To all Association Members of the 51st Battalion, thankyou for your continued support and shared interest in what the Battalion has been doing in the past two years. Unfortunately it is time for me to move on as Commanding Officer and therefore I proudly join your ranks as a (financial) Association Member. The following text is the Battalion Magazine article so please excuse my laziness. However for those that frequently use the website….you saw it here first. Merry Christmas to you all and I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas period.

Regards
Brendan Cox
Commanding Officer

The Battalion has sustained a high tempo of activities throughout 2009 and at each and every turn of events I have been impressed with your commitment, adaptability and professionalism. There are no part time soldiers in this unit merely fulltime soldiers that can only commit to full time soldiering on a limited basis. I am proud to have been your Commanding Officer for the past two years. If I may dwell on some significant achievements before I go.

Since 2008 the Battalion Command, Ops and intelligence staff have been heavily engaged with representatives from the Border Protection Command Group including Australian Customs Service, Australian Federal Police, Queensland Police, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and of course the regional staff of Border Protection Command.   As a team, focussed on improving Border Security operations within our Area of Responsibility, we created a common architecture for the basis of our respective patrol planning and information exchange.  This structure, known to us as the Tactical Areas of Responsibility are based on the known indigenous lands and languages that are celebrated throughout FNQ.   The next achievement within this group was to establish a Whole of Government Surveillance Target Acquisition Plan that has assisted us in both deconflicting and, at times, concentrating patrols from respective agencies culminating in OP RESOLUTE this year.   This is the subject of a separate article in this magazine however this whole of government approach is the future of RFSU involvement in Australia’s border Security operations. 

The Battalion Level exercise ‘Northern Warrior’ conducted at RAAF SCHERGER was a chance for the Battalion to reinvest into our high end war fighting skills. The design and execution of the training was a credit to MAJ Morris and his team.  Each and every patrols performance and response to the scenarios presented demonstrated a good base level in our dismounted surveillance and reconnaissance skills. These exercises will continue to challenge you. Your challenge will continue to be the maintenance of these skills throughout the year and between exercises and/or operations. Don’t forget to invest in yourself and train the one below you at each and every training opportunity.

The culmination of our warfighting training resulted in our participation on Ex Talisman Sabre. To MAJ Hastie and the patrols from A and D Coy you served us proud. I received personal letters of congratulations from COMD 1 Bde and COMD ISTAR who along with COMD 1 Div were astounded at the soldiering ability of 51 FNQR and our ability to survive, undetected, on the modern ‘battlefield’ whilst ensuring the Commanders Critical Information Requirements were passed into the Command Post. At some stages our patrols were proving 70% of battlefield information to the Commander, an outstanding achievement.

To the members of the Battalion selected to represent us on Ex Kokoda Trek well done on your nomination and performance. May I also pass on my appreciation to the President of Cairns RSL, Mr Peter Turner, and the tour host Mr Merv Haines (both Vietnam veterans) for their sponsorship of the trek. This demonstrates the support this Battalion gets from a grateful community.

There are numerous other examples of our soldiers committing to the Battalion above and beyond what would normally be expected. The opening of our Battalion Memorial Walk is a credit to the perseverance of many people in this Battalion.  To MAJ Cross who fought to secure initial funding and CAPT Hermann and WOFF Hayton (two among many) who turned concept into reality my personal thanks on behalf of all 51st Battalion members past, present and future.

Our Community Engagement and the Regional basis of our soldiering are vital elements of our capability to be preserved.   Our challenge is to now institutionalise our cultural knowledge to demonstrate that our understanding of our roles and responsibilities are far beyond the purely military application of our tasks. Some steps have been made in this environment however where we see opportunities such as the reopening of the Lockhart River Patrol Base with a traditional mural painted by SGT Patrick Butcher we should not only encourage but  promote these activities. We must remain relevant and respected in our communities and never take this for granted. We haven’t in the past, we don’t now and we must further invest in this area in the future.

Finally, I bid the Battalion farewell. I thank the Regimental Sergeant Major, WO1 Ean Randall, in particular for his support and mateship over my command. I leave Cairns a proud member of a select few who have worn the black rank and black kookaburra. Love of Country leads us all however your passion for soldiering at the highest standards will be my enduring memory of soldiering in Far North Queensland’s own Regiment.