Hearing a British accent take charge of an Australian range is not something many diggers would be familiar with, but at the School of Military Engineering (SME) it is a tradition engrained into the fabric of its Holsworthy range.
For more than 60 years, there has been a British Army Quartermaster Senior Instructor in charge of the SME demolitions department, and Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Ross Meehan is the latest to carry the mantle.
Part of an exchange program with an Australian WO2 embedded at the UK School of Engineering, WO2 Meehan said the longstanding tradition has built strong relationships and a greater understanding between the two Armies.
"It's a real honour and a privilege to be able to represent the British Army out here and work closely with a coalition force, building that bond, building that interoperability," Warrant Officer Class Two Ross Meehan said.
"This sort of thing strengthens us both as nations and we learn a lot from each other. It's certainly been a real highlight of my career."
WO2 Meehan's journey to Holsworthy is backed by a formidable resume within the British Royal Engineers: six years in Germany with the 23 Amphibious Squadron; three tours of Afghanistan; the London Olympics; and specialised explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) deployments across Iraq and Nigeria.
Reflecting on his extensive exposure to a wide variety of engineering roles within the British Army and following his two years as an SME Senior Instructor, WO2 Meehan said Australian sappers were among the best he has worked with.
'This sort of thing strengthens us both as nations and we learn a lot from each other.'
"I have been very impressed with the standard of Australian combat engineers, they are a very well-trained, capable asset; I think the Australian Army trains their soldiers to a high standard," he said.
While the jump across the pond wasn't too difficult for the quartermaster to adjust to given the similarities between the two Armies, WO2 Meehan quickly realised that speaking the same language is a subjective concept.
"It was definitely a case of the Australians getting used to me, in some of the lessons I was teaching there was a blank look on the soldiers' faces sometimes," he said.
"I said 'Hulu' to them once and everyone just looked blankly at me. My team would have to translate what I meant - monkeys and parrots was another one."
With his two-year posting drawing to a close, WO2 Meehan said that he would take a lot back to the UK and hoped that SME would similarly benefit from his time at the school.
"Since I've been here, we've managed to get into service two new firing devices, the DCTX and the mini-DRFD. We've also rewritten the training pipeline for all demolitions conducted at SME. So, hopefully, that'll have a lasting impression on your training," WO2 Meehan said.
