"Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals study logistics."
This succinct quote, widely attributed to United States General Omar Bradley, sums up the importance of materiel to military operations.
It also alludes to the behind-the-scenes, detail-orientated work done by the likes of Leading Aircraftman Ray Cordwell.
The Royal Australian Air Force aviation life support equipment technician is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and inspecting aircraft safety and survival gear so pilots and other aircrew can carry out missions.
The daily 'to do list' includes servicing or replacing items such as helmets and oxygen masks, as well as flares, safety harnesses, personal flotation devices, radios and inflatable life rafts.
Leading Aircraftman Cordwell's current posting to the newly formed 16th Aviation Support Battalion (16ASB) at RAAF Base Townsville is a far cry from the Army cavalry unit where the 33-year-old from Melbourne started his military career back in 2014.
The switch to an aviation trade after four years driving an armoured personnel carrier came courtesy of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME).
But, just two years into that employment category (ECN 154), it was absorbed into the RAAF, and the RAEME craftsman had to trade-in his green uniform for blue.
He said it was an easy adjustment to make given aviation life support equipment technician was a well-established role within the Air Force and offered a broader career progression.
But he admits to some nostalgia.
"I'm still Army deep down; you don't lose the green," Leading Aircraftman Cordwell said.
'If the equipment isn't serviceable then the crew required to do a mission, like sea-to-land ops, can't undertake that tasking.'
While his uniform changed, his dedication to supply and logistics, often referred to in military parlance as 'beans, bullets and bandages', has never wavered.
Leading Aircraftman Cordwell described it as a rewarding job because lives depended on it.
"We don't get the same level of community recognition as the pilots and aircrew when they undertake things like flood and bushfire disaster relief, but we support that effort because we get them in the air," he said
"If you don't have the right gear, that can be a show stopper. If the equipment isn't serviceable then the crew required to do a mission, like sea-to-land ops, can't undertake that tasking."
16ASB was stood-up just six months ago, created to optimise and concentrate Army Aviation maintenance operations across Defence's rotary-wing assets, with a posting focus on Townsville and Oakey.
Leading Aircraftman Cordwell and his colleagues within the Life Support cell worked closely with 5th Aviation Regiment and the CH-47F Chinooks.
But the unit's workload is set to expand rapidly as Defence acquires more UH-60M Black Hawks and introduces the AH-64E Apache into service.
The growing capability fuelling demand for more aviation techs prompted the Battalion's Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Porada, to recruit actively across the ADF.
"If soldiers have any interest in aviation maintenance and logistics, this is the unit for them," Lieutenant Colonel Porada said back in January.
A key selling point for 16ASB is the centralised nature of the maintenance carried out on the different helicopter platforms.
It affords members an opportunity to stay in one location, providing a degree of posting stability.
That is not lost on Leading Aircraftman Cordwell, who happily calls Townsville home now with his wife and three young children, the former Victorian becoming an avid Queensland Maroons supporter along the way.
