Army Exercise: In the West Coast region of South Australia

For many Australians, Anzac Day is the one day of the year when we take stock. A day when, as the diggers file passed, we stop to consider our enviable lifestyle and the supreme sacrifice made by so many men and women to preserve it.

In these uncertain times the Anzac Day march takes on a heightened significance. In the ranks of those marching will be regular Army soldiers and reservists who are continuing military traditions stretching back to the earliest days of the colony of South Australia.

Once a year you may find members of the South Australia's Ninth Brigade at the Cultana Training Area at the top of Spencer Gulf, where clouds of dust and smoke point to some very serious exercises.

Hidden within the hills of the Cultana Range, we were with a forward observation team sending in word of a potential target for the 48th Field Battery.

“Grid five seven four one six five one six. Altitude five zero. Direction four two four zero… over.”

For Lieutenant Lawlor at the 48th's command post it's all a question of brevity, precision and teamwork.

“At my command - elevation three two nine. Adjust fire…”

The 48th Field Battery puts into practice battle craft, which has been honed and refined since the unit was formed at Tel el Kebir in Egypt in 1916. The 48th later saw action on the battlefields of France in World War One and was again in service in New Guinea in World War Two.

Following Lieutenant Lawlor's orders, the gun crew has made the necessary alterations to the settings on their howitzer and is ready to fire.

Despite the protective ear muffs and plenty of warning nothing prepares you for the full force of a one-oh-five millimetre howitzer. The shock wave is frightening - underlining that while this is an exercise, this weaponry is deadly.

While artillery battles may be fought at a distance there are times when you need to engage the enemy as close quarters. That's where the Armored Personnel Carriers of the Third Ninth Lighthorse come in.

This unit's history stretches back to the establishment of the State's volunteer calvary in the 1840s when soldiers provided their own equipment and horses. Breaker Morant fought with this unit in the Boer War and others later fought with the Third Ninth Lighthorse at Gallipoli. The APCs provide transport and cover for members of the 10th 27th Battalion, which was formed 160 years ago as a volunteer infantry force. It was one of the first to land at Gallipoli.

We were in the capable hands of reservist Lieutenant John Watts. In Civie Street he's a 22-year old University student studying International Relations. At Cultana he's the boss of our APC:

“An APC or Armored Personnel Carrier is used to deliver infantry in relative safety to the battlefield with speed and support from heavy machine guns. So they generally get there in a better condition for combat.”

And for the purposes of our exercise it all comes together at night. It culminates in what the army calls combined arms - the artillery has already been used, the APCs are now firing and the infantry is hard at it. It's very noisy and there’s a strong smell of cordite. It's very spectacular and even from our safe vantage point it's a little bit frightening.

For the reservists and their regular army observers this live firing is about as close to a real-life battle as a unit can get.

“This is the sort of indication of what they would have done at Gallipoli and through France and Tobruk. Because that's where a lot of the VCs were won for the Battalion.”

On Anzac Day the Australian community will again acknowledge and honour those who've fallen in battle and those still living - who truly understand the fear and horror of real life battle. For more info please email info@postcards-sa.com.au