It was just before midnight as Private Ryan Doyle quietly prepared his gear for the final test to become a fully fledged rifleman.
Clouds smothered what little light the stars could provide, so he watched his breath fog in the air through night optics as he waited.
“I was more excited than anything, to be honest. We didn’t quite know what was in store, they didn’t really give us a brief, so I was in anticipation of what was coming,” Private Doyle said.
The signal finally came from the platoon commander and the section stepped off, carrying stores and heavy packs.
It wasn’t long before enemy engaged from the darkness.
Under direction of their section commander, they fought back with bursts of gunfire lighting up the night, and a soldier was wounded in the ambush.
After applying tactical care to the combat casualty, the section carried their teammate on a stretcher, the hardest part for Private Doyle.
“We had just come off 10 days of digging defensive positions, so my grip was quite gone. I wasn’t expecting that,” he said.
As they marched, Private Doyle reflected on the past 17 weeks of intense training at the Australian Army’s School of Infantry.
He learned to use multiple weapon systems, from pistols to 84mm Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles.
He dug defensive positions, fought in hand-to-hand combat, set barbed wire and trip flares, and negated those threats when he encountered them.
‘I wanted a challenge and to do things that you don’t get to do as an ordinary person. The equipment you use, the lifestyle, it stood out to me.’
With his section, he breached and cleared buildings or conducted patrols through the scrub to seek out, close with and destroy the enemy, regardless of weather or terrain – as the role of the infantry goes.
Now, he had to prove it on Exercise HardCorps, the final test before posting to a battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.
The stretcher carry ended at the tunnels leading from Singleton Range to Lone Pine Barracks and the sun had started to rise.
The section cleared an urban facility before making their way through the obstacle and bayonet assault course one last time.
Their final stand was at the 25-metre range, with a live-fire shoot to finish the test.
After clearing off the range, they headed back to their lines – with broad smiles and laughter in contrast to the determined stoicism a few hours earlier.
A quick shower, cleaned rifles and fresh uniforms got them ready for the most anticipated event of the day: the Skippy Badge presentation.
With the mark of a qualified rifleman cradled in his hand, Private Doyle was excited for the next stage of his career in the Royal Australian Infantry.
“I wanted a challenge and to do things that you don’t get to do as an ordinary person. The equipment you use, the lifestyle, it stood out to me,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to learning what it’s like to be a soldier. We’ve completed this training and now we move on to learn and develop more. That will be really interesting.”
– Via Australia Department of Defence
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