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During the world’s largest maritime exercise, you may not expect to find urban close-combat training or the Royal Australian Infantry Corps, but during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022, the Australian Army’s dismounted infantry minor tactics specialists, 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), are leading the way for marines from Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea to strengthen their skills in the urban terrain.
Before 1RAR’s soldiers learned they’d be instructing on RIMPAC, many had never actually run training before. In fact, they didn’t expect to be in an instructor position until they reached the rank of corporal. Thrown in the deep end during the exercise of a lifetime, soldiers from 1RAR proved they were up for the challenge. Even the language barrier couldn’t stop just one platoon from teaching 150 soldiers from five different nations.
Responsible for ensuring all nations walk away from the training having learned something new was 1RAR Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Ben Drummond.
"This has been a great opportunity for the team, we have spent substantial time at home preparing the soldiers so they can provide the best training possible for our partner nations,” said Drummond. “Learning from the other nations and sharing our knowledge with each other is what RIMPAC is all about. The urban environment could be the battlefield of the future. As more people migrate to the city, it’s more important than ever that we know how to work together in a complex 3D environment."
Private Lucas Hinselwood was one of the instructors excited for the opportunity to share his knowledge with our Pacific partners. Just two years into his military career, he never imagined he’d find himself training 30 marines from the Mexican Navy Infantry Corps beside his Colombian-born colleague translating.
"Working with our partner nations, we have learned that a lot of our tactics are fairly similar, although very different at the same time so it has been great to build on our relationships with each other,” said Hinselwood. “When push comes to shove, we know that we can work side by side without any dramas at all. RIMPAC has been absolutely unreal so far. All the countries have been really welcoming. I am hoping to walk away from RIMPAC having built good friendships with our foreign nations, taking away as much as we can from them and having a laugh with the group at the same time."
Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2022 12:51 |
| Story ID: | 424952 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Royal Australian Regiment battalion leads multinational urban clearance training, by Lily Lancaster, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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