The Edge

The Next Revolution in Defence Spending

‘Whatever works’ is what the world’s military wants to purchase. But what is working in the current Ukrainian crisis? This lateral thinking look at the source of Ukrainian strength could suggest the next revolution in Defence spending.

Privatisation and the Pitfalls of ADF Expansion

If the ADF is to retain its best people as well as drive recruitment, it needs to match the attractions of private enterprise and not submit to an erosion of its core purpose.

Information – the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet - Part Two

Part Two

This is part two of Information - the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet. In this part the author examines each member of the Military Power Quartet and the effects the use, or misuse, that each element has had against the backdrop of the Ukranian conflict. 

Information – the Missing Member of the Military Power Quartet - Part One

In his forward to the new capstone doctrine, Australian Military Power^[1], CDF General Campbell highlights ‘to fight and win, the ADF must fight as a cohesive force and with a clear understanding of how military power supports national power’.^[2] The doctrine attempts to distil the complex system of systems that comprise the Defence enterprise.

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – Five Lessons for Taiwan

Beijing is closely watching the West’s response to the 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for its own plans regarding the eventual subjugation of the independent country of Taiwan. The West’s desultory response to the crisis has revealed plain vulnerabilities and false assumptions about what the West would likely do in the event of an amphibious invasion or blockade of Taiwan by mainland China.

In Memoriam of the UNSC – The Ukraine conflict, world order, and the ADF

Russia’s act of aggression against Ukraine has finally proved the frailty of the UNSC design against belligerent behemoths.

Book Review: Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World, by Miroslav Volf

The influence of religion at its worst on violence, and its best on peacemaking, is relevant to military leaders today.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

If Putin is looking to history to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he should also heed the words of one of history’s great literary figures in John Donne.

Book Review: Stopping Military Suicides, by Kate Hendricks Thomas and Sarah Plummer Taylor

Veteran suicides number 500 in Australia over the last two decades, overshadowing 41 combat deaths. This is the context of the urgent need for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Statistics suggest the scale of the issue but it gets starkly personal when we know or have supported someone who has taken their own life or thought about it.  

Book review: Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, by Joan Beaumont

My fascination with the Great War, as for other amateur genealogists, begins with the involvement of my relatives. My wife’s paternal grandfather Edward Funston served on the Western Front and suffered trench feet, as well as his brother Hubert Funston who was shot beside him. Her maternal great grandfather Thomas William Austin also served, and survived the war but disappeared. On my father’s side, Fred Petty arrived on the Western Front in December 1917 and was killed by a German shell in March 1918.

Book Review: Beyond Combat, edited by Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson

The Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) core business is foundation warfighting. However, it is often involved in other activities: welfare of soldiers and their families, uniform and nutrition provision, military training, military memorials and music bands. Beyond Combat seeks to explore military history- not just through the wars that are fought- but by “embrac[ing] the history of all that militaries ‘do’ away from the battlefield that is central to the lives of the soldiers who compose those forces” (p.1).

Book Review: Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army by Brigadier Nicholas Jans (Ret’d) OAM

One reason I joined the Army was that I saw it as an organisation that was committed to developing the leadership of its people. I wanted a piece of that – both to develop as a leader, and to contribute to the leadership development of others. Army is willing and eager to learn and adapt from the best leadership studies and practices in business and other spheres.