Whose Name We Share

69 Today’s Gunline 2013 The 5 th Battalion in 2013 assumed the role of the Ready Battle Group, which was the first time the responsibility has been claimed outside of the 3 rd Brigade. As a part of the Ready Battle Group, the 103 rd Battery provided members to form a full Gun Battery and CLOG to the 5 RAR battle group. The Battery for the most part, however, could enjoy participating in various activities such as sporting events, military skills competitions and adventure training. Life in the battery became more stable as they were no longer required for deployments. Several courses became priority as well as small team developments. The Battery typically deploys to Mount Bundey on training excercises, as well as Shoalwater Bay, Cultana and in one instance in 2014 to Hawaii. Rim of the Pacific was a 4 month long exercise in Hawaii and the Battery also provided members for an exchange with the Indonesian army. The first major gunnery exercise for 2013 was held during March in Cultana during Exercise Thunder Walk/Run with the explicit purpose of being the lead up training to Exercise Kite Hawk in April. Offensive Support was provided as part of 101 Composite Battery, six guns in total, of which 103 helped to make up the numbers. Elements of the Adelaide based 102 Coral Battery also deployed to this exercise. When Exercise Kite Hawk came around Joint Fires Teams deployed to Mount Bundey Training Area to conduct live fire training utilising the Tiger helicopters from 161 Squadron, 1 Aviation Regiment in April. Prior to this, JFTs spent training sessions in 161 Sqn’s flight simulation centre. This gave soldiers a solid understanding of the aircraft’s munitions and capabilities, as well as discuss tactics. 103 rd Battery’s own Bombardier Michael Krek said the exercise was a great opportunity to the soldiers. They could practise day and night time engagements as well as plenty of 30mm and 70mm ammunition to play with. Utilising infrared pointers, the JFTs could talk on the pilots of the Tigers to the targets, especially in low light conditions.