The Cove Podcast

In this episode of The Cove Podcast, we unpack the reality of a posting to the Defence Cooperation Programme in Papua New Guinea. Joined by Warrant Officer Dathan Rolfe, we explore what it means to operate in an environment where influence matters more than authority and relationships outweigh rank. From competing for the position and preparing family for an accompanied move to Port Moresby, through to the professional demands of advising the PNG Defence Force, this conversation highlights a side of service many soldiers never see. It’s not a warfighting deployment, but it is operationally significant, shaping regional stability, strengthening partnerships, and reinforcing Australia’s strategic interests in our near region. This episode is about career risk, professional growth, family commitment, and why PNG matters far more to Australian security than most realise.

In this episode, we sit down with Sergeant John Welfare, winner of the 2025 Chief of Army Essay Competition and Chauvel Prize, to unpack his argument that the Australian Army must undergo a professional transformation if it is to remain relevant within the integrated force. Drawing on the story of Ignaz Semmelweis and the medical revolution of the 19th century, John challenges the Army to confront its institutional blind spots, rethink its expertise, and align its culture with external necessity rather than internal tradition. This is a conversation about jurisdiction, professional mastery, self-regulation and what it truly means to be a modern professional soldier.

In this episode of The Cove Podcast, John Hargrave explores the fast-growing world of drone racing and uncrewed systems, focusing on the people, skills, and pathways behind the technology. Joined by Lance Corporal Chris Quayle and Captain Tom Gash from the ADF Drone Racing Association, the conversation examines how drone racing builds technical mastery, decision-making under pressure, and community across kids, cadets, serving members, and veterans. The discussion connects this emerging sport to modern Defence capabilities, highlights the crossover between hobbyist skills and military applications, and looks ahead to where drone racing and uncrewed systems are heading more broadly.

‘[W]hat we're trying to do is restore what has been a loss of trust for a number of reasons over the recent decade or so between generals and rank and file to be frank ...’ In this week’s episode, CAPT Todd Lempa sits down with Major General Chris Smith, the Deputy Chief of the Australian Army, to discuss command responsibility and the uncomfortable question of how armies — including our own — hold senior leaders to account. Building on his earlier episode on Warrior Culture, MAJGEN Smith reflects on the Australian Army’s struggle, common across many militaries, to recognise and act on professional failure or a lack of success at senior levels. Drawing inspiration from Thomas Ricks’ The Generals, he explores how accountability in command has eroded over time and what that means for trust and confidence in the profession of arms. We examine the 2012 Camp Bastion attack in Helmand Province, where Taliban fighters infiltrated the perimeter, killing two US Marines, wounding several others, and destroying or damaging eight USMC AV-8B Harrier aircraft — one of the most significant single-day losses of American airpower since Vietnam. The breach occurred after elements of the UK-led security force thinned out perimeter manning to support operations elsewhere. While no British officers were held to account, the United States Marine Corps relieved two generals of command following the attack. MAJGEN Smith uses this event to frame a discussion on vicarious responsibility, arguing that senior leaders sometimes need to step aside — not because of personal culpability, but to restore trust and confidence in their institution. He acknowledges that the Brereton Inquiry put a lot of attention on the NCOs and troops, but that no senior leaders were held to account. In his view, this reveals a broader failure to uphold the principles of command responsibility that underpin the trust soldiers place in their leaders. Across the episode, MAJGEN Smith challenges senior leaders to confront a hard truth: that leadership accountability cannot stop at the tactical level if the profession is to maintain legitimacy, trust, and moral authority. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘If an adversary is operating in a highly enabled headquarters and we’re not, we will fall behind instantly ...’ In this week’s episode, the host sits down with MAJ Tom Berry, a Signals Officer posted to Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC), to unpack the realities of jamming, machine learning, and the future of command-and-control on the modern battlefield. Building on a recent episode titled Tactical Communications with CAPT Jack Virtue, this conversation shifts from line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications to the complex world of electronic warfare, adaptation, and decision-making advantage. We break down the assumptions many of us still hold about jamming — including the belief that enemy EW will simply “switch off” our command posts and force us back to maps and talcs. MAJ Berry explains why jamming rarely works like that, how most systems retain offline data even when real-time feeds are denied, and why jamming is a double-edged sword that exposes the emitter as much as the target. From GPS and SATCOM spoofing to tactical-level EW effects and A2/AD systems, he outlines the conditions, power requirements, and vulnerabilities that determine how and when jamming is actually effective. The episode then explores mesh networks, distributed architectures, and what resilient, reconfigurable communications webs can offer a formation — and their limits. We discuss why mesh networks reduce bandwidth stress on BLOS communications, how they support tempo, and why even the best mesh still depends on a reliable BLOS hop. Finally, we dive into machine learning and its role in enabling commanders and staff. MAJ Berry explains how ML helps find “needles in haystacks,” reduces the staff effort required to decypher useful information, and gives command post staff and commanders the space to create shock, surprise, and decision advantage. We also examine the tension between a commander’s information requirements and the creeping “1000-mile screwdriver” — what leaders need to see versus what they want to see. This episode challenges long-held assumptions about jamming and machine learning — and argues that if we consistently drop to map-and-compass we will be left behind by those armies embracing machine learning to accelerate their decision-making speed. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘Nothing narrows the focus more than being properly shot at ...’ In this week’s episode, the host sits down with Brigadier David McCammon, the Commander of the Australian Army Cadets and Head of Corps – Infantry, to explore what it truly means to prepare for combat, be in combat, and return from it. Few senior officers have deployed so frequently at the tactical level. From commanding platoons and companies to leading a battalion and a brigade on operations, BRIG McCammon’s operational experience stretches from East Timor and Kosovo to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East. He reflects on the lessons forged through over two decades of command: the importance of preparation, discipline, and maintaining standards even when they’re unpopular; the leadership required to make hard calls under pressure; and the enduring truth that combat exposes character—it doesn’t create it. We unpack the “70% solution,” why morale isn’t about keeping people happy but giving them something to fight for, and what it means to be the “first adult in the room” when chaos breaks out. Drawing on his experiences commanding Australia’s first Operational Mentor and Liaison Team in Afghanistan, Task Group Taji, and most recently JTF 1118 during Operation Beech, BRIG McCammon discusses accountability, resilience, and the moral courage required of leaders in war. He offers blunt advice on why he prefers to reign in a stallion as appose to flogging a donkey and what Australia’s next generation of soldiers and officers must do to be ready for the wars ahead, even if there is no obvious deployment date. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure you do not miss out on any of the heavy-hitting content we have planned.

'These people aren’t ghosts, as much as they attempt to be or seem like it ...’ In this week’s episode, we sit down with MAJ Paul Patty, an Intelligence Officer in the Australian Army, to unpack counterintelligence (CI) in modern conflict. MAJ Patty is an expert in counterintelligence, and his skills have been relied upon in both the private and government sectors. We open with two stark contrasts: a contemporary case study on Ukraine’s operational planning and the consequences when CI is poorly conducted, set against the UK’s Double-Cross system in the Second World War—a successful approach to turn Axis spies to report bogus information back to Germany. We also examine how Russian services seeded spies inside Ukraine and across other post-Soviet states to run grey-zone deception operations, leaking operational plans back to Moscow and distorting Ukrainian decision cycles before contact. We also confront a hard truth at home: Australians are not immune to recruitment by Foreign Intelligence Services. The classic levers of MICE—money, ideology, coercion, and ego—remain timeless vulnerabilities. Understanding how these levers are pulled, and recognising them early in ourselves and our teams, is essential to preventing insiders from becoming access points into our operations. From there, MAJ Patty lays out what CI is (and isn’t): not just security compliance, but a campaign to degrade, deny, and manipulate an adversary’s understanding of our intent, capabilities, and movements. We explore how offensive and defensive CI intersect—neutralising hostile HUMINT networks, protecting sensitive capabilities, countering technical collection, and planning for counter-sabotage and partner-force integrity—and why CI effects must be integrated into operations from the start, not bolted on at the end. Whether you’re a junior leader looking for practical CI habits or a planner figuring out how to wire CI into targeting, deception, and signature management, this conversation offers a clear, hard-edged primer on how to fight for decision advantage when it matters most. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned

‘The problem is if society becomes accustomed to or reliant on using the army to solve problems or to address failures of civilian capacity.’ In this week’s episode, we sit down with Dr Risa Brooks PhD, a Professor of Political Science at Marquette University and a leading scholar on civil-military relations, to unpack the enduring tension between military effectiveness and democratic control. Drawing on Peter Feaver’s concept of the “problematique,” Dr Brooks examines how this dilemma plays out in democracies like Australia and the United States today. We explore the public face of the military — why trust, transparency, and perception matter, and why uniformed leaders must tread carefully when engaging publicly. Dr Brooks discusses the risks of politicisation, the responsibilities of senior leaders, and the limits of professional dissent in systems that prize both loyalty and independence. The conversation also turns to the paradox of trust: how high public confidence in the military can lead to its overuse in civilian roles, and what that means for long-term legitimacy. We ask whether silence is always the right response to criticism, whether the expectation of apolitical conduct can itself be a trap, and how accountability should be exercised by senior leaders in difficult times. Finally, Dr Brooks highlights what healthy civil-military relations look like in practice, points to international models worth learning from, and offers practical advice for Australia’s emerging leaders on how to strengthen civil-military trust for the future. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.

‘Again, you’re talking to someone who used to shave and drink out of the same cup ...’ In this week’s episode, we welcome back LTCOL Gordon Wing MBBS, the Senior Medical Officer in the Directorate of Army Health. An infantry Combat Team Commander turned Medical Doctor, LTCOL Wing brings his expertise in military medicine and prevention. His first appearance on the podcast covered the Military Employment Classification System; this time, we explore a topic with immediate, practical consequences for every soldier — field hygiene. From the campaigns at Milne Bay and the Huon Peninsula to the more recent deployment of Australian forces to INTEFET in East Timor, history reminds us that disease and poor sanitation can cripple armies just as easily as the enemy. General Douglas MacArthur is famously quoted as saying ‘[t]his will be a long war if, for every division I have facing the enemy, I must count on a second division in hospital with malaria and a third division convalescing from this debilitating disease.’ In this conversation, LTCOL Wing explains why hygiene remains a commander’s responsibility, and how discipline in the basics — cleanliness, waste management, water control, and illness prevention — is a combat multiplier. He breaks down what good hygiene looks like in austere environments, from simple routines every soldier can maintain without showers, to wider practices like dipping cams and medication. We discuss common illnesses in the field, how quickly poor hygiene can degrade operational effectiveness, and what leaders at every level can do to prevent infections before they spread, particular by enforcing strict routines and checks. Drawing on his medical expertise combined with his time in command in-the-field, LTCOL Wing offers practical, evidence-based advice: how antimicrobial wipes stack up against soap and water, how bacteria is passed through the urinary tract, and the role of medications like doxycycline in prevention. He also shares some essential hygiene rules every soldier should follow during high-tempo operations to remain healthy and combat effective. This episode is a timely reminder that maintaining health in the field is as much about discipline and leadership as it is about medicine — prevention against illness or injury in our potential operating environment will sustain a large fighting force to win. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned. Leading source: The Battle Lab’s article on Field Hygiene published on The Cove.

‘[W]e're not like a professional sporting team that our whole week is designed around that gameday on Saturday, [our] people are required to do their job day in, day out ...’ In this week’s episode, we sit down with WO2 Tavis Nicholson, the Warrant Officer Physical Training Instructor (WOPTI) at the Royal Military College – Duntroon, to explore how physical preparation underpins preparing for and winning wars in the Australian Army. Drawing on his experience training across conventional units and with Special Forces candidates, WO2 Nicholson outlines how physical fitness translates directly into a soldiers’ resilience, availability, and durability on combat and in war. He discusses his philosophy of programming — know the demands, know the baseline, train the gap — and how this approach ensures soldiers are fit for purpose rather than following passing fitness fads. Drawing lessons from his time with elite sporting teams, he highlights how careful programming, minimum effective dose training, and a focus on longevity can help extend soldiers’ careers and minimise injury. At the same time, he cautions against lowering standards to match societal norms, arguing instead for holding the line on the physical requirements that military service demands. This conversation is a deep dive into the art and science of physical training, balancing strength, endurance, and recovery with the unique occupational requirements of Army. Every physical training session must be balanced against the high physical demands of our day-to-day jobs. It’s about being intentional, adaptable, and consistent — ensuring every soldier is combat effective when it counts and to prevent injury. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned and WO2 Nicholson’s second episode on the practical elements of becoming and staying fighting fit.

‘[T]he best piece of advice I've had in years past is that if it hurts a little ... there's probably a fair element of truth to it...’ In this week’s episode, we explore how to seek feedback and turn it into actionable advice for commanders. Our guest, WOFF Ken Robertson, the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of the Defence Force (SEAC), is the Australian Defence Force’s most senior enlisted leader. As the first person appointed to the role, he has advised GEN Angus Campbell and ADM David Johnston while representing the soldiers, sailors, and aviators of the ADF. WOFF Robertson shares his journey from being a fiercely competitive junior aviator and sportsman to recognising the power of deliberate reflection and embracing honest feedback over decades of personal growth. He outlines his approach to gathering insights from tens of thousands of ADF members, uncovering the real value in spending time with those he represents. He also explains how he distils this feedback into clear, meaningful advice for the CDF and senior leaders. Today, he actively seeks feedback from people who challenge his perspective, a habit that has helped him become confident in his identity as both a leader and a person. He deliberately immerses himself in the ADF squadrons, ships, and battalions to witness and celebrate their achievements firsthand. In doing so, he strengthens trust, stays connected to the lived experiences of the force, and ensures the advice he provides to the nation’s top commanders is grounded in the reality of those achieving amazing things for our organisation. ————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned

‘The way that we designed the Battle Group was on platform and systems of uncrewed and crewed variants that are theoretically attainable within the next two years ...’ In this week’s episode, we talk through combat experimentation in the Australian Army, getting after emerging technology, learning fast and developing the latest TTPs. Our guest this week – LTCOL Jake Penley – is the Commanding Officer of the 1st Armoured Regiment in Adelaide SA and has been tasked with shifting the unit from an Armoured Cavalry Regiment to the Army’s combat experimentation unit. From participating in Project Convergence Capstone 5, a large-scale experiment without the constraints of training levels that allows the US Military, its allies and Defence industry to have at it testing future concepts and the newest war fighting technology to participating in the North Queensland War Fighter, this is the cutting edge of future land warfare. From running Lavarack Barracks out of maps to enable a huge analytical wargame ran by the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) to receiving pallets of brand-new equipment with little instructions, 1st Armoured Regiment is balancing emerging technology and learning with our traditional understanding of tactics and control measures. Tactics and control measures, LTCOL Penley argues, which only become more important with the innovation and leading-edge technology. Working with industry, both Primes and small manufacturers, as well as DSTG mean that any failures are fast, and lessons are learnt quickly to enable the unit to solve the problems of future land warfare. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned

'Watching those aircraft take off ... and knowing that you are part of that success, part of that story, there's not many better feelings.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about the challenges and opportunities of keeping the CH47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache helicopters in the air. Our guests are CAPT Shannon McGee and FSGT Jason Smart from the Army’s new 16 Aviation Support Battalion in Townsville, Queensland. CAPT Shannon McGee is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer on the CH47 Chinook and FSGT Jason Smart is an Aircraft Technician who has seen the introduction-into-service of the MRH90 Taipan and has deployed supporting Army helicopters multiple times, including in the first days of INTERFET in Dili and later from a patrol base in Balibo, both in Timor-Leste. The 16 Aviation Support Battalion is tasked with keeping the fleet of CH47 Chinooks in the air to meet Army’s need for rotary wing lift while preparing for the introduction-into-service of the Australian Army’s newest helicopter, the AH-64 Apache combat helicopter. Both 1 Aviation Regiment and 5 Aviation Regiment will fly out of Townsville, operating from Hamel Lines at RAAF Townsville. The Apache is replacing the Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter and will become the 1 Aviation Regiment’s attack aviation platform. The first AH-64 Apaches are scheduled to commence flying operations in the next six months and many of the aircrew and support staff have already commenced training in the United States to prepare to be thrown the keys. The team that supports Army flying operations include maintainers, Aviation Ground Crew, Life-support Fitters, and engineers. The come from the Army, RAAF and civilian contractors that have maintained helicopters at Hamel Lines for decades, conducting everything from routine to deep maintenance. They will be joined by Maintenance Augmentation Teams provided by the United States Army and field service representatives from Boeing to enable the introduction-into-service. Army aviation is at the start of exciting times and these are the people that get to create history. ————————————————————————— Subscribe to The Cove Podcast to make sure that you do not miss out on any of the heavy hitting content we have planned.