Aussie troops chaffing under combat restrictions

Times:

Australia’s soldiers won praise for their skills from the Boer War to Vietnam but now their exclusion from frontline conflicts has left many “ashamed of wearing their uniform”, a senior army official said.

The nation’s much vaunted reputation for battlefield courage has been cast into doubt by its own army officers, who have complained that troops are being deliberately kept out of combat roles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under the headline “We were soldiers once”, Major Jim Hammett, who has served in Iraq, East Timor and Somalia, launched a scathing critique of the restrictions placed on foot soldiers. He wrote, in the Australian Army Journal, that the infantry were trained to fight, equipped to fight and expected to fight — in short, to do everything but actually fight on the front line. This had fostered an international perception of institutional cowardice.

“Many within its ranks suspect that the role of the infantry has already been consigned to history . . . the on going inaction [in Iraq] . . . has resulted in collective disdain and at times near contempt by personnel from other contributing nations,” he said.

Australia’s infantry, which accounts for a third of the army’s combat forces, have not been assigned a frontline role since the Vietnam War. Only the special forces were sent on offensive operations, he said. In contrast the US, Britain and Canada, which contribute most of the foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, are sending infantry troops on combat operations.

No Australian troops have been killed in combat in Iraq since the invasion but five, mainly special forces commandos, have been killed in Afghanistan. More than 4,000 US soldiers have died in Iraq.

“The restrictions placed on deployed elements as a result of force protection and national policies have, at times, made infantrymen ashamed of wearing their Australian uniform,” Major Hammett wrote.

His views were backed by another officer, who wrote in a separate article that “second-rate operational tasks” had deflated infantry morale over the past ten years. Captain Greg Colton, second-in-command of the Sydney-based 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, said non-commissioned and junior officers were beginning to question their purpose.

“There is a growing sense of frustration,” Captain Colton wrote. “The Government and army hierarchy seem to favour special forces for deliberate offensive operations and tasks,” he said.

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Neil James, the executive director of the Australia Defence Association think-tank, said he suspected that it was fear of casualties, rather than operational necessity, that has resulted in the increased use of special forces.

It should be pointed out that it is the politicians fear of casualties and not the troops that is holding them back. This is the product of liberalisms distaste for the use of force. In the meantime they are making their own forces weaker and less fit for combat. Every war requires that the troops not only overcome the enemy but the objections of liberals. I know the Aussies are up to the job if given a chance. The voters of Oz need to elect politicians with more courage.