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The nation’s best tank and cavalry crews have competed in the Royal Australian Armoured Corp’s Coral-Balmoral Cup between the Australian Army and the United States military.
The six-day competition, run by the School of Armour at Puckapunyal, awarded the best tank crew to 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Eagle 1), best cavalry crew to 2nd Cavalry Regiment, best tank gunnery crew to 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Eagle 1) and best cavalry gunnery crew (School of Armour).
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,” LTCOL Cimbaljevic said.
“It takes a unit’s culture of promoting excellence at the small team level (the crew) to improve overall unit readiness and effectiveness.
“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.”
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.
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,” MSG 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 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,” SGT 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.”
