The Royal Australian Armoured Corp's Coral-Balmoral Cup was bigger than ever this year, boasting more crews and international participants.
Hosted and run by the School of Armour (SOARMD) at Puckapunyal, the event seeks out the best tank and cavalry crews in a tough six-day competition between the Australian Army and the United States military.
Commanding Officer SOARMD Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Cimbaljevic said the competition went beyond bragging rights, signifying the pursuit of excellence at every level.
"Coral-Balmoral Cup provides a tangible benchmarking assessment against the best crews in the US Marine Corps and US Army to understand where we can improve in the delivery of our mounted combat individual training, as part of the Land Domain Training System," Lieutenant Colonel Cimbaljevic said.
The challenge traces its name back to Australia's most costly and protracted series of battles in defence of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral during the Vietnam War.
"It takes a unit's culture of promoting excellence at the small team level (the crew) to improve overall unit readiness and effectiveness," Lieutenant Colonel Cimbaljevic said.
"Moreover, the Coral-Balmoral Cup promotes friendly competition (will to win), improves interoperability and fosters our enduring mateship with the US military at the tactical and practical level."
Master Sergeant Mitchell Cross, of the 1st Armoured Division - US Army, said both nations pushed themselves and their teams to the limits.
"In preparation for the competition, our crew got an opportunity to train to a new level of physical and tactical excellence," Master Sergeant Cross said.
"The relationships, respect and trust that built over three short weeks is amazing. I came away with an appreciation for Australian Army as a fighting organisation and I'm glad we had the opportunity to compete in the Coral-Balmoral competition.
"The level of proficiency among the Australian crews was incredible. It's a testament to tough, realistic training."
For the visiting US teams, preparing for the competition involved spending a week training on vehicles, Australian weapons qualifications and lessons on tabulated data.
'The level of proficiency among the Australian crews was incredible. It's a testament to tough, realistic training.'
The competition involved a range of activities that included tactical field craft, force-on-force actions and live-fire manoeuvre.
Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) Beau St Leone, of SOARMD, said the competition offered the ideal training ground for all crews.
"Although a competition, all the facets of modern warfare were tested," WO2 St Leone said.
"The crews' ability to shoot, move and communicate as an effective team on battlefield was priority. This competition not only identifies the top-performing AFV [armoured fighting vehicle] crews from across the US and Australia but identifies any shortfalls in our training."
Sergeant Dody Martinelli, of the US 1st Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, said it was a great experience.
"I had a hell of a time competing against all the teams, and an even better time building professional and personnel camaraderie with the guys," Sergeant Martinelli said.
"The true value of the Coral-Balmoral competition lies in the relationships and partnerships forged during this event. I hope that this event leads to further innovative collaborations between our great nations.
"We look forward to hosting Australian teams in the Sullivan Cup, Bushmaster Challenge and Gainey Cup in the near future."
The awards were:
- Best cavalry crew - 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
- Best tank crew - 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Eagle 1).
- Best tank gunnery crew - 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Eagle 1).
- Best cavalry gunnery crew - School of Armour.
