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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: As I'm sure you may have heard throughout the news

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Speaker 2: over the last couple of days. Seventy Darwin soldiers have

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Speaker 2: now returned home after a three month deployment to the UK.

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Speaker 2: They were the second cohort of personnel to be deployed

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Speaker 2: to train Ukrainian recruits as part of Operation Kudo. I

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Speaker 2: believe is how you announce it now. The operation focuses

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Speaker 2: on teaching basic infantry tactics for urban and wooded environments.

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Speaker 2: Now joining me in the studio to tell us a

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Speaker 2: little bit more is the commanding officer of the fifth

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Speaker 2: Battalion from the Royal Australian Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Gilmore.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Chreas.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you this morning?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, really good. Thank you so much for joining us today.

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Speaker 2: Now tell me how is this operation going? With the

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Speaker 2: second contingent coming back to Darwin after another just left.

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Speaker 3: So it's going really well.

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Speaker 1: The opportunity to do the second and also the third

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Speaker 1: rotation from the Dawen Base soldiers gives us a real

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Speaker 1: good opportunity to learn from each other and really build

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Speaker 1: on our own experiences in delivering the training for our

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Speaker 1: Ukrainian counterparts over in the United Kingdom. It's an absolute

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Speaker 1: honor for us, particularly coming from the Northern Territory, to

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Speaker 1: go and do this task and have their territory and

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Speaker 1: soldiers do it.

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Speaker 3: It's something that we're really really proud of.

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Speaker 2: Talk us through some of the skills and training that

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Speaker 2: they have sort of been imparting on the Ukrainian recruits.

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Speaker 1: So the Ukrainian recruits we receive come from a range

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Speaker 1: of backgrounds, be them taxi drivers, bakers, any form of

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Speaker 1: background that have literally put their hands up to join

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Speaker 1: the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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Speaker 3: And when we receive them, the first thing.

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Speaker 1: We have to do is understand what level of training

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Speaker 1: there already are. The course they go through is it's

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Speaker 1: really about building an infantry soldier. It's about teaching them

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Speaker 1: how to be proficient with their weapons systems across a

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Speaker 1: number of different terrains and in different tactics and techniques

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Speaker 1: and procedures that they'll potentially have to employ in order

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Speaker 1: to make sure that they're able to survive and thrive

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Speaker 1: as best they can when they return back to the UK.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty unbelievable, I reckon and a bit of a

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Speaker 2: bit of a reality check for us here in Australia,

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Speaker 2: Like when you talk about it like that, that you're

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Speaker 2: literally training people who up until you know, maybe six

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Speaker 2: months a year ago, however long ago, we're operating in

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Speaker 2: just normal jobs and they're now literally training for war.

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Speaker 1: That's that's on the unfortunate situation that confronts them as

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Speaker 1: a as a nation at the moment. But what is

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Speaker 1: great about is just the professionalism of our day and

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Speaker 1: base soldiers from the first Brigade. They've absolutely thrived in

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to go and imparted their own knowledge and

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Speaker 1: their own professional standards and how they've gone about doing

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Speaker 1: the task has been an absolute credit to them, and

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Speaker 1: also all of the First Brigade and also all the

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Speaker 1: territories have represented over there.

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Speaker 2: Is it quite a difficult process in terms of training them.

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Speaker 2: You know, I guess that when you talk about training

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Speaker 2: soldiers in Australia to get to the point where they're

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Speaker 2: ready for battle, you know you'd be training for quite

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Speaker 2: a long period of time. It seems as though you're

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Speaker 2: doing courses that having to skill people up pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: They're upskilling them as quickly as they can. But it's

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Speaker 1: in simple parlance, the teams over there. The ladies and

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Speaker 1: gents are just working harder. And you know, all of

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Speaker 1: our all of our partners across the other NATO contributing

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Speaker 1: nations are doing the same New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway,

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Speaker 1: the UK, Brothers and sisters, everyone is just putting in

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Speaker 1: and they're doing a great job in trying to deliver

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Speaker 1: this training.

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Speaker 2: And are your craws. Do they feel pretty proud of

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Speaker 2: the work that they're doing.

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Speaker 1: I think they really feel they're making it, They're making

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Speaker 1: a difference. I just saw them yesterday. Until there's a

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Speaker 1: there's a there's a sense of accomplishment that they feel

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Speaker 1: that they've achieved. They're very proud of what they've done,

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Speaker 1: but they're also really excited to have completed the job,

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Speaker 1: to now see their families, spend a bit of time

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Speaker 1: with the you know, getting home. They got home just

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Speaker 1: before territory day, so they're pretty excited about getting the

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Speaker 1: experience some of their first territory days up here, and

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Speaker 1: they're also excited to take a little bit of time

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Speaker 1: off and then get back to what is the rest

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Speaker 1: of the training.

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Speaker 3: You hear and go on how long were they away for?

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Speaker 3: Are there overseas for about twelve weeks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, to me, it just sort of blows

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Speaker 2: my mind. I think, like I said, it feels like

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Speaker 2: a real sort of reality check. I guess for a

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Speaker 2: lot of us living in a country where we do

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Speaker 2: feel pretty safe and we have got a wonderful defense

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Speaker 2: for us. You know that looks after us. But ye're

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Speaker 2: just thinking about people going from very normal life situations

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Speaker 2: to what's going on in the Ukraine at the moment.

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Speaker 2: It is I think a real tribute to Australia that

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Speaker 2: we're able to actually help in some way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's it's something that again it's something

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Speaker 1: we feel very proud of being able to contribute towards

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Speaker 1: that whole of government contribution to support to the support

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Speaker 1: for the Ukraine and again coming from coming from the

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Speaker 1: territory to be able to do that, that's we're able

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Speaker 1: to represent not just the ADF but in Australia but

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Speaker 1: also in particularly the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, hey tell us, do you know how many Ukrainians

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Speaker 2: have undertaken the t owning to date and what the

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Speaker 2: goal is sort of looking forwards?

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Speaker 1: So, I mean across the entire board, I know that

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Speaker 1: there's been about seventeen thousand trained across all forces, across

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Speaker 1: all of NATO and all contributing nations. I think it

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Speaker 1: was released just the other day that the United Kingdom

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Speaker 1: were intending to train about another twenty thousand more across

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Speaker 1: the entirety of the contribution.

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Speaker 2: Now, are there going to be other deployments? I think

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Speaker 2: you mentioned that there's already the third Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Katie, So the third rotation is currently over in

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Speaker 1: the UK now they're training their own group of Ukrainian trainings.

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Speaker 3: You know, they've hit the ground running over there. They're

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Speaker 3: doing a great job.

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Speaker 1: Again, more soldiers from the Northern Territory from the first

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Speaker 1: Brigade over representing.

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Speaker 2: And by the sounds of it, I guess there could

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Speaker 2: be more later in the year or too early to

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Speaker 2: tell at this point.

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Speaker 3: I think it's to tell at this point, Katie.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we're more than happy to do whatever

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Speaker 1: task that comes our way and we'll do our best when, if,

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Speaker 1: and when we get them.

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Speaker 2: Good on you guys, Good on the cruise for you

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Speaker 2: for doing that very important work. Commanding Officer of the

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Speaker 2: fifth Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Gilmore. Good

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Speaker 2: to talk to you this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Thanks Katy