Soldier home from Australia

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 476, 9 March 1993, Page 6

Soldier home from Australia

Sergeant Major Rick Radford, now Company Sergeant Major for Recruit Company, comes to

Waiouru directly from a stint as Squadron Sergeant Major with the Australian Defence Force Academy.

This prestigious military establishment trains six to eight of the New Zealand Army's top officer cadets each year. New Zealand service personnel like Rick assist their Australian counterparts in the running of the academy. The Australian Defence Force Academy (AFDA) is a triservice establishment affiliated with the New South Wales University. Officer cadets combine a prograrnme of military studies with a degree in either arts, science or engineering. W02 Radford found his posting "a bit of a culture shock". His infantry background had not prepared him for the tri-service nature of the establishment. "My predecessor told me a bit about what to expect but until you are on the ground you don't understand. It is such a diverse and different place."

"When you were out on the parade ground you got an idea of the scale of the place. There would be 980 to 1000 cadets on parade. j My own squadron strength, was almost 150 cadets, plus my staff," said W02 Radford. Staff for each squadron are a deliberate mix of the three services. Foxtrot Squadron had an Army Captain, Navy Lieutenant and a Flight Lieutenant working imder a Squadron Leader (Air Force) as Officer Commanding. "They incorporated a bit of all the services into one when they taught military skills. For example, the sword drill; there' s nothing like it anywhere else!" Academic programmes are intermingled with military studies and W02 Radford found that liaison between the two was an important part of his job. "Mostly I was doing the

same things as any other company Sergeant Major, teaching military law, drill and taking parades. One extra duty was being in charge of our own lines. It was a bit like managing a hotel with 150 rooms. At first when they came to me

and said the washing machine was breaking down I said 'that's not my job', but yeah, it was!" He said he thoroughly enjoyed his three years at the Academy but that it is good to be home. "When I was leaving I

wrote a six page letter to my successor, W02 Steve Fantham but I couldn't hope to explain the complexities of the place. I saw the look of amazement on his face when he arrived. I guess I must have had that same look."