The town of Ingham, north of Townsville has provided a realistic training ground for the Australian Army and US Armed Forces to improve their skills in communicating with the public during military operations.
Over 200 members of the Army Reserve, mostly from New South Wales have been in the Herbert River town, practicing protection operations during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023 as part of Battle Group Waratah.
Two soldiers from the Australian Army Reserve and three soldiers from the US Army Reserve have been tested in Civil Military Cooperation with a host of role-playing actors and local politicians creating exercise based dilemmas for them to handle.
US Army Captain Karen Fong from the 448th Civil Affairs battalion, based in Washington state has been impressed with the realism confronting Battle Group Waratah.
"For us this is top notch training, we don't get some of that experience back in the US, from the role players that we have are always members of the US Armed Forces," CAPT Fong said.
"For us to have this kind of training, its immeasurable."
Army Reserve Captain David Tobin from the Second Division says while US Army Civil Affairs and Australian Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) are slightly different, they are working towards the same goal.
"We are trying to reduce the impact of military operations on civilians, remove those friction points with the local community and also enhance interoperability with the US civil affairs team," CAPT Tobin said.
"It's been a great learning experience for us and vice versa for them as well, to see how we work together and the different mechanisms about how we work."
A host of role-playing civilians have put the Australian and US CIMIC team through a range of scenarios familiar to recent operations.
The town of Ingham has warmly received the temporary residents during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023.
The Deputy Mayor of Hinchinbrook Shire Council, Councillor Andrew Cripps has given his time to role play as himself in the exercise scenario.
CAPT Tobin says the realistic training taking place in Ingham is significantly enhancing the capability of CIMIC.
"It's a great opportunity for us to apply what we are trained to do with some real time people, the role players," he said.
"This exercise has also made us think outside the box and I think exercise control has done a really good job at creating a sense of realism in the scenario."
"We are interacting with the role players, many of whom come from the local community has also embraced this activity."
Exercise Talisman Sabre runs until early August.
