The Clipboard: Australian troops not ready for Iraq mission

From an article¹:

An internal military report has raised serious concerns about the training and ammunition given to the 450 additional Australian troops bound for Iraq.

The troops from the Darwin-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment and 5/7 Battalion have been identified by defence officials as among the army's least-prepared soldiers.

The damning report found the 1st Brigade - from which the new task force has been selected - was well below standard and needed urgent improvement in key areas.

In November, the Defence Department annual report said: "Deficiencies in equipment, in some types of ammunition and in personnel numbers in key trades affected preparedness levels for some response options.

"Personnel shortages in a number of key trades and shortages of some types of ammunition continue to affect the achievement of some core skills." (link)

It's deja vu all over again. First the retired generals warning about another Vietnam, now unprepared troops. One would think after the last two years that Australia would at least know what to expect.

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Complete text of the article, Troops not ready for Iraq mission, by Luke McIlveen and Ian McPhedran

An internal military report has raised serious concerns about the training and ammunition given to the 450 additional Australian troops bound for Iraq.

The troops from the Darwin-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment and 5/7 Battalion have been identified by defence officials as among the army's least-prepared soldiers.

The damning report found the 1st Brigade - from which the new task force has been selected - was well below standard and needed urgent improvement in key areas.

In November, the Defence Department annual report said: "Deficiencies in equipment, in some types of ammunition and in personnel numbers in key trades affected preparedness levels for some response options.

"Personnel shortages in a number of key trades and shortages of some types of ammunition continue to affect the achievement of some core skills."

Some 400 troops are already stationed in Iraq, many of them from the 1st Brigade, raising questions about the risks to soldiers already putting their lives on the line around Baghdad.

Opposition defence spokesman Robert McClelland last night criticised the Federal Government for failing to properly equip troops before deploying them.

"The latest Defence annual report casts doubt as to whether these units are sufficiently prepared. Our troops need to be backed up by a Government that does not take chances with their wellbeing," Mr McClelland said. "On the basis of these documents alone, we must question the wisdom of the Government's decision to spend an additional $300 million on a new Iraq deployment rather than getting our armed forces to the state of preparedness that our servicemen and women are entitled to."

Brigadier John Cantwell, the commander of the 1st Brigade, admitted that some aspects of the unit's "more demanding" tasks were being addressed.

He said the shortages had not affected preparations for the Iraq mission in any way.

"That will not impinge on our capacity to deploy forces in this area," he said.

"This task is well matched to what we have got in terms of vehicles and ammunition. I have every confidence we have got all we need for this mission."

Brigadier Cantwell said the Brigade was capable of undertaking more demanding tasks than the Iraq mission. "We wouldn't be sending them if they were not prepared and ready," he said.

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