Warrior Ethos: from Non-Combatant Evacuation to High-End Warfighting - WO1 Scott Krum

Oct 5, 2025

WO1 Scott Krum, the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps with over three decades of service, delves into the challenges faced during the Kabul Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation. He shares gripping stories of soldier readiness, the chaos of managing crowds at the North and Abbey Gates, and how ethics played a role under pressure. Krum emphasizes the importance of warrior culture, resilience, and healthy competition within units, while encouraging listeners to embrace determination and ownership in their roles.

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ANECDOTE

Rapid Callout And Five-Day Deployment

WO1 Scott Krum describes receiving the callout on a Friday after routine training and deploying to AMAB within days.
He recalls rapid movement from Townsville to Kabul in five days and immediate battle preparation on arrival.

ANECDOTE

Chaos At North Gate

At North Gate WO1 Scott Krum recounts scenes of chaos with thousands trying to get through turnstiles and Americans using rubber bullets and CS gas.
He describes casualties, makeshift RAPs, and immediate first-aid demands on arriving troops.

ADVICE

Maintain Full-Spectrum Readiness

Maintain full-spectrum readiness: skills, attitude, equipment, admin and family preparedness at all times.
Treat ‘business as usual’ as continual preparation for immediate callouts.

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‘Everyone wants the view, but nobody wants the climb.’

In this week’s episode, we sit down with WO1 Scott Krum, the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps, to revisit the Australian Defence Force’s contribution to the Kabul Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) and to ask, plainly, what we demand of soldiers and officers in 2025 and beyond. From 14–30 August 2021, a US-led, coalition-supported NEO moved approximately 124,000 civilians through Hamid Karzai International Airport; Australia evacuated over 4,200 people on 32 flights. WO1 Krum takes us onto the ground with the Ready Battle Group—through the North Gate and Abbey Gate—to unpack readiness under pressure, ethical restraint amidst chaos, and how discipline and purpose hold when the stakes are highest.

We then pivot to Warrior Culture: what readiness really means (your equipment, your skills, and the reality that sometimes you’re going without), why purpose must be understood and owned at every level, and how healthy competition—especially at a section level—sharpens a unit. We tackle Australia’s tall-poppy syndrome, why a fear of failure (and a candid Black Box Review) is a feature not a bug, and how resilience is built in hard times. We then turn our sights to unit identity and death symbology before WO1 Krum sets a clear standard for behaviour, restraint, and fighting spirit.

We close with WO1 Krum’s challenge to the listeners: if you want to win in Army you must get FILTHY — forget what others think you can do, find intrinsic motivation, take the little wins, remember that what we do is tough, build good habits, and remember that only you can do it.

This episode is recorded from the Australian Army Infantry Museum in Singleton NSW with one of Australia’s most senior and respected soldiers.

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