3 March 2023
Working and training with the British Armed Forces and NATO partners has enabled Captain Jeremy Rooke to demonstrate Australia’s high standards of battle-level training.
Born and raised in Canberra, Captain Rooke is on an exchange with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, one of the British Army’s most experienced and decorated armoured infantry units, based at Lucknow Barracks in Hampshire, west of London.
“I arrived here in November 2021 as the training officer for the ‘Welsh Warriors’,” Captain Rooke said.
“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience and very unique for an Australian Army captain.”
As the training officer, he is responsible for all collective and individual training the battalion undertakes.
He spent three months in Germany last year on Exercise Tallinn Dawn, an arduous mission-ready exercise, which included a mix of simulation and live-firing (day and night), and field training exercises involving armour, infantry, artillery and engineers.
The exercise validated the Welsh Warriors to form part of the UK operational deployment to Estonia and Poland, where British troops have been leading a multinational battlegroup as part of NATO’s enhanced forward presence to bolster Euro-Atlantic security, reassure allies and deter adversaries.
“Operation Cabrit 10 was a new and interesting experience for me – operating in minus 20C and working with different nationalities, including French, Danish, Latvians and Estonians,” Captain Rooke said.
Australia’s Army adviser in London, Colonel Grant Chambers, said Captain Rooke had made an important contribution to the success of The Royal Welsh.
“He received a medallion in Estonia for his role in supporting the battalion through Exercise Tallinn Dawn, and Operation Cabrit 10, which gives some sense of the value he has brought to the Welsh Warriors since he arrived in the UK,” Colonel Chambers said.
Captain Rooke said another highlight of his deployment was an unexpected trip to South Africa earlier this year.
“We went on a battlefield study tour as part of our professional military education and studied the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, in the south-west of the country, where 11 Victorian Crosses were awarded. It is probably the highlight of my Army career so far,” Captain Rooke said.
“But what I’ve realised on my deployment is that Australian battalion-level training is at a very high standard – and that’s reassuring.”
The Head of Australia Defence Staff - London, Brigadier Grant Mason, said Captain Rooke had helped strengthen the important ties between the UK and Australia.
“We have a deep and shared history. It’s through the contributions of people like Captain Rooke that we can strengthen our unique partnership, and build understanding and joint capability,” Brigadier Mason said.
