The Cove Podcast

Serving in Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) is an aspiration for many and attainable for some. It is a popular choice for ADF members seeking to take their career to the next level and civilians wanting more out of life than a trade or corporate job can offer.Recruiting is underway to identify the next generation of Special Forces Operators, Engineers, Signallers, Medics and Enablers. Depending on the role, some candidates participate in the Special Forces Selection Course (SFSC) – one of the longest and most gruelling selection courses in the world.We’ve partnered with the ADF School of Special Operations to produce a series of episodes to give you insights straight from the source. If you’re interested in joining SOCOMD’s units - 1st Commando Regiment, Special Air Service Regiment, 2nd Commando Regiment, Special Operations Engineer Regiment or Special Operations Logistics Squadron then this is the series for you.This episode features two SOCOMD Psychologists who discuss enhancing mindsets and building mental toughness for the Special Forces Selection Course. Together they possess a wealth of collective experience in SOCOMD and have witnessed first-hand how mental preparation can impact performance on Selection, the Reinforcement Training Cycle and Operations. Their discussion provides helpful strategies to assist candidates when responding to different scenarios during Selection and beyond. The insights they have gained from engaging with successful and unsuccessful candidates provide helpful tips to assist future candidates facing those tough and challenging moments on Selection. The key takeaway - if you are not there at the end of Selection, you won’t have the opportunity to be selected. Therefore, you need to build those mental skills to help you persevere and thrive to the end.SOCOMD is looking for high calibre individuals who are ready to play a part in cutting-edge warfare now, and into the future. Could it be you?Find out More: Special Forces Operator - ADF Careers

In this engaging conversation, MAJGEN Chris Smith, the Deputy Chief of the Australian Army, shares insights on warrior culture. He stresses the need for a culture that prioritizes team success over individual accolades, highlighting loyalty, discipline, and moral restraint. Smith critiques romanticized soldiering, emphasizing the importance of melding personal values with national expectations. He discusses historical examples and the ethical dilemmas faced in combat, advocating for a resilient and principled warrior ethos in modern military training.

‘You can’t discern where [the rockets were] actually landing and by night, the noise is enveloping.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about the conflict in Israel, Lebanon and Syria with two people that were on the ground on October 7th, 2023. Our guests – MAJ Mick Evans and CAPT Rhys Turner – talk us through their deployment on OPERATION PALADIN and what it was like being there when thousands of rockets started flying.OPERATION PALADIN is the Australian Defence Force support to the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), whose activities are spread across Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syrian Arab Republic. Both guests deployed for a lengthy 12-month stint, with MAJ Mick Evans spending his time in Syria and CAPT Rhys Turner spending his time in Israel and then southern Lebanon. We explore the geo-political situation in one of the most complex regions and conflicts in the world, attempting to unpack everything that they both learnt over their long deployments.We talk to the training they received at the Peace Operations Training Centre, their infiltration into what was intended to be a ‘normal’ deployment, what happen on and after October 7th and the varying conditions within each country. Rhys observed the Israeli mobilisation where thousands of troops were mobilised and moved throughout the country. Mick was at an Observation Post that had rockets flying over the top of his position, dropping short some 600m from their position.————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘You don’t need to be dead to sell life insurance.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about how to look after yourself and those that you command. Our guest this week is the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) for the Directorate of Army Health – LTCOL Gordon Wing MBBS – who was an infantry officer who deployed to East Timor as a Company Second-in-Command, to the Solomon Islands as an Adjutant and to Afghanistan as a Combat Team Commander and then chose to follow a life-long dream of becoming a doctor.On this week’s episode, we shift tact from the future of land warfare and history to talk through some more practical skills to help commanders and individuals negotiate the systems that enable recovery. While often misunderstood, the Military Employment Classification (MEC) System is not a medical system, it is a personnel system. It’s designed to put up a forcefield to enable an individual's rehabilitation, and most of the members that need to recover from injury return to a deployable MEC status on completion. Medical Officers and those that provide healthcare to ADF members make recommendations; however, they do not make decisions on an individual’s MEC status. Once a member is reclassified to a different MEC status, they should be presented at an Individual Welfare Board and then at regular Unit Welfare Boards to ensure that the member’s rehabilitation is on-track and that they are receiving the support that they need.An Individual Welfare Board is more encompassing and held ad-hoc to consider all relevant information regarding the support to a member and their family. A Unit Welfare Board considers the need of all members within a unit and are commonly held quarterly. Welfare Boards are not just conducted for a member undergoing medical rehabilitation or recovery, they can also be conducted for complex personal issues; or, for those being investigated for, and/or charged with, a serious offence. Both types of Welfare Boards are designed to provide subject matter expert advice to the chain of command to ensure that the correct support is being provided to achieve the best possible outcome for the member and their family.This episode contains the practical skills to negotiate the MEC System, to get the best outcome for the members that we support and to return to fighting fit. If you have civilian dependants, sign up for the ADF Family Health Program to be eligible for unlimited GP visits and $800 per dependant in family benefit for other services. Find more details at https://adffamilyhealth.com/.————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘The warning time that they thought they had completely evaporated in a moment.’ In this week’s episode, we take off from where we left off with Lark Force in Rabaul, New Guinea as the Allies continue to combat the Japanese advance through South-East Asia and the Pacific. Joined by my regular co-host LTCOL Steve Young, this episode is far closer to home, focused on the largest attack on home-soil being on Darwin, Northern Territory.Following Pearl Harbour, the United States identified a need to establish bases that could be held against an initial Japanese onslaught and eventually used to mount counter offensives. The United States chose Darwin because of its deep-water port and its proximity to the Philippines. The assumption was that if the United States could ship stores to Brisbane and Sydney, they could move these stores via road and rail inland to Darwin to stage before the Philippines. Darwin, at this time, consisted of four main streets, the newly established Larrakeyah Barracks and RAAF Base Darwin, a single deep-water port, and a population of less that 6,000.On the 19 February 1942 (74 days after Pearl Harbour), The Nagumo Force was tasked to attack Darwin. The commander sent 242 aircraft to destroy ships afloat in the Darwin Harbour, strike aircraft on the newly established RAAF Base Darwin and the civilian airport and attacked Darwin to deny its use by the Allies. The Nagumo Force managed to kill 250, wound 300-400 people, destroy 30 aircraft, sink 11 vessels and damage 25 vessels. Both the Japanese and the United States overestimated the impact that Darwin would have on the Pacific War and we explain why in this episode.The Bombing of Darwin is commemorated on 19 February each year in Darwin, with 8/12 Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery providing a blank firing demonstration with M2A2 105mm Howitzers, the 1st Aviation Regiment providing Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters and the RAAF’s 75 Squadron providing F-35A Lightning II multi-role, supersonic, stealth fighters to simulate the Japanese bombing and the Allied defence.—————————————————————————Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

Serving in Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) is an aspiration for many and attainable for some. It is a popular choice for ADF members seeking to take their career to the next level and civilians wanting more out of life than a trade or corporate job can offer. Recruiting is underway to identify the next generation of Special Forces Operators, Engineers, Signallers, Medics and Enablers. Depending on the role, some candidates participate in the Special Forces Selection Course (SFSC) – one of the longest and most gruelling selection courses in the world.We’ve partnered with the ADF School of Special Operations to produce a series of episodes to give you insights straight from the source. If you’re interested in joining SOCOMD’s units - 1st Commando Regiment, Special Air Service Regiment, 2nd Commando Regiment, Special Operations Engineer Regiment or Special Operations Logistics Squadron then this is the series for you.This episode features Army physiotherapist, MAJ Angela Uphill PhD who conducted her doctorate on observations from Special Forces Selection. Working within SOCOMD’s Human Performance Optimisation cell, she undertook a comprehensive research project to assess the physical and performance impacts of Selection on candidates. We discuss the data and findings to gain insights about the indicators for who was more or less likely to make it through to the end of Selection. MAJ Uphill also provides some helpful tips to assist with your own training and preparation.SOCOMD is looking for high calibre individuals who ready to play a part in cutting-edge warfare now, and into the future. Could it be you?Find out More: Special Forces Operator - ADF Careers

'With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we can now expect Large Scale Combat in Future Warfare' CAPT Malcolm delves into what we might expect with LSC being one of the main strategies of integrated deterrence. This brings together Allies, Partners and Industry to achieve the desired effect; we must think beyond the land domain and even outside of Army or the military, as we are now working as part of an integrated force. He also explains that with new developments in technology (automated systems, AI and others) which also affect the way that we fight, each of these considerations brings up ethical questions in the way that we fight. CHAP Bouzanquet adds his perspective on ethical decision making with the acceleration towards automation: as we increase the range of our capabilities, we decrease the response time that we have to make an ethical decision, which in turn increases the lethality and the effects through new and emerging technologies. The choke point is going to be the ethical and legal questions that come into play with these new processes. ‘How do we ensure that we are not creating an ethical lag in our processes?’WO2 Campbell adds with this improved level of technologies, we could be in a whole other country and ‘still be witness to traumatic events and then…jump down for a schooner at the Seaview with our mates’. Realistically, we have to be able to empower everyone, through good education and mentorship, to make decisions within the battlespace that are the right decision on the ground.Join CAPT Todd Lempa as he interviews WO2 Tony Campbell, S7 at ADFA; CHAP Joshua Bouzanquet, padre at RMC; and CAPT Matt Malcolm, PhD in Philosophy and bringing an academic perspective to the ethics discussion. —————————————————————————Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘[A] recruit instructor is … the first point of contact really, for a soldier’s journey’. CPL Numans explains that your main role as an instructor is to train your section of recruits in all the basic soldierly skills, to be ready for Army. You are with them from the moment they step off the bus, through all the drills and lessons, culminating in the field phase where they conduct infantry minor tactics. These are the basic skills that all soldiers need to know. Finally, you are there for them when they March Out.CPL Numans reflects on some of the lighter moments of being an instructor, such as wasting a recruit’s time when they’ve come to you for assistance, but they need to be on parade or attending a lesson. He also reflects on activities such as ‘Skit Night’ where the recruits can take the mickey out of their R.I.s.Our guest this episode, CPL Jade Numans is a current recruit instructor at 1RTB, joins us to provide insight into both the organisation and his role, and what these might achieve for Army.________________________________________Make sure to listen and subscribe to make sure that you do not miss out on any of The Cove Podcast.

'Black Dagger is our activity that gives JTACs the exposure they need to drop live ordinance in close proximity to friendlies.' In the first joint podcast between The Cove Podcast and Hangar 46, we host CAPT Craig Hogendyk (OC JTAC Troop) and Pete (a Fighter Combat Instructor at 1 Squadron, RAAF) to discuss all things Close Air Support (CAS).We discuss how to become a Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) or a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC), explain the training pipeline and how each role is employed at the hyper tactical level. Black Dagger is the culminating exercise for the small panel of JTAC students that get a chance at being given a Dagger Call Sign. We discuss how difficult it is to hit land targets with precision accuracy while remaining concealed on the ground from the enemy. CAPT Hogendyk has controlled aircraft such the Tiger Armed Attack Reconnaissance Helicopters from Army’s 1st Aviation Regiment, A-10 Thunderbolt II Attack Aircraft and B-52 Stratofortress Strategic Bombers from the US Military and has controlled Pete’s F/A-18 Super Hornet.Pete recently finished his Air Warfare Instructor Course (AWIC) and qualified as a Fighter Combat Instructor (FCI), Australia’s equivalent of Top Gun. Although this episode is centred on CAS, Pete talks us through all of the other roles that a Super Hornet can fulfil and all of the weaponeering behind choosing the right ordinance to strike a variety of deliberate and opportunistic targets.Join the host of Hangar 46, Miss Cass Bowers, and the host of The Cove Podcast, CAPT Todd Lempa, to discuss real integration at the hyper tactical level.—————————————————————————Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘It is really important to look at our defeats’. LTCOL Young explains that Rabaul is potentially one of the most shameful episodes of Australian marshal history. In 1942 The Australian War Cabinet decided not to provide any further reinforcements to the Malayan barrier, leaving the garrisons at Ambon, Timor and Rabaul totally alone with no evacuation plan. This set the conditions for command.COL Scanlan was the commanding officer of Lark Force during the Battle of Rabaul. With limited resources at his disposal, and no plan to execute, he gives the order that it is ‘every man for himself’ as his troops are facing down an invading Japanese platoon.Our guest this episode, LTCOL Steve Young, joins us to shed some light on the tactical considerations behind an experience of command in isolation and how difficult the environment and enemy is to defeat under those circumstances.________________________________________Make sure to listen and subscribe to make sure that you do not miss out on any of The Cove Podcast.