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Army Recruit Training Centre (ARTC) is the official name given to the
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), who ...
's
basic training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique deman ...
establishment since 1 December 1998. Situated at
Kapooka Kapooka is a suburb in the south-west of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. Kapooka is home to the Department of Defence's Blamey Barracks from where the Army Recruit Training Centre conducts its operations. It is located on the Olymp ...
, an outer suburb of
Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...
, in the
Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...
region of New South Wales, the Army Recruit Training Centre (ARTC) is located within Blamey Barracks, about 9.5 km south-west of Wagga Wagga. Blamey Barracks is named after Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, an Australian general of the Second World War who was born near Wagga Wagga. He was the first, and to date only, Australian to attain the rank of field marshal.


History

The site that was to become ARTC was established on a property on the southern slopes of the ''Pomingalarna Reserve'' in 1942 as a direct result of defence needs during the Second World War. As a part of the Royal Australian Engineers Centre thousands of engineers were trained in basic soldiering skills as well as engineering duties. In addition 47,000 regular soldiers also trained at the barracks from 1942 to 1945. The location was also the camp for members of the Australian Women's Army Service who acted as orderlies, drivers and hospital staff during that period of time. On 24 May 1945 at a little after 3 pm, 26 men were killed in an accident on the base. 24 trainees were assembling hand held explosive devices under the supervision of training staff when a large explosion occurred. There was only one survivor of the group. The cause of the explosion has never been determined. The incident led to Australia's largest military funeral. Following the Second World War the barracks became the 1st Recruit Training Battalion (1RTB) which was established in November 1951 with Lieutenant Colonel V.E. Dowdy appointed as the first Commanding Officer. During 1952 and 1953, 1RTB was joined by 2nd Recruit Training Battalion in temporary buildings on the ridge south of the main camp. Most of the current facilities were constructed during 1965 and 1966 and officially opened on 6 December 1966 by the then
Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...
, Sir Roden Cutler. 1RTB conducted training for both national service and regular Army recruits, and during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1972, in excess of 10,000 National Service men trained at Kapooka. In 1985, the ARTC (then called 1RTB) became responsible for the training of female recruits, who were previously trained at WRAAC School at Georges Heights in Sydney. The centre took on the additional responsibility of training some reserve recruits from 1993. The Army Adventurous Training Wing moved from
Bonegilla, Victoria Bonegilla is a bounded rural locality of the City of Wodonga local government area in north-east Victoria, Australia, east of Wodonga, and around north-east of Melbourne. At the , Bonegilla and the surrounding area had a population of 610. ...
to the Blamey Barracks in 1998. In October 2006, Recruit Training Wing formally changed its name back to the 1st Recruit Training Battalion (1RTB).


Current structure and programs

ARTC has two training wings, Recruit Training Wing (RTW) that provides initial recruit training for all regular and reserve recruits for the Army, and the Army Adventurous Training Wing that trains unit adventurous training leaders. Reserve recruits currently undertake a 35-day program whilst the recruits that are to form part of the Australian Regular Army undertake an 80-day program. The course consists of various components including marksmanship training, physical training, navigation, drill, dress and bearing, first aid, radio communications, military customs and traditions, service discipline law, and field training. There are 5 companies within the battalion, Alpha (1-6 Platoon), Bravo (11-16 Platoon), Charlie (21-26 Platoon), Delta (31-36 Platoon), and Echo (41-46 Platoon), which a recruit will join one of the platoons within a company when they arrive at 1RTB. Occasionally, a platoon may be paired with a sister platoon or two from the same company, depending on the size of the intake, and will march in and march out at the same time as the other platoons as each platoon has a max compacity of 60 recruits. As of mid 2021, Delta was temporarily disbanded, to comply with COVID-19 government guidelines, and every third reservist intake were isolated from the rest of the battalion and placed into Camp Blue Training Grounds, just above the rifle ranges. Currently, the battalion is led by COL Andrew Deacon, who is currently the youngest commander in 1RTB history, at age 38. ARTC is also home to
Australian Army Band Kapooka The Australian Army Band Kapooka (AAB-K) is a full time military band in the Australian Army. Being a band, it is a sub-unit of the Australian Army Band , the army's official music branch. It is one of eleven military bands of the army and as the ...
, which is part of the army's
Australian Army Band Corps The Australian Army Band Corps (AABC) is the Australian Army's musical branch. It is roughly the equivalent of the Music Branch (Canadian Forces) and the Royal Corps of Army Music of the British Army. The Corps was formed on 2 August 1968 a ...
. It provides music for military ceremonies.


Notes


References

* {{coord, 35, 9, 17, S, 147, 17, 4, E, display=title Wagga Wagga Australian Army bases Buildings of the Australian government Military education and training in Australia