More than 40 of the Australian Army’s newest officers are in the final stages of training prior to becoming qualified troop commanders in the corps of Royal Australian Engineers. The Regimental Officer’s Basic Course (ROBC) involves challenging and realistic training scenarios that will provide the Lieutenants with the skills required as Army mobility and survivability experts. The culminating field exercise for the eight and a half month ROBC is Exercise Kokoda staged inside the Liverpool Military Area. For two and half weeks the engineers were subjected to a range of combat and operational scenarios, many involving live demolition.
Australian Combat Engineers are responsible for ensuring Army can move and fight, they are specialists in demolition, bridge and obstacle construction, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear survivability as well as force protection. The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) is the Military engineering corps of the Australian Army. The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps. The corps was formed by the amalgamation of the various colonial engineer corps of the states and territories of Australia in 1902 and since then has served in various conflicts including World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War.
The RAE provides combat engineering, construction and other technical support to the Australian Defence Force. Its main roles are to provide mobility and counter mobility capabilities to the Australian Army and its allies. This means enhancing the ability of friendly forces to move while denying movement to enemy forces. In order to provide these capabilities, engineers are required to conduct many tasks including penetrating minefields, locating and disarming booby traps, clearing unexploded ordnance, conducting explosive demolitions, purifying water, surveying, and building and maintaining roads, airfields and bridges.