As an air raid siren rang out and a sim grenade exploded, officer trainees opened fire to defend an imitation air base.
Five hundred kilometres north, recruits climbed ropes, mounted walls and crawled through tunnels as they navigated a confidence course.
Having been gassed, fatigued and kept up at night by 'enemy' attacks, graduation was in sight for the first groups undertaking consolidated initial training courses.
This is part of a less-is-more approach to initial training that has seen 1 Recruit Training Unit (1RTU) reduce their course from 11 weeks to nine and Officer Training School from 17 to 14, and then to 12 weeks.
It follows Air Commander Australia identifying a need to grow Air Force faster, by graduating trainees quicker and more efficiently.
One big change at 1RTU is tightening training blocks to make the 'green phase' a three-week continuous period.
Airfield defence guard Corporal Ricky Watson said compression of the course allowed the ground defence element to have more time with trainees, instead of splitting their time into different blocks.
"We wasted time signing weapons in and out and going through revision of topics we covered in prior weeks," Corporal Watson said.
"Now it's weapons, range, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) and ground defence. We're able to get a lot more out of it knowing we don't have to revisit things later on course and they are more focused."
Corporal Watson said this year's introduction of range practices is improving their skills in combat shooting.
1RTU's Flight Lieutenant Chris Hanchard said he was stoked with the new EF88 carbine.
"With the new EF88 carbine, the transition from the previous F88 to the new weapon system was smooth, and provides our personnel with a greater accuracy of shot," he said.
Officer trainees are now temporarily issued Australian multicam camouflage uniforms to help instil a warfighter attitude during their field phase.
Flight Sergeant Sean Seery, of OTS, said aviators now have a better understanding of operating in difficult environments with the inclusion of the combat marksmanship continuum.
"When it comes to ground combat, aviators generally operate in a close defence area," Flight Sergeant Seery said.
"Before now, we would take trainees to the range, they would lie down, get comfortable and shoot. Now they are shown how to run their weapon in many different positions employing it using combat behaviours and new shooting techniques."
Executive Officer 1RTU Squadron Leader Matt Kelly said the new training approach removes inefficiency while consolidating blue and green phases.
"We introduce them to the fundamentals and gradually increase the tempo to the point where they have the skills they need to enter our workforce," Squadron Leader Kelly said.
"We're now thinking very clearly about what training outcomes Air Force needs in preparing for operations in our region and are designing a product to align with that."
The shortened course means 1RTU can run additional sessions throughout the year with less overlap expanding the capacity of each individual session.
This increased 1RTU capacity by 85 per cent compared to the number of recruits trained in 2022.
Commanding Officer OTS Wing Commander Garth Herriot said the content hadn't significantly changed, but had been refined and distilled.
"We have cut out the bits of fat within the program. The learning outcomes that we deliver largely remain the same and, if not, we have modified them to meet contemporary requirements," Wing Commander Herriot said.
"We used to hop on a bus and drive for a few hours for adventure training, whereas now we now have a brand new abseiling tower on site."
There is always going to be risk with such changes, but it is about accepting that risk and training to deliver an outcome, according to the Commanding Officer.
"We might have to do less physical training, but we are able to graduate someone faster for Air Force," Wing Commander Herriot said.
"We identified training duplication within the course and removed the inefficiencies, but we are still graduating our trainees at a high level."
