every other direction Australia is a country defined by water. With twenty thousand kilometres of largely uninhabited coastline and over eight thousand islands scattered across three oceans, Navy, Army and Air Force has a huge responsibly to protect these irreplaceable assets.
It is little wonder that Exercise Talisman Saber has become so important for ensuring that the Australian Defence Force is ‘ready, willing and able’ to engage anywhere in these locations. Without highly developed amphibious skills, it would be impossible to effectively operate in these vulnerable areas.
The person accountable for gaining maximum interoperability benefits from Talisman Saber amphibious exercises is CAPT Steve Woodall, RAN. Not only is CAPT Woodall the Commander of the Australian Amphibious Task Force, but in the Navy tradition of ‘learning by doing’, he has also taken on the responsibility of Deputy Commander for the entire US/Australian Amphibious Task Force.
This is why CAPT Woodall, along with twenty additional Australian personnel from all three services, has been embedded in the USS Essex for the duration of the Exercise. From this base he will oversee operations involving more than 15,000 service personnel from the Australian and the United States Defence Forces.
Far from being daunted by the demands of this onerous position, CAPT Woodall is looking forward to the exercise.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for the ADF because the Americans bring an awful lot of expertise which we can leverage off and learn from. And it will be these experiences in working closely alongside them, that will enhance our amphibious skills.
"We will also be operating in a number of very complex amphibious environments which will put our capabilities to the test, but that is precisely what exercises are designed to do." CAPT Woodall said on a visit to HMAS Kanimbla during the Exercise.
Another benefit of Talisman Saber 09, according to CAPT Woodall, was the fact that the US Armed Forces brought with them a depth and range of hardware which the Australian Defence Force would not normally have an opportunity to exercise with. This is particularly useful since the Australian Government’s decision to purchase two Multipurpose Amphibious Assault Ships or Landing Helicopter Docks, and as the USS Essex is an LHD with very similar capabilities and attributes to the ships the Royal Australian Navy will be acquiring.
CAPT Woodall said that his Australian staff on the USS Essex were involved in a range of logistical operations which we would also be undertaking on the LHDs.
"For example, each ship will be capable of operating multiple helicopters and a well dock with landing craft at the same time. So seeing how they operate and control all of those assets simultaneously will form an important part in making sure that we are ready to use the LHDs to their maximum capability," said CAPT Woodall.
As the Commanding Officer of HMAS Kanimbla when it undertook humanitarian aid operations to Banda Aceh in 2005, CAPT Woodall is well aware of the broader applications that amphibious ships can be used for.
"The skills that we acquire in Talisman Saber by undertaking conventional military exercises can be equally applied to both peacekeeping and humanitarian aid missions. That’s because they all require exactly the same skill sets," said CAPT Woodall.
"In fact, without amphibious capabilities, it would have been impossible for Australia to have undertaken any of our recent humanitarian and peace keeping operations, including not only Ache but also East Timor and the Solomon Islands," CAPT Woodall said.
