1st Commando Regiment
|
|
1st Commando Regiment is a regiment of the Australian Army, one of two reservist Special Forces units Australia has - the other being a reservist Clearance Diving Team.
After being retasked by the directive of a 2000 Defence Department report investigating Australia's SF capabilities and responsibilities this regiment, as well as its parent unit, 4th (Cdo) Bn, Royal Australian Regiment have been tasked with counterterrorism and are able to field reconnaissance and sniper units.
4RAR has conducted operations similar to those normally carried out by Navy SEAL (earlier this year for instance they boarded an escaping drug trafficking ship with a North Korean Flag and took control using airborne and waterborne insertion methods) and now, given its CT role is also performing roles similar to Delta Force and SEAL Team 6. Its recon unit can be compared to Force Recon (US Marines) and the regular Commando regiments are similar in tasking to US Army Rangers, though they are subjected to a more arduous selection process (suffering a greater failure rate) and a longer period of training. Many Commandos are Sniper, and HALO/HAHO qualified.
| Contents |
Organisation
The Unit headquarters is located in Randwick, New South Wales. 1 Commando Company (1 Cdo Coy) is located in Mosman, NSW. 2 Cdo Coy is located in the historic Fort Gellibrand at Williamstown, VIC. 301 Signal Squadron (301 Sig Sqn) has its headquarters at Randwick and elements of the squadron are located in Sydney and Melbourne with each Cdo Coy. 1 Cdo Regt is organised similarly to 4 Royal Australian Regiment (Cdo) (4 RAR (Cdo)), which is a regular Commando unit also serving in SOCOMD. The commando companies are made up of a headquarters, two commando platoons, a reconnaissance platoon, a training platoon and integral combat service support elements.
Specialist Equipment
1 Cdo Regt is equipped with similar equipment to that of 4 RAR (Cdo), including small arms and support weapon systems, inflatable boats and other small craft and unique communications systems. The unit is equipped with the M4 family of weapons, as used by the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) and 4 RAR (Cdo).
Reserve Service
1 Cdo Regt is SOCOMDs only Reserve unit. As such it fills a unique role in providing a surge capacity to the Commando capability. Members of 1 Cdo Regt include lawyers, airline pilots, police officers, firemen, teachers, businessmen, students and numerous other professions and trades. This wide range of occupations provides for a close relationship between the Unit, local community and industry.