Part 4
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
Summary
Asia–Pacific engagement and adaptation at home
The Australian Army's experience covered in Parts 2 and 3 has tended to dominate the public consciousness of what the Army was up to during the period from 1999 to 2007. After all, this is where the majority of the media attention was focused. The operations involved considerable risk and danger to those involved operating close to home in East Timor and Solomon Islands and in the Middle East, principally in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there is considerably more to the story than that to which these accounts attest so far. The Australian Army found itself in demand for a wide range of additional tasks during this period both in Australia and abroad. Reflecting on that experience illustrates the breadth and range of tasks undertaken. It also points to the surprisingly broad utility and versatility of the Army.
The combination of commitments to operations in the Middle East and closer to home also contributed to considerable rethinking about how the Army was supposed to operate. A series of reform initiatives were instigated, changing the way the Army was organised and how it perceived and prepared itself for varied roles the Australian Government expected it to perform, often with little, if any, warning. The following three chapters, on aid and other assistance, a spike in operational tempo in 2006 and 2007 and efforts at conceptual and organisational adaptation within the Army, attempt to cover this remaining gap in public consciousness.
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- The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard , pp. 281 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013