​At platoon level, it came down to the Boss, the Sarge and the NCOs.  We were responsible for improving and developing standards in our sections and across the platoon. In barracks, the NCOs instructed at section level or platoon between 8 and 20 hours of training.

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Skills

The skills that I believed to be important and required monthly training – were weapons, shooting, first aid and target indication. The skills that were required to develop junior leaders were section tactics, navigation, leadership and instruction. Then at section level the skills we needed to be effective were fitness, section tactics, fire control and casualty management. Fitness overlayed every facet – the ability for soldier to be effective, a leader to lead and a section to be cohesive and functional.

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Talk Throughs

The Battle School at Tully was great at using Talk Throughs to achieve training outcomes. The training in many regards was a form of Rehearsal for a Patrol, an Ambush, an Obstacle Crossing or an Assault.

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Just as I cloned the instructional skills of Bruce, Doyley and Moorey in Seven Platoon as an impressionable digger; as a junior Section Commander I took a lot of notes on the key training outcomes whilst training in Tully. In many instances, I replicated the objectives required by Tully into Section talk throughs to ensure that the Section and every digger was fully prepared for any deployment to Tully.

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Because Tully was the closest thing we had to learning operational skills and being assessed to undertake those skills.

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Many of us who grew up through annual trips to Tully agree that if you can soldier effectively in Close country like Tully, then those skills transfer easily to open country.

Every training day spent in the re-entrant rehearsing and practising infantry minor tactics was done using Talk throughs.

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What is a Talk Through?

Any lesson – drill, weapons or knowledge lesson has a learning outcome and an instructional phase and learning or practise phase. The final phase is a test phase to determine if the lesson has been assimilated.

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For a Section Attack for example, I would introduce the four phases of the assault.

Next, in a simple semi-circle in the field, we would discuss the Contact drill. The Actions each individual in the section will take when we are contacted from the front of the section. We would then patrol and initiate a Contact drill, with the Instructor Section Commander observing the actions taken by the section and each digger.

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At the conclusion, a debrief of the Contact drill would be undertaken, with key lessons – good actions and bad responses that needed remediation. If it were mostly successful, the next phase of the Assault may progress. If there were major issues that needed to be corrected, the key actions required would be discussed and then a second drill undertaken.

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This continued through Contact drill, Appreciation and Recon, Assault and Reorg. This training style was pretty much straight from the Tully Handbook. And we used it for all Minor Tactics at Section and Platoon level. It was a similar style that proved effective teaching diggers to be junior leaders in pre Course Training for Promotion courses.

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If I said what is the best skill a junior leader can have – I would say without doubt it’s the ability to manage a Talk Through for their Section through the key infantry minor tactics.

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It is the best rehearsal for being effective in the field.

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Debriefs

Just as the Talk Through is critical to manage training, the Debrief is critical to leave the key messages, to ensure that the learning outcomes are understood and noted for follow up or remediation training at a later date. Debriefs after training are critical to continuous improvement and elevating standards, they highlight faults or improvements at both the digger and command level.

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They also provide the chance for positive reinforcement of skills that are effective and good performance. But – standards don’t improve by doing the same thing well. You elevate standards by conducting training that is targeted and prioritised based upon a required skill or performance state. And the prioritization is identified by things that didn’t go well or work well in the field, range, or subunit training. There is often as much value in unsuccessful training as highly effective training, provided the right messaging is conveyed in the Debrief or feedback for individuals post activity.

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Training can be done effectively or ineffectively, but if the objective is to elevate standards, then the message at Debrief is the alignment or progress being made towards the required end state.

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Procedure Lesson

As I progressed through the ranks, Sergeant Majors – at both CSM and RSM level required to conduct Procedure Lessons.

What is a Procedure Lesson? A Talk through of a Ceremonial activity.

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So, when I went on Subject Two for Warrant Officer and was required to conduct Procedure Lesson for Bringing the Colours into the Sergeants Mess, I had pretty much rehearsed the lesson style doing Talk throughs in the field as a junior Corporal over the last three years. And when I was on Subject One for Warrant Officer at Canungra, I was required to lead a full Funeral service and the rehearsals with a number of procedure lessons concurrently for the Funeral Party, Coffin Bearers, Church Service and Funeral Procession to and from Canungra Church.

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Master Coach – Field Firing

When I was a Master Coach, we had to run field firing exercises and again the Talk Through in the rehearsal phase was invaluable. It’s basically the same Instructional skill – in a different environment, with a different patter. The one I learnt and cloned from our Instructors at Tully.