Members of 2 Health Brigade now have their own Bushmaster drivers' course, thanks to the determination of a few personnel.
Lead instructor Sergeant Matthew McCabe said the recent delivery of the first course run entirely by - and for - 2 Health Brigade personnel was a crucial step towards giving the brigade's units an independence that could make a big difference on the battlefield.
"The whole reason we've run the course is so that 2 Health Brigade can be self-sufficient in regards to emergency vehicles," Sergeant McCabe said.
"More importantly, in terms of PMVs [protected mobility vehicles], we can provide our own vehicles, our own drivers, with our own medics. Without that, we rely on other units to provide us drivers.
"The medics on the course can also become a driver, and you essentially have two medics in each ambulance."
Flooding from heavy rainfall required a high level of application on the tracks running through Robertson Barracks Close Training Area in Darwin.
"There were a lot of water crossings, mud and difficult terrain to drive through, so part of the training is to teach them how to engage the vehicle to its capabilities when going through that kind of terrain," Sergeant McCabe said.
"We had three students who had never driven a military vehicle before and some of them said they'd never done any cross-country in their life. Going down steep terrain on rocks, fully trusting in the vehicle and essentially taking a foot off the brakes and using the vehicle's own gears and engine brake to go down the hill was a bit daunting."
'At the end of the day, if you don't drive this vehicle correctly, somebody's going to get hurt.'
Students were challenged with a range of technical and tactical disciplines, including live-fire shoots, roll-over drills and casualty care, culminating in a defensive driving package designed to test how much they'd learned throughout the course.
"A lot of them were scared of the defensive driving, which is emergency breaking, manoeuvring through traffic cones and turning at speed in a tight circle on a wet track," Sergeant McCabe said.
"This is designed to simulate an emergency situation, and give them a feel for the vehicle, its tipping point and the body roll."
Difficult enough in an ordinary civilian vehicle, it was a daunting prospect for a novice driver behind the wheel of a 12.5-tonne Bushmaster.
"Realistically, they could be driving through all types of terrain, especially moving forward to pick up a patient - Class 3 roads, cross-country, through water - all those kinds of terrain to get to the casualty. It's not always public roads," Sergeant McCabe said.
"I think all of them have come away with enough confidence. If we turned around tomorrow and said, 'You're going overseas', they could do it without even questioning it.
"It 100 per cent needs to be a skill set, not just a tick in the box. At the end of the day, if you don't drive this vehicle correctly, somebody's going to get hurt. And if you have an accident, you then can't go and get that patient - or worse, you had the patient in the vehicle with you."
