Important military roles in war and peace

Balloonists

Military balloonists first went aloft in the 18th century, to see over enemy lines. Balloons continued to play a role in campaigns from Europe to the United States over the following decades. Even after aeroplanes began appearing over 20 century battlefields, balloonists continued to take to the sky.

During World War I, balloons were tethered to the ground by a wire attached to a winch. Balloonists hung suspended up to 1km above the earth as they observed the opposing line. Their role was to try and pick out artillery batteries and gather other information about enemy activity.

Unlike pilots and air gunners, balloonists were issued with parachutes against the possibility of their balloon being struck by incendiary bullets and crashing to earth in flames.

By World War II, balloonists had largely been consigned to the past, and those who served did so mainly on the Eastern Front. In present-day Australia, Royal Australian Air Force balloonists take part in more peaceful pursuits, taking part in displays, paying visits to remote locations and visiting schools to conduct aviation-related education programmes

Balloons were a favoured target for scout pilots in World War I. They were heavily protected by antiaircraft guns, machine guns and aircraft patrols. Unlike pilots and observers, balloonists, known to airmen as 'balloonatics', were issued with parachutes.

Bath attendants

Illnesses caused by the squalid, unsanitary conditions forced thousands of troops to leave Gallipoli. Bathing was limited to occasional swims in the Aegean, often under fire.

In other theatres of the war, units bathed together in divisional baths. Bath attendants scarcely feature in stories of Australians at war, but few who served on the Western Front could forget the baths:

We strip and get into a giant big hot bath about 20 at a time and my word you do feel alright afterwards, especially if you have just done about 12 days in the trenches.

Decades later, writing from a base in Vietnam, an officer told his family:

Our daily shower is a relief but I do need a good hot bath

Although for many personnel serving away from home, a daily shower alone represented undreamt of luxury.

Caterers, cooks and chefs

In World War I, cooks became adept at conjuring a variety of dishes from a limited and repetitive range of ingredients.

The old saying that an army marches on its stomach holds a great degree of truth. Throughout Australia's wartime history, service personnel have relied on the ability of cooks to conjure meals in all manner of circumstances. They have fed service personnel in crowded base areas, on major training exercises and on the front lines in wartime.

As the men preparing to assault German positions outside Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918 attested, a warm meal is not only a welcome distraction, fortifying soldiers for what lies ahead, but also an indication that the military organisation on which they rely is doing everything possible to give them the advantage.

For airmen, the pre-flight meal is a time-honoured tradition.

Sailors at sea depend on ships' cooks for sustenance as they perform their duties.

Chaplains

For more than 100 years, Australian defence force personnel have looked to chaplains for counsel and guidance.

In decades past, Australian military chaplains were almost always from the Christian denominations. Today, chaplains are from many of the world's major religions.

Chaplains have served in the front lines during major wars – some have been decorated for bravery in the field.

In wartime, chaplains have:

• buried the dead
• carried stretchers and tended the wounded
• counselled service men and women of all ranks
• arranged entertainment behind the lines
• been on the ships that have transported Australians to war
• accompanied those who have returned

For those of faith and for the non-religious alike, chaplains play a unique role in providing comfort and pastoral care in Australia's military forces.

More than 2000 Army chaplains have served from Gallipoli to Afghanistan. Having been called to the most dangerous places on battlefields around the world, some have lost their lives and many more have been wounded

Those held in the highest esteem by soldiers are, said an infantryman in Vietnam, ‘one of us, without a gun'.

Clearance divers

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) began using divers in the 1920s.

During World War II, RAN divers served in the European and Pacific theatres on mine clearance and reconnaissance operations.

In 1951, the RAN established a clearance diving branch, and in 1956, a separate Mobile Clearance Diving Team.

Clearance divers deployed to Vietnam in 1967.

Since the establishment of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 1976, they have been its specialist divers.

In recent decades, clearance divers have deployed to the Persian Gulf in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, and again during the war in Iraq which began in 2003.

Since the first RAN divers took to the water, their work has included mine warfare, reconnaissance, salvage and covert operations, and locating, identifying and disposing of improvised explosive devices.

Following the discovery of World War II ordnance off Cooktown, North Queensland, the captain of minehunter HMAS Gascoyne said:

After arriving in the area off Cooktown, we located an old sea mine in about seven metres of clear water … after a careful environmental and safety assessment the divers determined the best course of action and safely detonated the mine.

Dentists

Some of Australia's most respected service personnel have been nurses, doctors or stretcher-bearers, although military medicine requires many specialisations.

Before the Gallipoli Campaign was half over, more than 600 Australians were evacuated with dental health issues. In the early days, the dentists' chair was a few yards from the trenches, in the side of a dugout with a pack for a headrest. The 'dentist' was simply a doctor armed with dental forceps. the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) had deployed 130 dental officers overseas by the end of World War I.

During World War II, dentists served in every theatre. They were also part of the post-war occupation force in Japan.

Australian dentists have served through each war, conflict and peacekeeping operation since 1945. Although the risks may no longer be as severe, they still encounter situations unknown to their civilian counterparts. One dentist recalled hauling heavy dental equipment between naval vessels:

up and down narrow ladders, and – the vibration and rolling of the ship to contend with. It was certainly a long way from dental school.

Dog handlers

Dogs have served alongside Australian military personnel for more than 100 years.

At least one dog was taken overseas as a mascot in the Second South African (Boer) War of 1899 to 1902. Since then, many dogs have fulfilled this role with Australian military formations.

Dogs have also served a more useful purpose.

During the two world wars, dogs carried messages for Australia defence personnel. In World War II, dogs were also used as scouts for forward patrols and as guards for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) equipment and installations.

The Australian Army began using tracker dogs in Korea, and handlers worked with dogs on operations in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.

From those 20th century conflicts to the present-day, handlers have regarded their dogs with enormous affection. The handler and their dog train hard and work together in the most testing and dangerous environments.

Along with their normal load on operations, handlers also carry extra food and water for their dogs. In the field, they will sleep alongside each other, sometimes sharing the shelter of a hole in the ground when under fire.

From their beginnings as trainees with British forces, Australian dog handlers have served alongside personnel from several allied countries on operations involving mine clearance and explosive detection, tracking and reconnaissance and guard duties.

Drivers

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The dangerous job of bringing ammunition up on the Somme was described by one driver:

The Hun was sending a lot of stuff over knocking … the roads to bits. Our luck was in and [we] came through safely … we passed hundreds of our wounded … a most awful and pitiful sight.

In 1917 outside Ypres, a battlefield defined more by the weather than most, an artillery officer urged a correspondent to write about the drivers from the wagon lines who brought up ammunition under shell fire and through a barely passable morass. He wrote:

It was looked upon as a cold-footed job before but – the drivers took pride in showing what they could do when they came into the thick of it.

Today, drivers are associated with motorised vehicles. Some of those vehicles have been maintained, upgraded and used over decades. Drivers of armoured personnel carriers on peacekeeping operations in Somalia and Timor in the 1990s were sometimes at the controls of vehicles used in Vietnam 30 or 40 years before.

Driving is not always so hazardous. In an organisation so dependent on logistics, military drivers operate all manner of vehicle.

After many years of service, one driver said:

your options are limitless – I was on the road for a good portion of the year – some of these trips can be a month or two, moving the big heavy machinery and stores and containers between the bases.

Engineers

Mechanised armed forces rely on the skills of many trades. Engineers have been a presence on the battlefield since before Federation.

Sappers, as they are known:

• dig trenches and build earthworks under fire
• lay and clear mines
• bridge rivers
• build roads, air strips, obstacles and defensive positions
• service vehicles
• drive and crew aircraft

In the words of one officer:

If you bog your Bushmaster in a river, they will turn up with a Heavy Recovery Vehicle. If your APC needs a powerpack change, they will turn up in an Armoured Recovery Vehicle with a new one and do a change-out in the field – Those guys can walk on water.

Explosive ordinance technicians

Closely akin to the work of engineers, explosive ordnance technicians risk their lives to save others.

One of Australia's most highly decorated naval officers, Leon Goldsworthy, earned his many decorations for disarming explosive ordnance during World War II.

Each service includes explosive ordnance technicians, whose work often remains in the background. One disposal expert said:

One less device is one less kid dead in a landmine [explosion] in Laos, or one less family without a mum, dad, son, daughter.

For decades, landmines and in recent decades improvised explosive devices have been among the deadliest threats facing Australians on active service and the civilians who live in conflict zones.

Ground crew

Aircrews of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) depend on the many people who serve as ground crew on combat, peacekeeping or humanitarian operations.

Ground crew ensure that aircraft with thousands of hours on their log books are airworthy and prepared for the rigours of flight in dangerous or trying circumstances.

Since the beginning of Australian military aviation, air men and women have recognised the enormous importance of ground crew, acknowledging:

• their often-unsung role in keeping aircrew safe
• the intense nature of their work
• the countless hours they spend repairing, servicing and preparing aircraft for operational flying

Intelligence officers

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Intelligence work is at the heart of any military endeavour.

Good intelligence can make a significant contribution to a campaign's success, ensuring that those who go into battle or serve on other operations are well briefed and have a clear understanding of their task, the environment in which they are working, and the state and strength of their enemy.

Intelligence personnel work behind the front lines, analysing material ranging from electronic communications to satellite images – the successors of radio intercepts and aerial photographs.

They also work on the battlefield, exposing themselves to mortal risk to gather what may prove to be life-saving intelligence.

While seeking to make use of enemy communications to advantage their own side, intelligence personnel also perform the equally vital function of protecting Australian communications from adversaries.

Linguists and translators

In war, enemies and allies often share common dangers and endure similar conditions. But they are separated by circumstance and often also by language. The translator's role, often overlooked, carries enormous responsibility and sometimes enormous risk.

In 1944, Norman Sparnon of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section found himself in combat while commanding Japanese American linguists on Noemfoor Island. He said:

Linguists can become involved even though it was not supposed to happen.

More than 70 years later, Ahmad Shah Shahi, an Afghani interpreter for the Australian Defence Force, told a reporter:

I have faced more than a hundred attacks, like suicide bombers, ambushes and even IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Dangerous and complex, one veteran said that military translating is not limited to interpreting words, it is:

about building relationships, engaging the atmospherics, reading body language in the background chatter.

Meteorologists

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Service personnel operate as part of a vast military enterprise that relies on careful, detailed planning. Yet even the most thorough preparations can be derailed by the weather.

On bomber stations in World War II, the ‘Met man' briefed airmen before every operation. An inaccurate forecast could bring disaster, as Cecil Bryant found when his bomber struck thick cloud one night:

This hadn't been mentioned by the Met people – ice began forming on the wings – in seconds we were blacked out – Charlie [his aircraft's name], – covered in ice, turned over.

Cecil's plane dived through thousands of metres until the pilot regained control and nursed the aircraft back to England.

By the end of the war against Japan in 1945, 6 mobile meteorological flights were operating with Australian forces between Borneo and the Solomons. They were providing:

• ballistic wind and temperature data for artillery
• surf forecasts for beachheads
• rain and flood predictions for engineers
• sea forecasts for small craft
• cloud and visibility forecasts for food drops or close air support for infantry

Weather has always been and remains a key element in operational planning. Today's military meteorologists are trained to the highest international standard. They play an integral role in the defence force's day‑to-day life.

Military police

In major wars, military police were often standing guard along roads and directing traffic. For a long time the provosts, as military police were known, were reviled by frontline soldiers. One veteran of the Great War wrote:

There is no way that you can convince me that those bastards ever came anywhere near the front.

Harsh, commonly expressed and less than fair, such views colour our understanding of military police.

As World War I continued, the military police were selected from the ranks of frontline veterans, many of whom were decorated or had been wounded.

In World War II, their battlefield performance prompted one infantryman to say:

the provosts earned well deserved respect – they were invaluable specialists.

More than 200 military policemen are commemorated on the Australian War Memorial's Roll of Honour, testimony to the dangers they face in the field.

Since 1945 military police have served in every war and conflict in which Australia has been involved, and on many peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

Musicians

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Music and musicians have long been an important element of military service:

• Musical instruments, most notably the bugle, are used to communicate orders.
• Musicians have led troops into battle in centuries past.
• Buglers and other musicians are still an essential part of military and commemorative ceremonies.

Bandsmen have served throughout Australia's wartime history, bringing moments of joy and relief to those on front-line service and entertaining service personnel behind the lines.

Described by one First World War man as ‘the soul of the battalion', in times of battle bandsmen have worked as stretcher-bearers – leaving their instruments behind, sharing the hazards of serving under fire and sometimes losing their lives.

In 1942, almost every member of the 2/22nd Battalion band died when, as prisoners of the Japanese, the ship on which they were being transported was sunk, killing more than a thousand Australian service men and civilian internees.

Today, military bands are based in towns and cities around the country, with musicians supporting many events and playing a wide range of musical styles.

Navigators

Navigators, most readily associated with naval and aerial operations, have played a vital role in Australian military endeavours for more than 100 years.

Successful military campaigns depend on many factors; among the most important is the ability of naval and air crew to bring ships, submarines or aircraft to an individual target or to an area of operations.

While naval navigators must guide their vessels safely across the world's seas and oceans, they are also required to negotiate dangerous coastal waters. This was illustrated in Korean War operations, where navigators often worked under fire in the hazardous, unpredictable estuarine deltas of the Korean peninsula.

Aircrew face different navigational challenges. During World War II, this might have involved navigating on long flights over vast, featureless oceans or on night-time bombing operations over a European continent lit only by searchlights and gunfire.

Navigational tools have advanced over the decades, but the essential techniques are little changed. Today's navigators continue to learn the basic methods known to sailors for centuries and to aircrew since the inception of flight.

In 1903, the Sydney Evening News told readers that on a naval vessel preparing for battle:

the captain would be with the navigating officer to steer the ship in action.

Generations of Australian navigators have since accepted this immense responsibility, including:

• Lieutenant John Howell-Price navigating a submarine on a raid against Zeebrugge in 1918
• Lieutenant Commander Galfry Gatacre, navigator on board HMS Rodney during the 1941 sinking of the German battleship Bismarck
• Lieutenant James Kelly plotting courses, often under fire, for HMAS Murchison through the treacherous waters of Korea's Han estuary over 8 days in 1951

In subsequent decades, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) navigators have guided ships:

• through wars and conflicts in Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam and the Middle East
• on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions around the world
• on military exercises in Australia and overseas

Ships rely on navigators to set safe courses across seas and oceans, through challenging and often dangerous coastal waters and into foreign ports.

For more than 100 years, RAN navigators have occupied a respected and senior place on RAN and allied ships. They bring modern techniques to a task practised by mariners since ancient times.

Postal clerks

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Over the course of more than 100 years of war and peace, the ways in which Australian service personnel keep in touch with friends and loved ones have undergone enormous change.

Despite these changes, postal clerks continue to play an important part in ensuring that letters and parcels from home reach those serving on military operations.

For Australians serving in the field, getting mail from home has been a source of great happiness and often also the cause of deep longing. Whatever emotions it arouses, the timely arrival of mail at its destination has always been important in maintaining morale among those serving in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations around the world.

Signallers

Signallers have served in colonial and Australian military formations since the late 1860s.

Over the decades, the technology and equipment used by signallers has evolved far beyond what those who served in decades past would recognise.

Yet in some areas, little has changed.

Throughout their history, signallers have enabled communication between the front lines and the rear areas.

When the link comprised telephone lines running from headquarters to the firing line, signallers had to brave artillery and other fire to mend broken wires.

Signallers also communicated using more traditional means, such as pigeons, which continued to carry messages during World War II. By then, signalling equipment was sufficiently advanced that signallers could carry it to the battlefield on their backs.

At sea, naval signallers continue to rely on age-old methods of visual signalling using flags and lamps, while at the same time also using the most modern methods whose distant origins can be traced to the development of wireless telegraphy in the early 20th century.

Over the decades since World War II, signallers have served in all operational areas in which Australian troops have been involved both as combatants and as peacekeepers

Veterinarians

Animals have long served an important role in military endeavours.

Over the course of Australian wartime history, service men and women have used and relied on many types of animals for:

• transport
• guarding installations and equipment
• hauling equipment
• conveying messages
• seeking out enemy troops or positions
• detecting explosives
• carrying soldiers into battle
• evacuating the wounded

Service veterinarians play an important role in maintaining the health of the animals used in military operations. Vets ensure that the animals are fit to perform the tasks to which they are assigned, providing regular check-ups and treating those with an illness or injury.

Copyright

Department of Veterans' Affairs 2021