The Cove Podcast

'Watching those aircraft take off ... and knowing that you are part of that success, part of that story, there's not many better feelings.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about the challenges and opportunities of keeping the CH47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache helicopters in the air. Our guests are CAPT Shannon McGee and FSGT Jason Smart from the Army’s new 16 Aviation Support Battalion in Townsville, Queensland. CAPT Shannon McGee is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer on the CH47 Chinook and FSGT Jason Smart is an Aircraft Technician who has seen the introduction-into-service of the MRH90 Taipan and has deployed supporting Army helicopters multiple times, including in the first days of INTERFET in Dili and later from a patrol base in Balibo, both in Timor-Leste.  The 16 Aviation Support Battalion is tasked with keeping the fleet of CH47 Chinooks in the air to meet Army’s need for rotary wing lift while preparing for the introduction-into-service of the Australian Army’s newest helicopter, the AH-64 Apache combat helicopter. Both 1 Aviation Regiment and 5 Aviation Regiment will fly out of Townsville, operating from Hamel Lines at RAAF Townsville. The Apache is replacing the Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter and will become the 1 Aviation Regiment’s attack aviation platform. The first AH-64 Apaches are scheduled to commence flying operations in the next six months and many of the aircrew and support staff have already commenced training in the United States to prepare to be thrown the keys.  The team that supports Army flying operations include maintainers, Aviation Ground Crew, Life-support Fitters, and engineers. The come from the Army, RAAF and civilian contractors that have maintained helicopters at Hamel Lines for decades, conducting everything from routine to deep maintenance. They will be joined by Maintenance Augmentation Teams provided by the United States Army and field service representatives from Boeing to enable the introduction-into-service. Army aviation is at the start of exciting times and these are the people that get to create history.    —————————————————————————   Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned. 

‘We are never going to be combat ineffective because of atmospherics... we can work in the rain, we can work in the mud, and we can work in the jungle.’ In this week’s episode, we talk all things infantry reconnaissance and how reconnaissance patrols enable the fight. Our guest this week - CPL Andrew Noseda - is currently the acting Platoon Sergeant for the Reconnaissance Platoon at the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. He was the Section Commander for the battalion’s Duke of Gloucester Cup team and his team took out second place out of all the teams submitted by the regular infantry battalions. He has been in reconnaissance for the last four years, two as a digger and two as a Patrol Commander, and he talks us through the purpose of dismounted infantry recon and what a recon patrol can offer commanders.    Observation Posts (OP) and Point Target Reconnaissance (PTR) are the primary means by which infantry recon will answer their Commander’s Critical Information Requirements, ranging from questions about the terrain/weather to the enemy disposition and pattern of life. Recon patrols are prime targets for enemy engagement and are inherently vulnerable. They operate in isolation, with limited communications and they often carry all the stores and equipment necessary for their task on-foot. They can be inserted via vehicle, boat, helicopter or on-foot to set the preconditions for the main force.    Infantry recon can be supplemented with engineer recon, armoured recon and Joint Fires Observers to enhance mobility, endurance, to answer more of the commander’s questions and to target the enemy with Offensive Support. The Basic Reconnaissance Course is the first course in the continuum and can be completed by both infantry and other corps. The Patrol Commander is responsible for briefing the commander that they are attached to on what they can achieve. The earlier in planning that the Patrol Commander is included, the more refined the specified tasks their patrol is allocated in orders to better enable the commander’s intent.    —————————————————————————   Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned. 

CAPT Jack Virtue, a seasoned signals officer with extensive combat experience, dives into the fascinating world of tactical communications. He explains the critical role of combat net radios and the importance of specialized training in complex environments. Topics covered include the differences between line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight communications, challenges posed by terrain and weather, and the nuances of satellite communication reliability. Virtue's insights highlight the necessity of PACE plans for effective communication during military operations.

‘I was always the digger that had slightly out of regs hair, my sunnies fit so nicely on my head so why wouldn’t I put them there and I obviously love non-issued gear ...’ In this week’s episode, the creator of the popular Instagram page Tuesday Night Violence Co. joins us again to talk about his approach to junior leadership. CPL Mitchell Clark is currently posted as the Training Sergeant at 2nd/17th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment (2/17 RNSWR). He has bounced in-and-out of full-time and part-time service and today he talks us through how he approaches leadership in an organisation full of volunteers that can choose to show up or not show up.   CPL Clark came to Army with a teaching background and finds real fulfilment in teaching and mentoring diggers as a Junior Non-Commissioned Officer. He has done jungle training in Malaysia as part of Rifle Company Butterworth, has deployed to Iraq with 6 RAR, was a Team Leader on Operation Resolute as part of the Transit Security Element and his career is not dissimilar from those he serves alongside. Like many, he went through his digger for life phase but realised how much he could give back by promoting and mentoring other soldiers.   CPL Clark takes us through his five reflections on how to be a good junior leader which are: (1) your character flaws are your problem and your responsibility; (2) you set the standard for your team; (3) look the part; (4) use common sense; and (5) be the mentor. He also shares a personality triad that he most relates to which combines professional competence, professional attitude and likeability. To be a good leader, you must have at least two of these traits. To be a good leader long-term, CPL Clark argues that one of those two traits must be professional competence. Honesty, self-reflection and embracing vulnerability are the cornerstones of junior leadership and in this episode, we talk through what it is like to make the leap.   —————————————————————————  Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have recorded. If you haven’t already done so, go back and listen to CPL Clark’s previous episodes Tuesday Night Violence Co. and Reserve Integration.

‘The reason [the adaptation] is so quick is because they’re being pressed by a very capable adversary.’ In this week’s episode, we shift focus to how Ukraine and Russia are adapting to the threat as each fight in war. Our guest this week – LTCOL James Ellis-Smith – has just raised the Training Intelligence (G72) cell at Forces Command Headquarters, feeding real-world analysis into our training to bring our adversary analysis into the specific and contemporary. He is also a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, studying intelligence and command at the tactical level of war. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the conflict has been defined by rapid adaptation and brutal attrition. Long-range precision fires, the widespread use of unmanned aerial systems, contested logistics, and a return to trench warfare have epitomised the conflict. We can learn a considerable amount from the pace of adaptation in this fight, with both sides attempting to keep pace with rapid advancements in technology and training, techniques and procedures (TTPs). The addition of low-cost guidance kits to ‘dumb’ munitions has enabled both sides to deliver precision effects using existing war stocks, fundamentally changing the economics of precision munitions. Wireless drones that were susceptible to jamming have been replaced and complimented with drones flown using fibre optic cables. Among the many sobering realities of this conflict are reports of frontline medics stabilising wounded soldiers under fire, only for those casualties to be killed during evacuation—struck by precision weapons kilometres from the point of injury. In this episode, LTCOL Ellis Smith helps us unpack what these developments mean for Army’s thinking on training, adaptation, and preparing for the demands of contemporary and future conflict. He also seeks to distinguish those lessons that we ought to take into our Primary Operating Environment versus those that are unique to a land conflict between two nations that share a large land border. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned and if you haven’t already listened, go back to The Future of Land Warfare episode with Dr Jack Watling from RUSI.

‘The guys are firing in bursts, but you can put a significant rate of fire down to allow us to extricate ourselves from a situation ...’ In this week’s episode, we are joined by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilot from the 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville QLD. Recorded at the Avalon Air Show, our guest this week – CAPT Mac Purbrick – runs us through the state of play in Army aviation and how to fight rotary wing aircraft under all types of threat. C Squadron at the 5th Aviation Regiment is about to celebrate its 30th birthday, flying CH-47 Chinook helicopters since they were handed over by the Royal Australian Air Force in 1989. It is the Swiss army knife of helicopters, being able to conduct Air Mobile Operations, carry underslung howitzers, carry generators into flood zones and conduct Aeromedical Evacuation but it's baseline is being able to operate off a ship at night, with little clearance off the ground and fly into a landing zone the aircrew has never seen before. CAPT Purbrick talks about what happens when it goes right but more importantly what happens when it goes wrong. When planning with lift aircraft, unsurprisingly a commander needs to focus on an effect rather than an entire scheme of manoeuvre and plan for contingencies. What happens to my callsign if the primary landing zone becomes untenable and we get dropped 5km off? What happens to my callsign if all timings are pushed by 20 minutes because the aircraft has to sit in holding outside of the air defence threat waiting for a recon section to clear the landing zone? ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘Strategically, Kashmir offers high altitude military advantage and critical water sources. Emotionally, it invokes pride, pain and nationalism on both sides.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about the most recent tensions in Kashmir, a contested region between India and Pakistan. Our guest this week – Dr Ashok Sharma PhD – is a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales – Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. His research is in International Politics and he is an expert on South Asian geopolitics.   On 22 April 2025, a terrorist attack in Indian-Administered Kashmir which killed 26 civilians who were mostly Hindu tourists led to escalations between India and terrorist organisations in Pakistan and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. India responded to the terrorist attack by launching nine missile strikes onto targets in both Pakistan and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, followed by a series of skirmishes and drone strikes between the two countries. Pakistan then claimed to have shot-down five Indian fighter jets. Four days of tense escalation from the two nuclear nations were halted when a ceasefire was brokered on 10 May 2025.   Kashmir was partitioned in 1947 between India and Pakistan with a Line of Control dividing both countries ever since. Conflict has continued between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, with the first Indo-Pakistani war in 1965 and the Kargil War in 1999, and countless skirmishes in between. Beyond the geopolitical rivalry, the region has experienced waves of insurgency, crackdowns, and political unrest, particularly following the rise of separatist movements in the late 1980s. The revocation of Article 370 by the Indian government in 2019, which removed the region’s special autonomous status, further intensified tensions. This episode tells the story of Kashmir and how complex this long-standing feud between nuclear powers really is.   ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘Morale in the face of steel doesn’t always work.’ In this week’s episode, we take off from where we left off with the Bombing of Darwin and the Sparrow Force’s work in Timor combating the Japanese advance through South-East Asia and the Pacific. Joined by my regular co-host LTCOL Steve Young, this episode is about the turning point in the Pacific, the Battle for Milne Bay. Following the Bombing of Darwin and Sparrow Force’s deployment onto the island of Timor, the 7th Brigade was sent to Milne Bay to establish airfields using the US 43rd Engineering Regiment. The 7th Brigade, under BRIG John Field, would be bolstered by the 18th Brigade under the command of BRIG Frank Wootten. Milne Force as it would become to be known was also allocated two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter squadrons, making a Combined Joint Force commanded by MAJGEN Cyril Clowes. This episode tells the story of the Australian’s first win in the Pacific and the turning point for the Japanese Thrust. It started in the dead of the night, LT Robinson’s platoon established the first hasty ambush against the Japanese landing force, then a battalion tasked with fighting patrols was rerolled into the defence of KB Mission, two Japanese tanks advancing without lights and then illuminating Australian’s whose only defence was the Sticky Bomb which was not designed to be used in humid climates. These stories characterise the fighting in Milne Bay which was a battle of a thousand skirmishes fought in the pitch black. The RAAF’s 75 Squadron (who now fly F-35A Lightning II multi-role, supersonic, stealth fighters) is again mentioned in this episode, as both 75 Squadron and 76 Squadron fly P-40E Kittyhawks in air combat against Japanese Mitsubishi Zero’s to oppose the Japanese beach landings. As each aircraft would land for refuelling and rearming, the underside would be sprayed in mud as the aircraft matting got pushed further and further into the New Guinea mud. The Aircrew and Maintainers would use their bare hands to claw the mud from the underside before a pilot would take off again, exhausted and riddled with malaria and dysentery. The commander of 76 Squadron SQNLDR Peter Turnbull DFC was killed in action defending Milne Bay. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned. Lead Source: Veitch, M., 2019. Turning Point: The Battle for Milne Bay 1942 - Japan's First Land Defeat in World War II. Hachette Australia.

‘Mobilising the Reserve provides the Regular Army with a relatively quick solution for plugging manpower gaps and also the means to prime the pump.’ In this week’s episode, the creator of the popular Instagram page Tuesday Night Violence Co. joins us again to talk about his reserve battalion.  CPL Mitchell Clark is currently posted as the Training Sergeant at 2nd/17th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment (2/17 RNSWR). He has bounced in-and-out of full-time and part-time service and today he talks us through what a typical reserve infantry battalion looks like, and the value that those who volunteer to be a part of our organisation bring.    CPL Clark came to Army with a teaching background and finds real fulfilment in teaching and mentoring diggers as a Junior Non-Commissioned Officer. He has done jungle training in Malaysia as part of Rifle Company Butterworth, has deployed to Iraq with 6 RAR, was a Team Leader on Operation Resolute as part of the Transit Security Element and his career is not dissimilar from those he serves alongside. From diesel mechanics to medical professionals to architects, CPL Clark’s section looks a little bit different to a regular infantry one.    High levels of motivation, bang-for-buck training and a vast breadth of experience epitomise our Reserve workforce. If you get to work with a reserve unit, ask plenty of questions to not only get to know your attachments but also what they can offer in terms of getting after problems that your current callsign might try to solve in more conventional means. 'Choccos’ bring a wealth of knowledge from their full-time professions and trades to an Army that is trying to solve more-and-more complex problems.    —————————————————————————    Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have recorded with CPL Clark and many other amazing guests. if you haven’t already done so, go back and listen to CPL Clark’s previous episode and Mobilising through History which CPL Clark recommends in this episode. 

‘So, a fistfight ensues a couple of meters inside East Timor and the situation deteriorates very quickly.’ In this week’s episode, we talk through what it is like to deploy with no notice and little preparation onto an island that is on-fire and in turmoil. Our guest – COL John Papalitsas – was a brand-new infantry Platoon Commander at the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment when he got word that he would deploy his platoon to East-Timor as part of International Force East Timor (INTERFET). Listen in as he describes what it was like as the boat arrived and throughout his six-month deployment, telling the stories of the men and women that were deployed.    COL Papalitsas saw the Ready Parachute Company Group come in to do PT in the morning, conduct what they thought was an equipment check and by the afternoon deploy to RAAF Base Tindal to stage for an infill into Timor. With five-days' notice, his platoon followed up and flew to Darwin NT before deploying to Timor via ship on HMAS Jervis Bay. He talks of witnessing the aftermath of a massacre at the Hotel Tropical, his platoon deploying from Maliana by Blackhawk helicopter to clear some militia, giving his soldiers the order to fix bayonets in the form-up point, a tense checkpoint exchange between a section of his platoon and the Indonesian National Armed Forces and retrieving the local mayor’s daughter before she was dragged across the border by the militia.    Finally, COL Papalitsas uses a quote to epitomise his approach to leadership: ‘A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way’ - John C. Maxwell. Like many of the other guests we have had on The Cove Podcast have argued, it is on you to become as competent as you can and to own your job. You must show those around you that you mean the things that you say and that you are willing to do everything that you ask of your subordinates. You must also show them what right looks like, setting an incredible example for those that are always watching. This is leadership where it matters, where there may be no right-or-wrong, so get yourself as prepared as you can because like this young platoon commander at 3 RAR, you may have no idea when you’ll deploy.    —————————————————————————    Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.