G’day. I am a currently serving Australian soldier in the infantry. I
was reading the stories about our dodgy equipment (so true – to date I’ve
spent $800 on non-issue equipment this year).

I’ve been
the in the army since I was 17 and I’ve come of age for commando
selection. My major concern is that reservist infantry has
little to no contact with the regular army (infantry) and the standard
of
training is declining in reserve units (along with the reservists
skills). Since the reserves can, after a certain period, rotate into an
ARA battalion with
minimal transfer training, this results in soldiers not being prepared,
and
not being at the standard the unit expects, and creates a serious
danger when deployment
situations come around.

Also, for the reservists in situations like the Commonwealth Games,
most of the support corps soldiers haven’t got the combat skill set
to deal with a high intensity situation. To be in the reserve
response force soldiers are trained, and have regular weekend training
exercises, but the
quality of this training is minimal and only low risk scenarios are
rehearsed
thoroughly. Contact situations are not thoroughly rehearsed.